Monthly Archives: February 2021

How Did I Get To Be This Happy?

Posted on February 23, 2021 by Abigail

How Did I Get To Be This Happy? If I put this question to an existentialist, the answer would be: “Because you’re inauthentic. You walk around in bad faith.” The human situation can be deemed absurd (if you’re feeling French) … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social construction, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "my station and its duties", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", absurdism, angst, animal communicators, animal emotions, animal personalities, anxiety, archiving materials, asking the experts, awareness in nature, bad faith, blogging, book illustrations, childhood hero, childhood influence, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, debts of honor, distant God v near God, double-sided experience, Elmer Sprague, existentialists, filial piety, genius, grandparents, hasidic forgiveness, Hebrew Union College, Henry M. Rosenthal, horse knowledge, horse sense, human animal interactions, inauthentic, inner changes, Jewish Institute of Religion, Jewish saints, life as fiction, life expertise, life transition, loyal colleagues, Martin Buber, Martin Buber's "Tales of the Hasidim: The Early Masters", maternal impactor, Matthew Cohn, moral bookkeeping, moral burdens, Nancy Drew, natural cheerfulness, nature's goodness, New York attitude, obituaries, objective changes, online communication, online outreach, online readership, pandemic opportunities, pandemic peak experience, paternal impactor, paternal legacy, paying respects, personal God, post-modern attitude, Proceedings and Addresses, Rav Tsair, real life hero, relation to God, repressed guilt, self report, senior colleague, spiritual burden, talmudic scholars, the human situation, time window, work in the world, writers and writing, year-of-the-pandemic, zaddik | Leave a comment

A Good Look at Evil Is Now an Audio Book!

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Abigail

We meet with evil in the ordinary course of experience, as we try to live our life stories. It’s not a myth. It’s a mysterious but quite real phenomenon. How can we recognize it? How can we learn to resist … Continue reading →

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Forgiveness Revisited

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Abigail

Forgiveness Revisited Lately I’ve come to a new attitude toward forgiveness and, for me, it’s a really great change. You might say, it’s a move closer to the Christian view, but that would be misleading. The change was prompted by … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, Childhood, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, 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, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Anne Frank, anti-semitism, anti-semitism in denial, cafe conversation, cheap grace, Christian forgiveness, circling evil, civilian Nazi collaborator, civilian Nazi informer, conditions for forgiveness, dangers of forgiveness, defaming others, defeating evil, Dietrich Bonhoffeur, divine power, dream narrative, dream visit, enabling, enabling an aggressor, evil's contagion, forgiveness, forgiving injuries to others, genteel anti-semitism, geography of experience, get out of jail free, hasidic saints, hasidic tradition, insulting Jews, Jesus and forgiveness, Jewish atonement, Jewish identity, Jewish saints, Jewish self-defense, Jews in hiding, letting go, life experience, life wounds, lightening the load, love of God, making amends, Martin Buber, Martin Buber's "Tales of the Hasidim: The Early Masters", moral burdens, moral landscape, moral martial arts, overheard at a cafe, power of forgiveness, rabbinic view of forgiveness, repairing social injury, restaurant scene, self-righteousness, significant dream, social combat, social protocol, soul visitation, spiritual transformation, superficial sophisticates, the art of war, the family of Anne Frank, theological anti-semitism, transforming evil, turning the other cheek, zaddik | 2 Comments

Proceedings and Addresses

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Abigail

Proceedings and Addresses Proceedings is the shared forum, like the Athenian agora, where American philosophers who have managed to command the attention of their colleagues publish their invited addresses. Since 2000, I’ve stepped down from active faculty status (though not … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hierarchy, history of ideas, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, science, scientism, Seduction, self-deception, seventeeth century, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 17th century thought, Abigail's Adages, academic gossip, academic infighting, academic papers, academic politics, academic wives, agora, American philosophers, American Philosophy, APA, APA’s Memorial Minutes, APA’s Presidential Address, Athenian agora, Authenticity, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn College Philosophy Department, confirmation bias, Contemporary philosophy, cut throat business, discrediting reason, dog eat dog, epistemolgy, faculty status, finding oneself, giving a paper, good advice, high-power husband, human trustworthiness, impartial criteria, intellectual competition, intimate ties, invited addresses, Julia Driver, mathematical physics, misology, modern philosophy, moral criteria, moral prioritization, New York diner, one thought too many, pecking order, Penelope Maddy, personal v universal, philosophic argument, physicalism, primary and secondary qualities, Proceedings and Addresses, science and human values, search for truth, self-realization, sense of belonging, sense of decency, shared reasoning, snubbing, social forces, social prudence, The American Philosophical Association, The Enlightenment, the football field, the human zoo, the latest stuff, the longest conversation, the measurement of nature, theory of knowledge, universal criteria, universal ties, wives and widows, women philosophers | 2 Comments

The Baal Shem Tov

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Abigail

The Baal Shem Tov The Baal Shem Tov (Master of the Good Name) is the preeminent Hassidic master, the 18th-century founder (1700-1760) and prototype of any follower who practices in that tradition. His very presence was said to be a … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immortality, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Martyrdom, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Authenticity, Baal Shem Tov, balancing power, becoming a Jew, charisma, Christian saints, converting to Judaism, cosmetic envy, crowd approval, dog approval, envy of Jews, envy of skills, fearlessness, happy endings, Hassidic master, Hassidim, hatred of Jews, healing power, horse approval, insider envy, Jewish fears, Jewish saints, Jewish sect, Jewish spiritual gifts, Jewish spiritual history, keeping one's cool, Martin Buber, Martin Buber's "Tales of the Hasidim: The Early Masters", overcoming bad inclinations, peak experiences, perfectability, perfection, personal story, piety, popularity, pseudo-feelings, recognizing a zaddik, self-actualization, self-curiosity, self-defeating reformers, sincere envy, sincere prayer, spiritual giants, staying in balance, strange fate of the Jews, the art of being Jewish, the Jewish spirit, tolerating the intolerable, untheatrical lives, Vilna Gaon, women's envy, zaddik | Leave a comment

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Monthly Archives: February 2021

A Good Look at Evil Is Now an Audio Book!

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