Category Archives: Memoir

Confessions

Posted on April 6, 2021 by Abigail

Confessions Last night I was trying to cope with a digestive disaster and wondering what on earth could have caused it, since it didn’t seem to have the usual obvious connection with food. Two explanations presented themselves. First, a possible … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, 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, Judaism, Law, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, 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, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L Rosenthal’s Confessions of a Young Philosopher, ancient gnosticism, Australian Materialist, changing paradigms, closing off life's promise, complications of race, contending worldviews, disrupting cultural norms, double plotlines, empirical and conceptual plotlines, Eric Voegelin. philosophy of history, escapism, escapism in real history, fashionable attitudes, finding one’s footing, flawless world, gnostic belief systems, gnostic calamities, gnostic cults, gnostic hidden world, gnostic mass movements, Hans Jonas’s The Gnostic Religion, intellectual resources, Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions, Jews’ precarious position, libertine Gnosticism, life lessons, life paradigm, life problems without remedy, literary talent, living one's promise, man/woman seduction, masculine precincts, personal search for truth, philosophic motivations, philosophy as masculine, portrait of a culture, portrait of one’s era, psycho-somatic illness, quick fixes, Richard Landes’s Heaven on Earth: The Varieties of the Millennial Experience, search for truth, secret knowledge, self-portrait, situations without exit, St Augustine’s Confessions, the philosophic life, the promise of a life, the truth of one’s time, thought-worlds, utopian political views, when God doesn’t answer, women philosophers, women pioneers, world of ideas, worldviews | Leave a comment

Are We Seeing a Culture Shift?

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Abigail

Are We Seeing a Culture Shift? Dates vary, when people try to characterize a phase of culture, but for (let us say) the past 50 years, opinion-shapers in our culture have functioned under the aegis of the following influences: post-structuralism, … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, book reviews, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, 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, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, 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, Theology, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Adam Kirsch, aesthetic intentions, Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks, anything goes, artist's intentions, blacklisting, Cathleen Schine, conscious intentions, contradictory doctrines, creative intention, cultural framework, culture shift, Cynthia Ozick's Antiquities, debate at Davos, deconstruction, denouncing the denouncers, dominant group, Ernst Cassirer’s The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, falsifiable claims, group agendas, group domination, hegemony, idealist v materialist, impartial justice, intentions as irrelevant, intentions no excuse, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, John Gray, Jonathan Rée's Witcraft: The Invention of Philosophy in English, Marxism, objective reality, objective truth, opinion shaper, paradigm shift, philosophy in culture, philosophy's impact, Plato v Epicurus, post-modernism, post-structuralism, reality check, recognition of truth, relativism, rules of the road, search for truth, self-understanding, Steve G. Lofts, taking life seriously, the beautiful people, The New York Review of Books, universal values, writer's aim | Leave a comment

The Right Way to Act

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Abigail

The Right Way to Act An essay of mine with that title, excerpted from my Good Look at Evil, is now posted on academia.edu. It’s on the question of how to conduct oneself during one’s Holocaust. The title is meant … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Freedom, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, 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, Martyrdom, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, politics of ideas, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, self-deception, 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, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", academic colleagues, Argumentum ad baculum, armchair moralizing, author meets reader, behaviorism, being ready for a book, blaming the victim, book smart v street smart, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn College faculty, Brooklyn College students, character test, children of survivors, choices of duties, complex people, conditioning as excuse, confronting malice, cruelty as a motive, exonerating the guilty, extenuating circumstances, faculty reception, God as a person, hasidic tales, Hasidism, historian's verification, Holocaust, Holocaust atrocities, Holocaust commemorator, Holocaust studies, Holocaust survivor interviews, Holocaust survivors, human devotion, interviewing sources, Martin Buber's "Tales of the Hasidim: The Early Masters", moral confusion, moral evasion, naturalism, oversensitivity, personal love, Personal loyalty, primary sources, pulling moral rank, social conditioning, spiritual endurance, the hasidic world, the human spirit, the Jewish spirit, the teaching is in the tale, the triumph of the human spirit, The World of Truth, Yaffa Eliach's Hassidic Tales of the Holocaust | Leave a comment

