Category Archives: Romantic Love

Why Women Are Mean to Other Women

Posted on July 4, 2017 by Abigail

Why Women Are Mean to Other Women Whew! This is a touchy subject. Almost taboo, since we are these days denominated the compassionate, caring, anti-violence sex. Labels of these kinds call to mind the way 19th-century suffragettes made the case … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, motherhood, nineteenth-century, non-violence, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 19th century, American Philosophical Association, androgyny, anti-war women, APA, bad women, badness and goodness, cattiness, choreography, dance of courtship, domesticity, erotic polarities, female attractiveness, forging freedom, Francis Thomson’s In No Strange Land, free will, gender roles, good men, good women, gossip, helpmeet, living one’s story, male brutality, male cruelty, male/female polarity, man/woman asymmetry, man/woman choreography, manliness, maternal coldness, maternal virtues, mean girls, Mean women, moral difference, motherhood, nature v nurture, nurturing, philosophical argument, Plato’s Symposium, public v private, real men, real women, reigning orthodoxy, same-sex eros, sensitizing men, sex and gender, sex differences, sexual attraction, social constructs, suffragettes, sympathy for women, the caring sex, the compassionate sex, the feminist movement, time and fertility, timeless attraction, touchy subject, true stories, unisex, virility, winners and losers, women against violence, women against women, women in competition, women in the kitchen, women in the nursery, women’s caring, women’s compassion, yin and yang, youth and attractiveness | Leave a comment

About Confessions of a Young Philosopher

Posted on June 27, 2017 by Abigail

About Confessions of a Young Philosopher A few months have gone by since I actually put the concluding punctuation marks on Confessions of a Young Philosopher. Since then, it has been making its way through the strange maelstrom of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, bureaucracy, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, novels, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, 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 Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a life problematic, a writer’s quest, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", biographies, book agents, book reviewers, books assigned in courses, cultural breakthrough, Culture, exhibitionism, extra-sensitivity, fashionable taboos, good and evil, great editors, identity, invisibility, life secrets, literary quality, memoirs, Mind Control, moral rank-pulling, novels, Oppression, originality, paradigm shift, periodicals, philosophers, psychological rank-pulling, public jeering, public leering, publishing world, race, recognized niches, religion, search for identity, self-acceptance, self-definition, self-righteousness, self-understanding, sex, Socrates, spiritual seeker, spirituality, subjective amplifications, the book business, The Examined Life, the philosophic life, the reading public, trade presses, university presses, Zeitgeist | 2 Comments

Memoirs, True or False?

Posted on June 13, 2017 by Abigail

Memoirs, True or False? Readers of this column are reminded from time to time that I recently finished a memoir, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, and am looking round the publishing business to see if any editor/publisher will put up … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Law, Legal Responsibility, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, 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, 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 "a dog in that fight", 19th century Denmark, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", Abigail L. Rosenthal's Tales of Rav Tsair, academe, aetheists, akedah, autobiographical, being misinformed, believers, bequest, betrothal, biography, boat launch, broken engagement, Columbia class of 1925, conflict of duties, Copenhagen, defamation, Diana Trililng's The Beginning of the Journey: The Marriage of Diana and Lionel Trilling, Diana Trilling, editor, ego-driven, formative experience, generous renunciation, Grandpa, hagiography, higher purpose, intellectual influence, intimacy, jilted girl, Joakim Garff's Kierkegaard’s Muse: The Mystery of Regine Olsen, Kierkegaard's Diary of a Seducer, Kierkegaardian influence, last will of Kierkegaard, Lionel Trilling, literary critic, magic mountain, male friendship, manipulation, married life, masks of ego, memoir, Mrs. Regine Schlegel, Natalie Robins' The Untold Journey: The Life of Diana Trilling, neurotic suspension of the ethical, New York intellectuals, obedience to divine commands, opinion shapers, philosophy, publisher, publishing business, realm of duty, Regine Olsen, self-will, shallow dogmatism, spiritual seduction, submission to the divine, Swiss sanitarium, Swiss TB treatment, TB treatment, teleological suspension of the ethical, The Binding of Isaac, the ethical level, the seducer, the spiritual level, theology, trust in God, University of Lausanne, woman as ideal | Leave a comment

The Woman on the Pedestal

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Abigail

The Woman on the Pedestal I’m pretty near the end of Pamela, the novel about the heroine whose virtue gets rewarded that I cited last week. How does she manage to hold on to her “treasure”? (It really is, since … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, Chivalry, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 18th century novel, 19th century Denmark, bad intentions, beloved, betrayal, better angels, biography, broken engagement, cattiness, courtship, existentialism, fallen woman, female wiles, feminine resistance, feminine rivalry, fine gentleman, heartbreak, high ideals, idealization, jilted woman, Joakim Garff's Kierkegaard’s Muse: The Mystery of Regine Olsen, living in history, love, male villainy, martial arts, masculine insults, masculine manipulation, masculine threats, masculine wiles, menaced innocence, moral turnaround, near violence, philosophic originality, powerful men, presence of mind, profaning one's image, reforming men, Romantic Love, Samuel Richardson's Pamela or Virtue Rewarded, self-defeating moves, sexual harrassment, simplifications, social ascent, social protection, social scandal, social status, Soren Kierkegaard, soul at risk, spiritual v ethical, traps of idealization, unequal combat, unequal struggle, unisex intellect, victory of underlings, virtuous heroine, virtuous woman, woman on pedestal, yin and yang | 1 Comment

Is Virtue Rewarded?

