Category Archives: seventeeth century
Friends in the Teeth of History
Some of my best friends are Christians. That sounds like my riff on the anti-semite – who delicately sets aside an exception or two – to counter-balance his sweeping detestation of Jews in any larger numbers. No – unlike the … Continue reading
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Tagged "The future is the past entered through another door", adversos Judaeos, American in a European bathhouse, anti-Judaism in patristic writtings, anti-Judaism isn't that old, anti-Judaism on the timeline, anti-semite's Jewish friends, beauty of Israeli girls, beauty of women, beginnings of Homo sapiens, best friends, body language of equality, body language of oppression, body language of self-confidence, changes in how Jews are viewed, changes in relations between the sexes, children of Holocaust survivors, chosen people's feminine beauty, Christian character development and friendship, Christian formative years, Christian friends, Christian high culture's anti-Judaism, Christian saints and anti-Judaism, Christian upbringing, church doctrine, church dogma, conversation between friends, cost to Jews of Enlightenment emancipation, cure for anti-semitism, curing history, curing religious history, faculty union, generational change in cultural patterns, getting it right this time, global anti-feminism, healing Christian-Jewish history, Hegel's Absolute, internalizing oppression, Jewish emancipation in Europe, Jewish identity, Jewish rights in history, Jews and Christians, Jews and the European Enlightenment, liberation of women, loss of childhood, loss of one's world, loss of parents, male dominance in Homo sapiens, mending the past, nakedness without complexes, Nazi abrogation of Jewish rights, nostalgia for childhood, nostalgia for parental home, patristic anti-Judaism, patristic reworking of Jewish scripture, persecution of Jewish students, philosopher in a youth hostel, philosopher's eye view of women, philosophy and Brooklyn College, Professional Staff Congress of CUNY, PSC and anti-semitism, religious politics, reversibility of time, Rosemary Ruether's Faith and Fratricide: The Theological Roots of Anti-Semitism, self confidence of Jewish students, self-approval of the persecuted, sudden changes in cultural patterns, theological rational for anti-Jewish policies, theological seminaries, theology and culture, trust and conversation, Turkish baths in Jerusalem, unfettered conversation, unrestricted conversation, William Johnson Cory's Heraclitus, women's equality, worldwide anti-feminism
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Secrets of the Kingdom
Years ago, I was in the audience to hear a lecture by Columbia Professor of Ancient History Morton A. Smith who was discussing a verse he claimed to have discovered, anciently deleted from the gospel of Mark. In this new-found verse, Jesus … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, seventeeth century, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 613 Commandments, a life in balance, a personal God, academic gravitas, academic obscurity, aesthetic force, behind the curtain, Benedict de Spinoza, books on the Holocaust, chance or providence, Columbia University, defense of Jewish Orthodoxy, historical encounters with God, Holocaust and philosophy, Holocaust survivor, Holocaust testimony, ideal witness, intellectual dexterity, Jewish experience, Jewish historical continuity, Jewish Orthodox worldview, Jewish Orthodoxy and philosophy, Jewish Orthodoxy and physics, Jewish Orthodoxy debating skill, Leo Strauss, Leo Strauss and Benedict de Spinoza, life-scape, malicious actors, Modern Orthodoxy, moral intelligence, Morton A. Smith, Moshe Koppel, nazism and malice, normality, personal worship, racism, reasons to be a Jew, relativism, secret gospel, secrets of the kingdom, Shoah, Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise, Strauss Spinoza and Sinai: Orthodox Judaism and Modern Questions of Faith ed. Jeffrey Bloom Alec Goldstein and Gil Student, stylish academics, subjective and objective, Talmudic conversation, Talmudic debate, The Risk of Sorrow: Conversations with Holocaust Survivor Helen Handler by Valerie Foster, the survival of Jewish culture, thought experiment, truth and psychological distortions, undistorted view
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Philosophy and Me
Philosophy and Me Goodness, who cares! you might well think, seeing the title of this column. But isn’t that what concerns each of us, whenever we’ve been required or drawn to read some philosophy? What about me? How does this … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, bigotry, books, Christianity, 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, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, seventeeth century, 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, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 19th-century nihilism, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", benefits of philosophy, Classical skepticism, competing moral claims, competing truth claims, condemnation syndrome, contemporary philosophers, cultural guilt, current intellectual life, Descartes and the moderns, dominance v subordination, exercises of power, finding common ground, Greco-Roman culture, guilt and regret, hypocrisy, implicit absolutism, intellectual common ground, intercultural disputes, Jesuits of the Sorbonne, Kepler and Galileo, manipulative accusers, manipulative use of guilt, oppressed and oppressor, pagans v Christians, philosophers and guilt, philosophers as midwives of history, philosophic skill, philosophy as its own warrant, philosophy as personal, philosophy making a difference, philosophy the longest conversation, post-modernism and objective truth, post-modernism and objective values, post-modernism and philosophy, significance of philosophy, silence of philosophy, St. Augustine, the task of philosophy, unmasking power plays
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Times Best and Worst
Times Best and Worst We’re living through what are — like all times — the best and worst of times. As our calendar wends its way toward the New Year, we can’t help asking ourselves how it is with us … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, books, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Male Power, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, science, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, seventeeth century, Sexuality, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Analytic philosophy, Antonio Gramsci, Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks, Australian philosophy, best of times, computational perceptional psychology, Continental philosophy, cultural relativism, culture and dialectic, culture and truth, David Stove, ecological psychology, epistemology of doubt, fashionable nihilism, Foucault's Birth of the Clinic, Foucault's Madness and Civilization, Freudian unconscious, human norms, insanity and social power, J.J. Gibson, life adventures, life review, masters of suspicion, Michel Foucault, moral reality, nature and convention, New Year, objective fact, objective guilt v intentions, ordinary language, perceiving reality, Phyllis Chesler's Women and Madness, prevailing opinions, purge trials, Reign of Terror, relativism, revolution and delusion, Sartre's critique of Freud, Sartre's for-itself, Sartre’s Being and Nothingness, science and experience, scientific objectivity, sense data, skepticism, skepticism as a fashion, the fact/value split, the hermeneutics of suspicion, The Vienna Circle, thought leaders, totalitarian tactics, true narrative, trusting experience, Tyler Burge's Four Inheritances from Classical Empiricism Re Perception, virtue epistemology, Woke bully, worst of times
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Proceedings and Addresses
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
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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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