Category Archives: Idealism-
Friendship’s End
What else is there to record in a life except its possibilities for friendship? With what else could the political art be concerned? How else to measure a society or its relations between the sexes? I am in the midst … Continue reading →
Posted in absurdism, action, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, chivalry, 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, guilt and innocence, health, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, male power, masculinity, master/slave relation, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, non-violence, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, 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, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged a southern lady, abandoned by friends, avoiding cynicism, becoming one's mother, blocking transcendence, bridging differences, brink of womanhood, bubble of privilege, cold hospitality, coming of age, damaged friendship, devout atheist, ego and friendship, ending a friendship, fearing a friend, feeling abandoned, female rivalry, feminine coming of age, feminine happiness, friendship and political differences, friendship and relations between the sexes, Fulbright scholars, girlhood and adulthood, girls and mothers, girls coming of age, group mores, healthy friendship, hopes of reunion, idealism disappointed, importance of friendship, lifelong friendships, maternal coldness, maternal hatred, mother daughter relations, newlywed shocks, philosophical friends, politics and friendship, providential coincidence, rationalizing pogroms, religious bullying, riding roughshod, romantic longing, shared past, social expectations, social ranking, testing someone's tolerance, transcendence and feminity, trendy anti-semitism, true love, unshared future, women friends, women victimizing women, worldliness versus idealism, worldly skills, young Americans in Paris, young girls in flower, youthful hopes
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Ancestors
How odd of God To choose the Jews. So goes the old rhyming joke, from I dunno who. Some Englishman perhaps. But allow me to step in, on behalf of God, to explain why God did that. My explanation may count as … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, childhood, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, 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, motherhood, nineteenth-century, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, secular, 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, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged Abrahamic religion, ancestors, being above it, bible as historical, Book of Job, chief rabbi of Odessa, chosen people, cost of life choices, covenant as divine partnership, covenant with God, divine connections, divine to human relationship, drama of assimilation, Edmund de Waal's The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance, empathy with God, family mysteries, family puzzle pieces, Family secrets, fleeing Europe, following one's heart, generational memory, God and Abraham, God in history, God in meditation, God in nature, God outside the Bible, God's footprints in history, hidden epic, history as record of action, history as record of deeds, How odd of God, inherited duties, inherited roles, inherited sorrows, Jewish destiny, Jewish genius, Jewish history, Jewish predicaments, Jewish vulnerability, Jewish week of mourning, Jews agree to the covenant, Jews and insult, Jews consent to covenant, Jews in Vienna, Jews record the covenant, justifying God, lech lecha, lifelong friendship, love or duty, native born Israeli, Nazi genocide, Neve Granot, personal affinities, Rav Tsair, Rechov Rav Tsair, religious chanting, religious rituals, Sabra, Shiva, sympathy with God, the covenant as partnership with God, the Jewish assignment, theodicy, Tom Stoppard, Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt, Viennese roots, walking a social tightrope, wealth as protection, Wittgensteins of Vienna, writers' conversation
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Lionel and Henry: In Fact and Fiction
There is just one case I know of where two brilliant young writers published dueling short stories about each other, in which each is the protagonist and his best friend the antagonist. Who were the writers who would do such … Continue reading →
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, book reviews, books, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, id, idealism, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romantic love, secular, seduction, self-deception, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, 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, Uncategorized, victimhood, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged anti-communist, Authenticity, avoiding political extremes, betraying friendship; literary reputation, careerism, Columbia University’s class of 1925, communist activist, denying one’s identity, dueling short stories, emotional wholeness, erasing one's Jewish identity, Eric Voegelin Society, female malice, fulfilling youthful promise, imaginary authenticity, imaginary clandestine affair, Jewish identity, KGB files, life in disguise, Lionel Trilling, literary rivalry, lost innocence, lost youth, male friends, masked life, novel of ideas, political conversion, projecting one’s repressed identity, rabbinical student, religious conversion, roman a clef, seminary student, settling scores in fiction, social rank, Soviet agent, suppressed nostalgia, the just mean, the Left and the Right, the male mind, trial of the century; communist party, Whitttaker Chambers; Alger Hiss, womanly dignity, young writers
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Mysteries
Mysteries What part of our lives is a real mystery? I’m not talking about our yet-to-be-solved life problems nor about messages made deliberately unclear or ambiguous in order to confuse people. Leo Bronstein, who was a professor at Brandeis and … Continue reading →
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, bigotry, cities, 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, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, motherhood, mysticism, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, poetry, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, 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
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Tagged "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", assuming another's debts, authority, bad actor, bad acts drive out good, clearing up obscure situations, closure, completing a quest, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, dispelling illusions, Divine mystery, domineering men, Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor, dream messages, empathy, epiphanies, existential angst, feminine paranoia, feminine vocation, filial obligations, first love, flunking lifemanship, group dynamics, group therapy, heartbreak, ideal resolution, illustrative anecdotes, inexhaustible Source, insoluble romantic problem, last words of Caesar, Leo Bronstein, life adventures, life do's and don'ts, life quests, lifemanship, memory traces, miracle, mystery, mystification, overcoming ambivalence, overgeneralizing, psychologically double, self-help situations, shadowy situation, solving life problems, solving mysteries, spiritual irrelevance, technical support, the human scale, transgression breeds transgression, unresolved issues, unresolved romance
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Explain This.
