Category Archives: glitterati
Call No Woman Happy
In his Histories, Herodotus tells the tale of a certain King Croesus of Lydia (reigned 585-547 BCE) who boasted of his happiness to a guest, the wise Solon. The guest warned him that – given life’s uncertainties – no one … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, journalism, law, 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, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged admitting that one is happy, anachronistic judgements, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle’s view that the dead suffer from the living, beyond our control, call no man happy, call no man happy until he is dead, cancel culture, Charles Van Doren, Charles Van Doren’s congressional testimony, classical proverbs, Columbia College Class of 1925, congruence with one’s self, Cyrus and Croesus, dangers of success, death as refuge, destroyed reputation, don’t speak ill of the dead, dumb and happy, family honor, family in the public eye, family politcs, family prestige, fascism and antifacisim, father son relation, fear of success, feeling another’s sorrows, fortune is fickle, Founding Fathers, friendship and empathy, good breeding, good taste and bad form, happiness and envy, happiness in the real world, happiness mistaken for stupidity, Henry M Rosenthal, Herodotus’ Histories, heroes unmasked, highbrow reputation, hubris, ignorance is bliss, inward joy, joy and misfortune, joy vs happiness, judging the past by current standards, King Croesus, learning life's lessons, life’s contingencies, lifelong regrets, literary celebrity, loss of standing, luck and merit, mob mentality, moralism, nobody’s perfect, personal downfall, posthumous disgrace, posthumous loss of reputation, pride goeth before a fall, public approval, pulling moral rank, realistic happiness, repercussions, reputation reversal, retroactive moralistic denunciations, rich as Creosus, rolling with the punches, self integration, showbiz or dishonesty, showbiz vs integrity, social hierarchy, Solon and Croesus, students of Mark Van Doren, success and happiness, tempting fate, that’s showbiz, the ancients were right, The Autobiography of Mark Van Doren 1958, the etiquette of happiness, the hazards of joy, the integrated self, the past is present, the risks of happiness, TV celebrity, uncertainties of fate, uncovering secrets
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I Never Got A Cat
Cats are greatly to be respected. For that reason, I never wanted to treat a cat as Abbie’s Plan B, to have and to hold just in case she didn’t obtain what she really wanted – Abbie’s Plan A – … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, 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, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, immorality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged a good woman, a woman’s virtue, beauty of women, believing victims, Bill Clinton and women, castration fear, cats as feminine, dishonored man, dishonored woman, feminine normality, femininity of cats, Freud and masculinity, Freud and women, honor in men and women, I know what you need, Juanita Broaddrick, Kierkegaard and women, Kierkegaard on marriage, Kierkegaard on the ethical, Kierkegaard’s Either/Or Volume 2, Kierkegaard’s ethical woman, Kierkegaard’s misogyny, male normality, MeToo movement, Monica Lewinsky, mystery of cats, NBC’s Lisa Myers, normal women, Oedipus complex, Oedipus Rex, ordinary women, ostracized women, outing a woman, respect for cats, respectable women, social exile, Sophocles, Soren Kierkegaard, spinsterhood, unmarried women, vulnerability of women, war between the sexes, what do women fear, what do women want, woman endangered, womanhood threatened, women and notoriety, women in the spotlight, women’s fears, women’s honor
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What Do Women Want?
At the beginning of the American feminist movement, a distinguished philosophical journal, The Monist, brought out an entire issue on the subject. It included my contribution, “Feminism Without Contradictions.” There I pointed out some of the dangerous rocks, shoals and … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, 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, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, immorality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, motherhood, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged a female perspective on Freud, American feminism, caricaturing women, castration fear, civilized discontent, compensating women, confidences between strangers, cost of sublimation, European women, female role models, females as defective males, feminine models, femininity and womanliness, feminism and philosophy, Freud's map of consciousness, Freudian inner life, Freudian New York, Freudian sublimation, Freudian unconscious, gender balance, gender identity, gender norms, gender specific, idealizing women, incestuous passion, liberated women, men as the enemy, nonbiologic aims in Freud, Oedipus complex, opening up to strangers, pre-feminist America, pre-feminist double binds, pre-feminist fashion, pre-feminist women, primal defect, protective privacies, protective rights, rollback of rights, sexual identity, sisterhood, sisterhood and feminism, social constructs, southern women, sublimation in Freud, The Monist, unconscious strategy, unequal power dynamic, unisex facilities, what women want, woman as social construct, women as castrators, women as defective, women on a pedestal, women writers, women's bathrooms, women's Freudian compensations, women's Freudian sublimation, women's locker rooms, women's prisons, women's right to achieve, women's rights, women's sports, women's vulnerability, World of Desire
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Voegelinian Vagaries
In last week’s column, I mentioned that Eric Voegelin is a political philosopher whom I approach – in advance and in principle – with a high degree of respect. Unlike most contemporary thinkers about life at the political level, he is not … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, 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, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, 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, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romanticism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social climbing, 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, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's A Good Look at Evil, Abigail L. Rosenthal's Spoiling One's Story: The Case of Hannah Arendt, anti-Semitic question, apocalypse, audience Q & A, Auguste Comte, before and after, Bible and history, Biblical canon, biblical Israel, Biblical narrative, Biblical source criticism, Center for Process Studies, changing opinions, Christian Jewish competition, Claremont University, collegial respect, cultural change, cultural change and personal change, culturally derived views, daily journaling, Deuteronomy, divine and human guidance, divine commands, divine providence, Eric Voegelin, erudite scholar, eschatology, Exodus, expertise on nazism, gnostic movements, God gives the words, guilt and innocence on the timeline, hearing God’s word, heckler at lecture, higher criticism, Holocaust, how to live in history, inspiration in action, journal keeping, keeping the past relevant, life in culture, life in history, live and learn, living in time, living with God in history, Marxism, mental health, Moses at the burning bush, Nazi canards, nazi rhetoric, players in history, players in the human story, political philosopher, political philosophy, prayer guidance, professional respect, providence and history, providential footprints, providential incident, reconceiving the past, reversing opinions, self monitoring, self tracking, supersessionist assumptions, testimony under oath, the Bible as literature, the gift of the Jews, time and justice, Torah, Voegelin's inspiration, Voegelin's Israel and Revelation, Voegelin's misunderstandings, Voegelin's Order and History, who drew first
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Acting in Real Time
Of all the forms of worship I know about, Biblical religion is the one most wedded to chronology. It carries the message that the action called for cannot be postponed. It must be done now. There is a concomitant duty … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, childhood, cities, 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, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romanticism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social climbing, 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, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 1776 vote on Independence, academic excellence, acting in real time, Biblical religion, Brooklyn College, Caesar A. Rodney, chronological religion, Churchill's speeches, college administration, college policy, deadlines, dealing with tyrants, Declaration of Independence, documentary evidence, eloquence in a leader, fate of nations, forgetting and remembering, God in the Sistine Chapel, grandfather looks like God, historical crisis, imprinting memory, improving curriculum, Iron Law of the Bully, Jeremy Kagan's The Nature And Pursuit of Truth in Different Cultural Contexts in Strauss Spinoza & Sinai: ed Bloom Goldstein & Student, keeping commitments, keeping national trust, Lincoln's speeches, living in the now, manipulative speeches, meaning what you say, Michaelangelo's God, mistrusting heroes, moral timeliness, now of action, oddities of memory, Rav Tsair, refusal to personalize, religion on the timeline, representing one's nation, Second Continental Congress, sense of history, spoken with intention, Talmudic view of language, the right words, this ironical age, urgent action, what has to be said, words and reality, words and things, Zelensky's address to Congress
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