Tag Archives: academic politics

How I Grew Up, Eventually

Posted on May 2, 2023 by Abigail

Abbie at 10 on Prince. I never wanted to grow up. In fact, one of my childhood heroes was Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. For one thing, I thought grownups were ugly. They were too big, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, book reviews, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, 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, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, 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, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged academic politics, act like a woman, acting as if the dead can’t see you, adjusting to womanhood, adolescence, adult friendships, adults and children, antisemitism in academe, artificial adulthood, at home in one’s skin, becoming oneself, behind the back of the dead, believing defamatory fictions, Cain and Abel, cat’s away mice will play, childhood freedom, childhood heroes, collegial friendships, congenial social circles, CUNY faculty, daughterly duties, defamatory fictions, don’t speak ill of the dead, Downeast Maine, fight for popularity, fight for the legacy, filial piety, fitting into one's skin, fragile integrity, fratricide, go along to get along, growing pains, growing up, growing up and liking it, growing up and not liking it, grownup orphan, grownups, hard to fool, Henry M Rosenthal’s The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes's Secret; Spinoza’s Way, house in Maine, how children see adults, how not to greet a child, human nature and philosophy, identity development, ingratitude, inherited friendships, interesting parents, learned womanliness, losing friends, Maine locals, memorial service, midlife redefinition, novelistic, out of the mouths of babes, parental friends, personality redefinition, Peter Pan, philosophy as home, philosophy as natural, posthumous rivalries, put your money where your mouth is, Rav Tsair, real life is stranger than fiction, redefining self, remaining oneself, repositioning in adulthood, restoring oneself, romantic eligibility, saying what you see, showing true colors, sincerity of children, slander is always believed, small town realism, social standing, staying healthy in a fight, teenage dating, teenagers, the dead can see us, troubles of adolescence, unseen by the dead, unsupported groundless allegations, wallflowers, who am I?, world of one’s parents | Leave a comment

Where Is the Happy Ending?

Posted on April 25, 2023 by Abigail

Stories, as I see them, are supposed to come out right. And here’s what I mean by “right.” It’s nothing deep, mysterious or esoteric. Our romantic couple rides off into the Western sunset. They have the time for their trip, … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, 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, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, 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, 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, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 36 righteous, academic politics, academic romance, academic victory, adult ed, anti-Jewish cartoons, campus anti-semites, Chronicle of Higher Education, conflict and congregations, core curriculum, cowboy gets the girl, cowboys, criterion for righteous deeds, defending Jewish students, Evangelicals and Zionism, facing justice, fashionable victims, former terrorist, good guys and bad guys, good story with bad ending, grace under anti-semitic pressure, grace under persecution, grace under pressure, happy ending, holier than thou, how things ought to be, inappropriate with women, Israel Consul vs Quakers, Kasim Hafeez's Never Again?, Lamed Vavnik, liberal arts program, love and marriage, metric for righteous deeds, miraculous cure, miraculous cure for anti-semitism, mitzvah, moral high ground, moral holiday, ousting a predator, philosophy department at Brooklyn College, philosophy professor, Phyllis Chesler, Phyllis Chesler's The New Anti-Semitism, politics in the real world, prayer and miracle, Presbyterians and BDS, public debate, pulling moral rank, rabbinical search committee, Reformed Temple, remembering the story, reprisals vs whistleblower, righteous deeds, righteous deeds vs chaos, righteous warrior, safeguarding the story, sanctimony, saving the core curriculum, search committee, StandWithUs, Stephen Spector, Stephen Spector's Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism, stories ending wrongly, suffering of Jewish students, synagogue congregants, targeting Jewish students, trauma and recovery, unequal power relations, Western movies, whistleblower's trauma | Leave a comment

The Price of Living One’s Philosophy

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Abigail

At our Torah Study class this week, we took up the concluding portion of the Book of Exodus. Mostly it deals with instructions for constructing the Mishkan (Tent of Meeting). That’s the portable temple housing the famous box (the Ark … 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, bigotry, book reviews, books, 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, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, 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, Institutional Power, 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, motherhood, non-violence, 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, Romance, Romantic Love, 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, 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 academic groupthink, academic politics, Arc of the Covenant, Attention Deficit Disorder, Authenticity, becoming a woman, being a woman, Book of Exodus, bridge of words, bridge to nowhere, bringing gifts to the Mishkan, competitive feminists, cultural impact, defending one’s worldview, delusive victories, demystifying philosophic terms, discussion leader, early days in the feminist movement, early experiences in the feminist movement, engineering with words, exploitive relationships, femininity as social construct, feminism and philosophy, feminist establishment, feminist theory, from nowhere to nowhere, groupthink, harmful victories, healing through our stories, influence of philosophy, intellectual credibility, Intellectual fashion, intellectual trends, inverting social reality, ivory tower philosophy, Jacques Derrida, language of philosophy, life lessons in novels, living inside one’s worldview, living one’s philosophy, manipulative victims, mariage de raison, marriage of reason, meaning what you say, Mishkan, not the official story, nothing outside the text, novels and women, one size fits all, opportunistic marriage, overcoming disabilities, Paris garbage strike and the postmoderns, Parisian postmoderns, Park Ave penthouse feminists, pas de hors-texte, philosophical jargon, philosophy and history, playing the victim card, portable temple, pulling moral rank, Pyrrhic verbal victories, Rabbi Sigal Brier, real life analogies to Biblical stories, revolutions and hypocrisy, sacred femininity, sacrificial gift, saying what you mean, sexual stereotyping, sincerity and philosophy, sisterhood is powerful, speaking philosophically, straight talking, straight talking in academe, supportive husband, teaching inner city kids, Ten Commandments, Tent of Meeting, the influence of philosophers, the last shall be first, the philosopher and the man on horseback, the philosophic establishment, the philosophic life, Torah Study, trading up, true stories that heal, two stone tablets, unbalanced marriage, universal claims about men and women, utopian slogans, verbal tour de force, verbal triumphs, view from nowhere, woman as social construct, woman’s destiny, woman’s lot, women against women, women’s competitiveness, women’s friendships, women’s liberation, write only what you have lived, yin and yang | 2 Comments

