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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Category Archives: Medieval
My Mind Is Not My Brain
My Mind Is Not My Brain How much hangs on that denial – or on its contradictory, that my mind is my brain! If our minds are our brains, as I once thought, and as our educated contemporaries mostly still … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, 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, hidden God, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immortality, Institutional Power, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Medieval, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, science, scientism, secular, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged ambition, anguish, anxiety, attitudes toward death, brain and memory storage, brain death, brain death and consciousness, cardiac arrest and consciousness, cardiac care, computers and brains, conscious state and neural correlates, cruelty, cynicism, dealing with death, death and denial, death as escape, death as the end, despair, Does God make a difference?, EEG, God hypothesis, God question, identity theory, intellectual courage, life review, localizing conscious experience in the brain, manipulativeness, Materialism, mind/body problem, MRI, NDE, NDE research, NDE studies, near death experience, oblivion, paradigm shift, PET, Philosophical Materialism, physicalism, Pim Van Lommel, Pim Van Lommel's Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience, placebo effect, prejudice, reductionism and culture, reincarnation, right pathway, search for purpose, success fixation, surviving brain death, surviving death, terminal lucidity, the absurd, verifiable afterlife reports, willful blindness
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Easter and Passover
Easter and Passover This year, the climactic commemorative celebration days for each religion actually did overlap. Which raised questions about their possible relationship, or at least how they stand today vis a vis each other. I tend to agree with … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, Medieval, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, self-deception, 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, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abel's sacrifice, acting acceptably to God, after the Fall, asymmetry of the sexes, Athens and Jerusalem, Cain and Abel, Cain's hatred for Abel, celebration days, Christian doctrine, Christianity, Christianity and culture, Christianity and Judaism, Classical thought, clear of mind, country gospel, despair, despair as premature, Divine proximity, Easter, eating the apple, escaping despair, eviction from Eden, Exodus story, explaining the Crucifixion, face to face, Gan Eden, Genesis 3, gifts of Christianity, God's Jewish pilot project, historicity of the Bible, Holy envy, humanity as sinful, Interfaith dialogue, irreparable faults, irreparable mistakes, Israelite experience, Jewish Theological Seminary, Jewish/Christian coexistence, Jewish/Christian reciprocal forgiveness, Jews contribution to the world, Judaism, Judaism for export, Krister Stendahl, life review, living in history, living realistically, living without disguises, longest hatred, longing for transcendence, meeting God in action, Michael Wyschogrod, original sin, Passover, Passover and theology, politics of religion, pure of heart, Rabbi Irving Greenberg, rabbinical students, religious celebration, religious coexistence, religious differences, religious discussion, repairing relationships, resolving misunderstandings, Resurrection of Jesus, telling good from evil, the charge of deicide, The Garden of Eden, the historical condition, the human condition, the lens of sin, theological discussion, Union Theological Seminary, work obligation, world without Christianity
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Philosophy on the Timeline
Philosophy on the Timeline The other day, I went to a new acupuncturist. We got to talking, I and the nice young man who’d been assigned to me for my initial session. From the forms I filled out as a … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, books, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Medieval, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, 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, Utopia, victims, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged acupuncturist, analytic philosophers, Aristotle, boredom in culture, curing history, defining a culture, Descartes, dialectical method, dialectical progress, evil and freedom, evil and narrative, evil in history, George Lucas' The Ordering of Time: Meditations on the History of Philosophy, goal of history, graduate philosophy study, GWF Hegel, History of Philosophy, history's dialectic, history's future discoveries, Husserl, life's adventures, long philosophic conversation, love of wisdom, method of dialectic, moral threats, moral victories, Nietzsche, optimism about history, pessimism about history, philosophic mistakes, philosophical passion, philosophy and evil, philosophy professor, philosophy's history, philosophy's lineage, philosophy's questions, Plato, progress in history, rabbinic method, rabbis and philosophy, refutation in philosophy, Socrates, superseded philosophers, Talmudic method, the longest conversation, theories of history, views of truth, world views
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The Soul Writ Large
