Category Archives: power games
The Ring of Gyges
There is a story that Plato tells in The Republic, his dialogue on political justice. Here’s how it goes. It starts with a man named Gyges. Everyone considered him to be a normal fellow. There was nothing odd about him. … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, agnosticism, alienation, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, Nihilism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, repairing the culture, roles, science, scientism, seduction, self-deception, 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, Truth, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged ant colony behavior, ant nest assignments, ant social structures, changes in behavior when no one is watching, discharged from hospital, empathy, ethical choices under pressure, evolutionary ladder, fairness, fracture, functional obligations, good when someone is watching, goodness and observation, Gyges, healing and reflection, helpless patient, hospital experience, human nature, illness and insight, institutional indifference, Is the just man happier?, just vs unjust, philosopher of biology, philosophy from the bedside, physical rehab recovery, Plato, political justice, Sandra D. Mitchell's Biological Complexity and Integrative Pluralism, self-advocacy, selfish behavior, social advantages and disadvantages of acting right, social advantages of acting justly, social insects, Socrates, study of ant behavior, The Republic, The Ring of Gyges, the truth of human behavior, the view from the hospital bed, true self and social presence, unkind behavior, vulnerability and dignity, What are we?, when the cat is away the mice will play, witness to life, writing from recovery
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Easter Sunday
For my Christian friends, today is the day Jesus rose from the dead. O the stone was rolled away he’s no longer where he lay. Or so goes the country hymn. Did Jesus rise from the dead? Even analytic philosophers … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, freedom, friendship, 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, immortality, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, 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, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 36 righteous ones, analytic philosophers and theological claims, Cain and Abel, Christian doctrine, Christian transcendence vs Jewish immanence, Christian verticality vs Jewish historicity, Christian/Jewish theological differences, Christianity, country hymns, cultural norms, Edith Wyschogrod, faith-systems mutually challenged, historicity of the resurrection, inherited bigotry, inherited prejudice, intellectual risk, interfaith discussion, interfaith faux benevolence, Irving Greenberg, Irving Greenberg and the Resurrection, Jewish Presbyterian negotiations, Jewish Vatican negotiations, lamed vovnik, Michael Wyschogrod, people live and die by ideas, philosopher/theologian, phony mutual respect, platitudinous goodwill, questioning one’s assumptions, resurrection, risen Christ, rivalry for God’s love, search for truth, self-congratulatory goodwill, sibling rivalry and God, spiritual risk, theological negotiations, theological politics, theological rainbow group, theological rivalry, theology and sex appeal, unreal city in the future, Wyschogrod’s Rainbow Group
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Shell Shocked
Presently, with more than ordinary effort, I am recovering from an attack of temporary memory loss – in delayed reaction to a combat that personally I wasn’t in. Among the young and educated elite, it is now okay – more … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, freedom, friendship, 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, immortality, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, 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, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged academic search for truth, Athens and Jerusalem, bad kid, Berkeley cheering for Hamas, biblical history, cheering for Hamas at Columbia, civilizational foundations, Columbia University, confronting a bully, drawing the line, fight for dominance, fight for one’s honor, God as history’s witness, history’s divine witness, Jewish historical experience, Jewish memory, kids’ pecking order, living on the timeline, living your philosophy, living your words, long fasts, meaning what you say, memory loss, Oct 7 2023, Oct 8th pro-Hamas demonstrations, Post Traumatic Stress, resisting the bully, search for truth in the academy, shell shock, stopping the bully, the duty to remember, the House that Plato Built, theosophist, youthful combats
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Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions: Beginningwise, Part 2
Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, books, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, 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, immortality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", 1950s America, 1950s gender roles, 20th century femininity, Abigail L. Rosenthal, American vs French women, Americans in Paris, becoming a woman, culture shock, desirability, embodiment and identity, emotional vulnerability, erotic love, eternal ideas, existential truth, female authenticity, female coming-of-age, female identity, female philosopher, feminine authenticity, feminine dignity, feminine success, feminine truth vs universal truth, femininity before feminism, feminist history, feminist philosophy books, first love, fork in the road, French idea of romance, Fulbright scholars, fulfilled woman, gender and power, God of history, heartbreak, historical consciousness, historical God, human connection, intellectual woman, Jerry L. Martin, life of the mind, living in history, longing and regret, loss of innocence, love and identity, Marxism and seduction, Paris, Paris and romance, philosophic memoir, philosophy and concrete experience, philosophy and love, power dynamics in seduction, power of the feminine, Radicalism and seduction, real-world truth, Reductionism and seduction, romantic absolute, romantic awakening, romantic disillusionment, romantic failure, romantic identity, romantic vulnerability, sex and power, sexual awakening, sexual initiation, social boundaries, social conformism, social roles, spiritual integrity, spiritual integrity undermined, spiritual witness, Sublimation, transitory love, truth about life, values in the body, vulnerability, witnessing truth, woman philosopher, women and philosophy, women and social conformism, women and vulnerability, women as socially defined, women before feminism, women’s memoirs, young female philosopher, youthful turning point