Explain This. If the roof falls in or the ship is taking water, I’m the teammate you’ll want to have around. I’ll do anything that seems to need doing and I won’t try to be important while I’m about it. … Continue reading →
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, bigotry, book reviews, books, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, martyrdom, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, 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
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Tagged 19th century novels, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", acupuncturist, avoiding platitudes, back to normal, barriers to friendship, can't make old friends, coming up roses, comrade in arms, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, covenantal renewal, defending the defenseless, extraordinary people, facing solitude, family reunion, fight with my name on it, friend in hospital, future Holocaust, going with the flow, group identity, illustrated books, in your lifeboat, Jewish origins, lifelong friendship, local sage, moral condescension, moral solidarity, multi-generational understanding, normality, ostracism, personal identity, picturing the story, post-surgical visit, preparing the Shoah, repairing friendship, rolling with the punches, social condescension, story and picture, teammate, unforced familiarity, what I am, who I am, women friends
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Jewish Forgiveness
Jewish Forgiveness For some readers, this title is an oxymoron and might even prompt a double take. Are we talking about non-Jews forgiving Jews, and how they can do it? Surely Jews have a problem with forgiveness and grace. Jews … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, books, Christianity, contemplation, contradictions, 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, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, politics, politics of ideas, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, 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, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged accepting apologies, analytic ethics, bearing witness, British Analytic Philosophy, careless absolution, cheap grace, Christian culture, Christian forgiveness, common humanity, complexity of forgiveness, concern for justice, Day of Atonement, Emmanuel Levinas, Eve Garrard and David McNaughton's Forgiveness, evil unmitigated, evil's charm, evil's magnetism, excusing wrongdoing, foolish good intentions, foolish well-meaning, forcing good will, forgiveness withheld, forgiver and forgiven, forgiving injuries, generic humanity, God is watching, God's forgiveness, Hassidic master, Holocaust victims, honoring victims, human progress, human solidarity, identifying with wrongdoers, Jewish forgiveness, Jewish v Christian forgiveness, justice v self-interest, law v grace, looking good while being bad, misplaced fellow feeling, moral discernment, moral philosophy, moral vulnerability, parables of Jesus, prodigal son, rabbinic midrash, redeemable evil, repentance, secular viewpoint, self-promotion, self-respect, sincere apology, sincere regret, soul's redemption, spiritual discernment, spiritual intelligence, telling right from wrong, there but for the grace of God, thick skin, wrongdoers reform, Yaffa Eliach’s Hassidic Tales of the Holocaust, Yom Kippur
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My First Teaching Non-Anxiety Dream
“Moses and the Tablets”Rembrandt, 1659 My First Teaching Non-Anxiety Dream I don’t know how many academics and former academics have teaching anxiety dreams, but mine followed me even after stepping down from active faculty status. You can take the girl … Continue reading →
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, book reviews, books, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, 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, victimhood, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged anxiety dreams, blaming Moses, Book of Numbers, Cain and Abel, classroom discipline, documentary hypothesis, ecumenical dream, Exodus narrative, fear of public speaking, first fratricide, Hebrew Bible as history, Hebrew Scriptures, historicity of bible, Iliad, Israelite grumbling, Israelite wilderness narrative, Jewish calendar year, Korah's rebellion, liberal denomination, literary text interpretation, Mahabarata, Moses' leadership, naturalistic text interpretation, naturalistic worldview, nightmare, parashah, Pentateuch, Plato's influence, providential intervention, recurrent nightmare, Reform congregation, spiritual envy, student back talk, student's support, teacher's authority, Torah, Torah Study, truth v persuasiveness, Western philosophy
