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: May 2022
The Right to Think
The Right to Think In the dusty arena of public life, we see a contest between the Right to Life and the Right to Choose. There is, however, a third right that gets little or no play in that … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, 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 of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, scientism, 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, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", abortion and hypocrisy, abortion and self-defense, academic politics, anatomy is destiny, Applied Ethics, asymmetry of the sexes, childbearing age, choice of evils, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, facing controversy, forced option, freedom to think, Hannah Arendt, live option, marital protection, marital safety, men dominating women, moral tests, obligatory freedom, professional politics, public arena, public space, right to choose, right to life, right to think, Roe v Wade, sex biological and cultural, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, social politics, social safety, status of the unborn, stigmatizing women, Supreme Court abortion case, Talmudic view of abortion, test of character, truth-seeking, unavoidable sins, unhappily pregnant, up against the wall, utopian delusions, vetoed opinions, women's defenses, women's tragic choices, women's vulnerability
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Iris Murdoch: Bringing Philosophy to Life
Iris Murdoch: Bringing Philosophy to Life When Jerry and I fly to California for another round of my neuropathy treatments, we each bring something to read en route. Obviously our selections have to be in paperback and short. Since I’d … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, bigotry, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Institutional Power, life and death struggle, Literature, Male Power, Masculinity, master, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Freddie lost his cool", A.J. Ayer's Language Truth and Logic, Abigail L. Rosenthal's What Ayer Saw When He Was Dead, acting rightly, airplane reading, arbitrary willing, Ayer's What I Saw When I Was Dead, background assumptions, contest of ideas, conversational implicature, deathbed regrets, eliminating nonsense, experiential layers, free will out of context, freedom of the will, Iris Murdoch's The Severed Head, Iris Murdoch’s The Sovereignty of Good, it has my name on it, knowledge and moral choice, logical positivism, moral choices, moral knowledge, neuropathy treatments, novels of ideas, Oxford and Cambridge, paperback books, pathbreaking women, philosophic about face, philosophic courage, philosophic novelist, Philosophy: The Journal of The Royal Institute of Philosophy, redeeming good deeds, reversing one's paradigm, That Undiscovered Country, the human story, the moral stakes, the obligatory act, the one best choice, the right note, the right stroke, the right word, The Vienna Circle, valuing truth, What do you mean?, women philosophers
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How Can We Know If It’s God?
How Can We Know If It’s God? Are we making a big mistake? Couldn’t it be Tom, Dick, or Susie instead? Well, no. Those three friends are all palpable, visible, leave imprints when they sit on the couch, chat about … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, 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, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics, 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, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", academic evaluation, academic grievance, academic politics, academic tenure, accessing circumstances, arbitration hearing, astral bodies, atheists, coincidence, communication overload, conceptual rigidity, confronting one's culture, confronting one's situation, contemporary communication, divine authority, divine ecstasy, divine signs, divine vision, divine visitation, Divine witness, divine/human interactions, escapist fantasies, escapist flight, faculty union, getting fired, ideal world, Jewish angels, Jewish calendar, Jewish essence v Jewish existence, Jewish relation to God, Jewish time, linear time, openness to God's direction, personal relationship with God, prayer guidance, prayer-guided life, problematic of history, prophetic claims, providential messaging, reasons for atheism, recognizing God, religious acculturation, retroactive confirmation, risk and certainty, the God question, theological mistakes, unconscious projection, Ur of the Chaldees., Willie Nelson
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Philosophical Women: the Pathbreakers
Philosophical Women: the Pathbreakers The Women are Up to Something is a book title lifted from a remark made by a male philosopher who anticipated trouble from one of the women philosophers at Oxford. The occasion at which the trouble … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual not religious, 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 A. J. Ayer's Language Truth and Logic, Anschulss, Benjamin Lipscomb's The Women Are Up to Something: How Elizabeth Anscombe Philippa Foot Mary Midgley and Iris Murdoch Revolutionized Ethics, brilliant women, Catholic convert, criterion of meaningfulness, death camp film footage, Donald MacKinnon, English universities, facts and values, feeling as feminine, females at Oxford, gendered play, Holocaust and history, intellectual drama, intellectual universe, logical positivism, lovers of wisdom, Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, male intellect, male philosophers, masculine habits of speech, masculine social reality, meaninglessness, microscopic billiard balls, Oxford honorees, Oxford University, philosophical bestseller, philosophical boundaries, philosophical nonsense, the verification principle, The Vienna Circle, thought as masculine, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, upholding standards, value neutral bits of matter, value neutral components, virtue ethics, virtue ethics and World War II, wartime broken lives, women making trouble, women philosophers, women's insignificance
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