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Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions: Beginningwise, Part 1
Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, freedom, friendship, 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, immortality, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 1950s America, Abigail L. Rosenthal, being a woman, Biblical love, compensatory strategies, concrete experience, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, consequential lives, Coup de foudre, culture shock, desirability, Eastern vs Western philosophy, erotic love, eternal ideas, existential truth, female authenticity, female identity, female philosopher, feminine authenticity, feminine dignity, feminine success, feminist history, French romance, fulfilled woman, Fullbright scholars, Gnostic love, God of history, heartbreak, historical consciousness, historical God, human connection, intellectual woman, Jacob and Rachel, Jerry L. Martin, Jewish history, Jewish imagination, Jewish script, Latin Quarter, le succès, life of the mind, living in history, medieval romance, motherhood, Paris, Paris and romance, philosophy and love, Plan A, Plan B, Plato, postwar culture, pretenses of personal life, real-world truth, rivalry in love, romantic absolute, romantic failure, romantic identity, Romantic Love, romantic success, romantic vulnerability, social boundaries, social roles, spiritual witness, Sublimation, transitory love, Tristan and Iseult, truth about life, vulnerability, witnessing truth
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Acquiring Jewish Existence
“You have the Jewish essence,” I was once told by a friend. “But you don’t have Jewish existence.” The verdict had been pronounced by my late friend Milton Schubin, who was then a partner in a powerful New … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, freedom, friendship, 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, immortality, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, 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, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged academic fight, academic job fight, antisemitism as an illness that breaks out, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn College of CUNY, chasing ghosts, common sense and the occult, family in high places, finding water with a dowser, flight from the Jewish assignment, global fight against global antisemitism, God as old man with white beard, grandfather looking like God, Henry M. Rosenthal's philosophy students, Israeli family, Jewish calendar holidays, Jewish calendar year, Jewish existence, Jewish existence as frightening, Jewish in life habits, Jewish in the head, Jewish life method, Jewish ritual observance, Jewish ritual practices, Jewish time in history, Jewish time in recorded history, Jewish wariness re the occult, Judaism as a field of practices, Judaism as a way of life, keeping a kosher diet, leaving the rabbinate, legal advice, legal fight, living the Jewish assignment, looking up to your grandfather, Milton Schubin, mixed signals, Nazi use of sealed trucks, New York law firm, occult experience as destabilizing, Oct 8, Oct 8 global antisemitism, out of body experience, out-of-body view of global antisemitism, out-of-body vision, past life memory, past lives, philosophy students, pre-Holocaust killings, pro bono legal advice, rabbinic descent, Rav Tsair, remembering a past life, resisting fear, seeing hate from above, spiritualism, teacher-student friendship, the Jewish essence, the occult and its dangers, the occult and moral danger, the occult and psychological danger, the occult and spiritual danger, the run-up to the Holocaust, understanding Judaism conceptually, understanding Judaism existentially, understanding Judaism experientially, wariness and skepticism, wariness re the occult
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Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions: Preface, Part 4
Today Dr. Jerry L. Martin and Dr. Abigail L. Rosenthal (author of Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column) complete their discussion of the Preface to her new book, Confessions of a Young Philosopher. Let’s see how their discussion winds up. *** *** Jerry: In … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, freedom, friendship, 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, immortality, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, 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, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", 20th-century philosophy, Abigail L. Rosenthal, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", academic philosophy, authenticity and truth, authenticity in love, Confession as a genre, Divine witness, ethics and integrity, ethics of love, examined life, existential reflection, faith and reason, feminist philosophy, Fulbright scholarship, God as backup for truthfulness, God as Witness, God's bias for truthfulness, God's Witness and truthfulness, grin and bear it, happy ending, honest motivation, human experience, idealism vs reality, inauthentic religion, insuperable obstacles, intellectual honesty, intellectual independence, Jewish philosophy, leaving home, liberty of mind, life as experiment, life as experiment with truth, life's ideal dimension, life's verticle dimension, live your philosophy, living authentically, living sincerely, living without pretense, living your ideas, love of wisdom, married philosophers, moral courage, moral philosophy, mystical experience, Paris, Paris in the 20th century, Paris memoirs, personal philosophy, philosophical autobiography, philosophical journey, philosophical memoir, philosophical storytelling, philosophy and love, philosophy and spirituality, philosophy of love, putting ideas to the test, real life as a test of ideas, romantic marriages, search for truth, seeking truth, seeking wisdom, self-deception, self-discovery, self-trust, sincerity in philosophy, smile!, Spinoza, stoicism, testing one's ideals, true aim of marriage, true love, truth in marriage, unforeseen pitfalls, wisdom traditions, witness to truth, women authors, women philosophers, worldly warnings, you can't fool God
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Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions: Preface, Part 3
Today Dr. Jerry L. Martin and Dr. Abigail L. Rosenthal (author of Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column) carry forward last week’s discussion of her new book, Confessions of a Young Philosopher. Let’s see how their discussion continues. *** *** Jerry: You just believed in … Continue reading →