The Soul Writ Large Plato wrote a dialogue on political justice. In English it’s titled The Republic. Besides Socrates, the major speakers are Plato’s two brothers. They are trying to solve a problem that’s been set up by an intruder … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute freedom and terror, Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, 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, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Medieval, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, social ranking, 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, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L Rosenthal’s Confessions of a Young Philosopher, American in Paris, British attitudes to women, cultural density, cultural layers, culture and nature, Darwinian struggle, escape from history, Fulbright fellowship, gnostic belief system, masculine culture, personal as political, philosophy and the feminine, Plato, political justice, power as explanatory, power struggle, real-world problems, Socratic dialogue, soul writ large, spiritual exhaustion, street smarts, student life in Paris, study abroad, The Republic, Thrasymachus, unreal solutions, utopian delusions, women’s fears
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Days of Awe
Days of Awe On the anniversary of September 11, I often rerun the column that I posted here in September 2001, after my visit to the City, a week later. Like many people, I’d felt shattered by the attack on … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, beauty, Biblical God, Christianity, Cities, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Martyrdom, Masculinity, Medieval, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, relationships, Religion, Roles, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, 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 9/11, American crisis, art protection, Book of Job, Byzantine crucifix, city walking, cultural crisis, defining event, desire to live, divine immanence, Faith, fear, fearfulness, FEMA, first responders, gratitude, grief, Ground Zero, Henry M. Rosenthal's "Prayer and Its Power", heroes, Kali, loss, Lower Manhattan, mental concentration, mental focus, Metropolitan Museum, National Guard, New York City, New York cops, New York firemen, New York resilience, New Yorkers, power of prayer, prayer, psychological fragmentation, Rabbi, realism, self-integration, sermon, sincerity, sorrow, spirit, spiritual focus, street smarts, terrorism, Todd Stone, transcendence, urban attack, walking intelligently, war zone
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The Fallacy of Misplaced Vagueness
The Fallacy of Misplaced Vagueness The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead spotlighted a previously unrecognized mistake in reasoning: “the fallacy of misplaced concreteness.” It happens when we confuse an abstract concept for something concrete. Medieval knights set out in quest of … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Autonomy, books, Chivalry, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cultural Politics, Culture, dialectic, eighteenth century, Eternity, Faith, Fashion, hegemony, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Law, Literature, Love, Medieval, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mysticism, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, science, scientism, secular, seventeeth century, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged abstract concept, Alfred N. Whitehead, atomic facts, confusing abstract for concrete, economics and human wickedness, Einstein and quantum theory, Einstein’s laws of nature, Einstein’s space/time, ensemble of probabilities, fallacies, fallacy of misplaced concreteness, history of money, holiness, holiness as a practice, Holy Grail, Isaac Newtown, John Locke, laws of nature, Locke’s view of money, measuring a wave, Medieval knights, medium of exchange, mind of God, modern finance, money, Newtown and money, physics, picturing the world, quantum entanglement, quantum entanglement and observer, Thomas Levenson’s Money for Nothing, value of money, wave collapse, wave into particle
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The Paranormal and Me
The Paranormal and Me If by “the paranormal” is meant the field of reality that comprises effects not linked to causes by any known physical laws — and if the missing links are likely found in consciousness – then the … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, books, bureaucracy, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Films, Freedom, Friendship, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Medieval, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, 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, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, 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, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged academic nonreappointment, academic philosophers, academic politics, academic protocol, academic tenure, ambiguous evidence, anecdotal evidence, bad professional news, cause and effect, collegial ridicule, collegial shunning, conscious beings, consciousness, consciousness research, culture and the paranormal, dangers of psi, digging a well, dowser, dowser’s stick, emotional absence, emotional letdown, everyday experience, finding water, funding for research, funding for unpopular research, house in Maine, intellectual foundations, invisible force, known physical laws, medical candor, mediums who cheat, missing explanatory links, news bearer, nocebo effect, nonphysical causation, one of the boys, paradigm change, paranormal and fraud, physical laws, placebo effect, precognitive bad news, precognitive dreams, premonitions, present day physics, private life and paranormal, professional risk, psychic, psychic power, refuting instance, researching the paranormal, secrets of consciousness, significant coincidence, social death, Stephen E. Braude’s The Gold Leaf Lady: And Other Parapsychological Investigations, study of consciousness, the paranormal, the search for truth, unpopular hypothesis, unsupportive men, what everybody knows
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