Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column
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"I would like to open this site for conversation with women of all ages, convictions and styles of life – wherever situated on the gamut of experience. In principle, there is no bar to men joining in, since how one defines women has a lot to do with what it means to be a man. But it is women I invite to pull up a chair at this virtual café table and put their questions and views into the conversation. I can be wrong as often as right, so specific advice will be avoided. What will be sought is light on how best to frame the situation of women, considered as a highly interesting problematic. What kind of hand have we been dealt, as women, and how can we best play it?
Comments are warmly encouraged on any post at any point."
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Monthly Archives: March 2020
My Father’s Diaries
My Father’s Diaries In the wake of the pandemic presently sweeping our small planet, the train of projects I had is now stalled. As the fact of this frustration sank in, it came to me to turn to a task … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged action without expectation, aesthetic intelligence, archiving contemporary papers, Biblical characters, biblical frame, bodily awareness, co-religionists, Columbia University’s class of 1925, death explained, decoding philosophers, diaries, dream encounter, enigmatic brilliance, eye of the storm of history, father-daughter relation, filial piety, Henry M. Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal’s Consolations of Philosophy, Henry M. Rosenthal’s journals, intellectual diaries 1927-29, intellectual genius, intellectual journals, intellectuals of the ’20s, intellectuals of the ’30s, Jewish chosenness, Jewish co-religionists, Jewish identity, Jewish location in history, life problem, life problematic, moral intelligence, my father’s papers, pandemic, paternal legacy, personal uniqueness, philosopher’s daughter, plague refugees, posthumous publication, prayer guidance, private diaries, projects for the plague, reading character, self-recognition, self-reflection, sources of insight. Philosophic clarification, unfinished manuscripts
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Comprehending the Fate of Women
Comprehending the Fate of Women Alfred de Muset, the romantic French writer, wrote a play with the title, On ne badine pas avec l’amour, or in English, One Doesn’t Kid Around with Love. The heroine of this play speaks a … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 19th century novels, abusing women, actual v theoretical women, Alfred de Muset’s On ne badine pas avec l’amour, biological imperative, Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre", contraception and liberation, default position of women, defensive aggressiveness of women, desire and conquest, dynamic equilibrium of the sexes, educating women, egoistic weakness, egoistic willfulness, feminine power, groupthink, he had his way, le sort des femmes, male and female asymmetry, male dominance, male ego, male force, male self-command, masculine confusions, masculine nature, masculine will, modern clothes and liberation, Mr. Rochester, natural aggression, novelistic coincidences, perils of Jane Eyre, persuasive power, power-of-yielding, predicaments of women, protective love, public feminist, refrigerators and women, right to own property, right to vote, romantic French literature, self-sovereignty of women, self-supporting women, technology and women’s liberation, the fate of women, the private lives of public feminists, toxic masculinity, trust between women, unmanliness, vulnerability, what do women want?, women friends, women's vulnerability, women’s contingent freedom, women’s dignity
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“Philosophy is Learning How to Die”
“Philosophy is Learning How to Die” Socrates said that about philosophy, in front of his grieving student/disciples, at the hour when he was to down the lethal hemlock served him by the jailer. Death was the sentence passed on him … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, books, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Martyrdom, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged anger, angst, anxiety, apprentices in philosophy, Athenian jury, beliefs falsified, cleaning closets, con man, consolations of philosophy, corruption, costly victory, deep calls to deep, dropping baggage, existentialist categories, frustration, gastrointestinal distress, healing wounds, hemlock, hurt, hydrotherapy, inherited baggage, Inner Spa, interiority and exteriority, internalizing insult, keeping what you need, learning how to die, letting go, life as adventure, love of truth, love of wisdom, minimalism, nobility, one-room apartment, outrage, philosopher, philosophy as a preparation for death, philosophy as academic discipline, philosophy as way of life, philosophy students, psyche and soma, righteous combat, risks of philosophy, self-renewal, sex harasser, sexual predator, simplify simplify, Socrates, somatization, thownness, traveling light, undiscovered countries, violation
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The Personal Meets the Political
The Personal Meets the Political I’m still reading A Dangerous Liaison, the book by Carole Seymour-Jones, about the great twentieth-century power couple, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. In my previous blog on them, I focused on the inconsistency between … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged absolute certainty, absolute doubt, Albert Camus, Alfonse Dreyfus, anarchy and tyranny, Bianca Bienenfeld, bohemian freedom, Carole Seymour-Jones’ A Dangerous Liason, Claude Lanzmann’s The Patagonian Hare, communist party line, dazzling career, decadent Parisian intellectuals, defining the modern world, existentialist hero, existentialist morality, for-itself v in-itself, French intellectuals, French Resistance, Hegel’s phenomenology of spirit, Holocaust awareness, Holocaust survivors, intellectual careerism, intellectual power, intellectual PR, intellectual self-advertisement, Jean-Paul Sartre, Lanzmann’s Shoah, libertine Gnosticism, libertinism and despotism, living one’s philosophy, man/woman asymmetries, meaning of life, myths of French Resistance, Nazi genocide, occupied France, official story, opinion shaper, personal self-invention, philosophic inconsistency, philosophic life, post-modern skepticism, Power couple, private and public philosophy, rounding up Jews, seducing students, Simone de Beauvoir, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, the Dreyfus Case, the personal is the political, yellow star
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Book Matters
Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neal Hurston This is the autobiography of the great Zora Neal Hurston, whom I first learned of when Jerry started reading aloud from her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, at breakfast. The … Continue reading