Posted on May 30, 2017 by Abigail

Is Virtue Rewarded? The other day, Jerry brought me a book for nighttime reading titled Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded. It’s an 18th century classic by Samuel Richardson but that’s not why he gave it to me. He knows I like … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Medieval, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, novels, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, 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, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 18th century novel, advice columns, attractiveness, being uptight, boorish, bourgeois, bourgeois norms, bourgeois values, Bullying, cattiness, conformism, Da Vinci, Dante's Beatrice, dental cavities, dentistry, early feminism, epater le bourgeois, epistolary novel, eroding values, following fads, frigid, Glamour magazine, gossip magazines, great teeth, hairdressers, happy ending, heroine's virtue, ideality, images of ideality, improving lives, keeping up with the Joneses, knight's purpose, knights in armor, Leo Bronstein, loveliness, manipulative, Marquis de Sade, men and women, middle class values, Mona Lisa, mystery lady, Oppressed v Oppressors, pop culture, pop therapy, porn, pushed around, repairing the world, romantic, S&M, Sade's bio, Samuel Richardson's Pamela, sex and ideas, sex on the brain, stifling thought, the feminine, the new normal, vanilla sex, vicarious courage, vicarious sex, virtue's reward, Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, wanting to please, whips and chains, women's empowerment, women's liberation, women's magazines, women's movement | Leave a comment

Political Innocence

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Abigail

Political Innocence If each of us were sure we were right, we would never quarrel with anyone – much less break with friends – over politics. The politically-triggered quarrels, friendship breakages, civil-society breakdowns, result from our insecurity over what we … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, 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, Industrial Revolution, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Medieval, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, nineteenth-century, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, self-deception, Sex Appeal, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged ad hominen fallacy, aim of marriage, Alasdair Macintyre's Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity, alienation, arguing to win, argument train, assembly line production, banked labor, better argument, broken friendship, capital, Capitalism, civil society, civil society breakdown, civility breakdown, communitarians, economic solutions, economic theory, elusive Beloved, emotional security, erotic life, fallability, fragmentary evidence, hidden Beloved, hypothetical explanation, hypothetical views, imperfect world, Industrial Revolution, informal fallacies, inherited consensus, inherited norms, insecurity, intellectual insecurity, Jane Roberts' The Afterdeath Journal of An American Philosopher: The World View of William James, liberty of mind, Marxian theory, mass production, modern philosophy, Modernity, moral insecurity, originality surpressed, originality v groupthink, persecution of Jews, philosophical argument, philosophical discussion, political solutions, power as the only truth, quarrels, Reform temple, repairing the world, social power, Song of Songs, space of friendship, Spinoza's Ethics, theory of surplus value, thought experiment, traditional values, trained philosophers, truth, truth-seeking, tyranny of gossip, unintended consequences, witch burning | Leave a comment

The Blame Game

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Abigail

The Blame Game We don’t start life with a clean slate. Childhood is the time we spend figuring out what kind of a hand of cards we’ve been dealt and how to start playing it. What happens to us – … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, novels, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged appeals to fairness, black leotard, blaming the victim, cartoon, cat calls, childhood, civil rights movement, class bias, clean slate, contradictions in capitalism, coquetry, cultural bias, despising women, documentary film, dodging blame, end of class struggle, end of history, enemy of the people, exploiting women, feminist movement, film footage, gayborhood, going viral, group identity, group preferences, guillotine, hand-to-hand combat, hanging out, hitch-hiking, idealizing women, indignant outcry, intersectionality, involuntary pregnancy, Les Tricoteuses, lynch mob, Manhattan, mob rule, moral rank, Neo-Marxism, New York City, off-Broadway comedy, people of color, persecution of feminists, protecting identity, racist film, reality TV, Reign of Terror, Robespierre, romantic truth, safe space, second wave feminism, self-defense, skin in the game, social asymmetry, social conscience, social experiment, social identity, social inequality, strategy for women, street mores, street people, tabula rasa, the blame game, the dance of life, the game of life, the hand we're dealt, the internationale, the knitting women, the male animal, the oppressed, the weaker sex, the wretched of the earth, thought police, victim competition, victims status, white people, wolf whistles, women as losers, women asking for it, women's rights, women's vulnerability, working class solidarity | 2 Comments

	Johan Herrenberg on “Shabby”
	Abigail on “Shabby”
	Johan Herrenberg on “Shabby”
	Abigail on “Two Views”
	Prudence Lezy on “Two Views”

Category Archives: Romantic Love

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