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Philosophy and Philosophy
Philosophy and Philosophy In recent months, I’ve been reading books that — if I weave them together — bestow overviews of two major branches of philosophy: Analytic Philosophy and Continental Philosophy. They have dominated the field for the last hundred … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, nineteenth-century, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romanticism, scientism, self-deception, 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, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged 20th-century philosophy, A.J. Ayer, actors in history, Albert Camus, Albert Einstein, Alexandre Kojève, Alexandre Kojève's Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the "Phenomenology of Spirit", Analytic philosophy, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bertrand Russell, book of Genesis, Cain and Abel, Cambridge University, Carl Hempel, Cheryl Misak’s Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers, Continental philosophy, creator/human relations, cultural diversity, cure for history, curing envy, David Edmonds's The Murder of Professor Schlick: The Rise and Fall of the Vienna Circle, dialectic of history, end of history, envy in history, ethical statements, first fratricide, first murder, Frank Ramsey, French existentialism, Freud, Freudian psychoanalysis, G. W. F. Hegel, goal of history, Hans Reichenbach, Hegelian history, history and transcendence, history's beginning, identity quest, Jews in the Vienna Circle, Kojève’s lectures, logical empiricism, logical positivism, logical truth, Ludwig Wittgenstein, meaning of sacrifice, meaningful statements, Neo-Marxism, oppressed and oppressor, Otto Neurath, philosophy in Vienna, philosophy of history, philosophy of science, post-Darwinian era, pre-history, problematic of history, Ray Monk’s Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius, relation to truth, rhetoric of equality, Rudolph Carnap, same and other, stages of history, statements about cosmogony, statements about probabilities, statements about unobservables, struggle for prestige, The Vienna Circle, timeless truth, two branches of philosophy, unreal cities, verifiable fact, verification principle, Vienna, Vienna Circle manifesto, Werner Heisenberg
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The Past 150 Years: Looking Backwards
The Past 150 years: Looking Backwards I’ve said, and I believe, that our lives are the true stories of who we are – something we find out as we try out the deeds that appear to express who we are … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, bigotry, books, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, nineteenth-century, novels, oppression, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, 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, 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, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", aestheticism, Alfred Lord Tennyson's Locksley Hall, anthropologists, Arthur Schopenhauer, auto-fiction, Bloomsbury circle, Charles Beaudelaire, Charles Darwin, chronological narratives, civilizational guilt, communism, concept of equality, cultural self-confidence, cultural self-doubt, cultural skepticism, cynicism, dark romanticism, demagogic power, denunciation competitions, disillusionment, enhanced status, fascism, flattering men, Frederich Nietzsche, global communications, God's eye view, good and evil, healthy conscience, human community, improved rights, J. K. Huysmans, keys to world history, living dialectically, living meaningfully, lost generation, lycanthropy, manipulative men, memoir, meta-narratives, moral rank-pulling, narrative view, Oscar Wilde, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey, penis envy, reductive views, repression as seductor's weapon, righteousness, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, role of religion, saving the planet, self-corrective life, self-righteousness, Sigmund Freud, spoiling the story, suffragettes, suspending judgement, the feminine in culture, the human epic, totalitarian movements, true stories, value judgments, values as objective, values as subjective, Victorian beliefs, weakened traditions, women on the defensive, women's socialization, women's liberation
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Christians, Jews, and The Great Rift
Christians, Jews, and The Great Rift I prefer to think of that world-historical-fault-line as a long, reparable misunderstanding. Whether or not that’s the right view, personally I want to patch it up. Yet I recall a Jewish scholar, speaking at … Continue reading →