Sanctifying the Name

Posted on March 9, 2021 by Abigail

Sanctifying the Name Christians have the concept of martyrdom, from a term of Greek derivation that means witness. The martyr refuses to renounce her faith despite all that the world can throw against it. The corresponding Jewish figure does something … 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, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Desire, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, 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, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Akiba's martyrdom, atonement, Baruch Hashem, betraying trust, blaming the victim, Christian witness, cosmic energy, desecrate the Name, disrespecting women, distance healing, divine upgrade, fighting the good fight, forgiveness, God's friend, God's home, God’s suffering, happy endings, human aspiration, Kafkaesque, low-level masculinity, male protectiveness, Martin Buber's "Tales of the Hasidim: The Early Masters", martyrdom, midrash, Moses and God, naming names, personal God, post-traumatic stress, sanctifying the Name, sexual harassment, sexual predator, social ambush, spiritual promotion, stoic philosophy, women speaking out, women's honor, women's vulnerability | 2 Comments

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, 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

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

Back by Popular Demand: It’s Hegel!

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Abigail

Back by Popular Demand: It’s Hegel! Hegel is one of the philosophers from whom I’ve learned a lot. Though he was born and died in nineteenth-century Germany, he’s still timely. In the Anglo-American sphere, the question I get is, “What’s … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, 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, Mortality, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romanticism, 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, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 19th-century philosophy Anglo-American philosophy, academic scandal, acquiring wisdom, administrative regulations, belief and identity, blacklisting, brute force, cancel culture, caste system, civil society, collegial friendship, contextual knowing, Continental philosophy, Corneille, cultural knowing, damn-fool scrape, deathbed regrets, decoding fiction, democratic infrastructure, democratic institutions, denouncers denounced, destroyed status, dishonoring, dominant group, Empiricists, enemy of the people, false beliefs, federal system, fictional characters, freedom unalloyed, French Revolution, G.W.F. Hegel, German philosophy, getting smart, guillotine, he said she said, historical forces, homo sapiens sapiens, human fairness, human governance, human unfairness, identity politics, inability to lie, inherited privilege, instant freedom, involuntary, Jane Austen, life achievement, life of ideas, lost standing, Marxism, Marxist materialism, mass executions, material cause, means of production, mediating institutions, metaphysical idealism, moral high ground, mutual mercy, mutual understanding, natural disasters, novelistic, Oppression, personal identity, philosophic friendship, plagues in history, political bullies, political center, political denunciation, political dissenter, political mobbing, popular demand, power dynamic, power relations, power to the people, professional standing, protective truths, pulling moral rank, raw data, Reign of Terror, revolutionary aims, sense perception, Shakespeare, shared fantasy, social standing, student/professor eros, the general will, tricoteuses, true beliefs, unconscious power, victim power, voluntary, voluntary associations, who seduced whom, world views | 2 Comments

New Year Retrospective

Posted on January 5, 2021 by Abigail

New Year Retrospective I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. If they had any force for me, I might. First, you gotta believe in those things. But I do find living force in going back over the path recently trodden, to … 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, Bible, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, novels, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, 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, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 2020, 2021, 5th Commandment, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", Athenians and Socrates, audio book, Bernard Harrison’s Blaming the Jews: The Persistence of a Delusion, British philosopher, Clifton Fadiman, Columbia class of 1925, competition in suffering, conscious truth, corrigible life project, course correction, dialectical tests, disloyalty to truth, Dr. Mark Bussell, elephant in the room, evil defined, failure as success, father-daughter relation, filial piety, genius, good clean fun, happiness, happiness in New York, Henry M. Rosenthal, higher code of feeling, history and the Jews, illustrated novels, intellectual memoir, Jewish intellectual, Jews on the Brain, keeping a journal, Life Force, Lionel Trilling, living dialectically, Loma Linda Neuropathic Therapy Center, materials for archiving, mental health in New York, Meyer Schapiro, narrative plotline, neuropathy treatments, New Year resolution, New York intellectuals, non-fiction narrative, novelty of narrative view, pandemic shutdown, personal growth, personal memoir, philosophic colleagues, philosophic narrative, philosophy dramatized, Platonic dialogues, satiric sense, Socrates, spoiling one’s story, talking about Jews, the drama of philosophy, theologians, Thomas Altizer, time for review, unconscious influence, unique talent, universalism in religion, world religions, yearly review, you gotta believe | 2 Comments

	Abigail on Sanctifying the Name
	Judy on Sanctifying the Name
	Abigail on Forgiveness Revisited
	malagailpedrick on Forgiveness Revisited
	Abigail on Proceedings and Addresses

Category Archives: Memoir

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