Academic Gossip

Posted on June 28, 2022 by Abigail

Academic Gossip One of the seldom-mentioned pleasures of life in the academy – the House that Plato Built – is academic gossip. It juxtaposes the life of ideas against real-life — whetting one’s appetite for both! I’m about two-thirds of … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, 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, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged AAR presidency, above the battle, academic gossip, academic politics, academic religionists, ambivalent relations, anarchist, antinomian, authority on Levinas, biographer's indiscretion, biographer's license, Columbia Seminar on Hermeneutics, Columbia University Religion Department, East Coast academia, Edith Wyschogrod, fatal gossip, Free University in Berlin, gender favoritism, Gnostic Libertine, Hillary Clinton, Jacob Neusner, Jacob Taubes, Jerry Z. Muller's Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes, Jewish Studies, lashon hara, life of ideas, life of ideas v real life, malicious rumors, Michael Wyschogrod, Morton Smith, mutual back scratching, mutual witnessing, New York Jewish intellectuals, nihilist, not getting involved, philosophico-theological terrain, roman à clef, rumor mongering, sexist accusations, sharing life stories, social assassination, social complexity, social death, social interactions, social sanctimony, Taubes anecdotes, the evil tongue, the House that Plato Built, therapeutic guru, visiting professorship | 2 Comments

The Right to Think

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Abigail

The Right to Think In the dusty arena of public life, we see a contest between the Right to Life and the Right to Choose. There is, however, a third right that gets little or no play in that … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, 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", abortion and hypocrisy, abortion and self-defense, academic politics, anatomy is destiny, Applied Ethics, asymmetry of the sexes, childbearing age, choice of evils, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, facing controversy, forced option, freedom to think, Hannah Arendt, live option, marital protection, marital safety, men dominating women, moral tests, obligatory freedom, professional politics, public arena, public space, right to choose, right to life, right to think, Roe v Wade, sex biological and cultural, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, social politics, social safety, status of the unborn, stigmatizing women, Supreme Court abortion case, Talmudic view of abortion, test of character, truth-seeking, unavoidable sins, unhappily pregnant, up against the wall, utopian delusions, vetoed opinions, women's defenses, women's tragic choices, women's vulnerability | Leave a comment

How Can We Know If It’s God?

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Abigail

How Can We Know If It’s God? Are we making a big mistake? Couldn’t it be Tom, Dick, or Susie instead? Well, no. Those three friends are all palpable, visible, leave imprints when they sit on the couch, chat about … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, 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, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", academic evaluation, academic grievance, academic politics, academic tenure, accessing circumstances, arbitration hearing, astral bodies, atheists, coincidence, communication overload, conceptual rigidity, confronting one's culture, confronting one's situation, contemporary communication, divine authority, divine ecstasy, divine signs, divine vision, divine visitation, Divine witness, divine/human interactions, escapist fantasies, escapist flight, faculty union, getting fired, ideal world, Jewish angels, Jewish calendar, Jewish essence v Jewish existence, Jewish relation to God, Jewish time, linear time, openness to God's direction, personal relationship with God, prayer guidance, prayer-guided life, problematic of history, prophetic claims, providential messaging, reasons for atheism, recognizing God, religious acculturation, retroactive confirmation, risk and certainty, the God question, theological mistakes, unconscious projection, Ur of the Chaldees., Willie Nelson | 4 Comments

Incurable?

Posted on February 1, 2022 by Abigail

Incurable? On the whole, I don’t hold a grudge. If I’ve been injured in some way, but the wound is either cured — or else not the kind of thing that can be patched up — that ends the incident … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Female Power, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics, 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, 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 academic politics, becoming whole again, betrayal, Bible's historicity, collegiality, Covenant and history, curing PTSD, friendship as normal, Genesis 12, God in history, God's pilot project, healing a wound, holding a grudge, Holocaust methods, Jewish dilemma, Jewish vulnerability, Jews in history, Kiddush Ha-Shem, knowing one's limitations, Me Too, non-supersessionism, past life memory, philosopher friend, post-traumatic stress, prayer and PTSD, problems without solutions, restoring wholeness, righteous combat, rip-off, Sanctification of the Name, Sarah and Pharoah, satyagraha, sealed trucks, sexual predator, small claims court, social politics, Truth Force, unhealed wound, unprotective men, whistleblower, women of the Covenant, women protecting men | 2 Comments

How I Got My Philosophic Theme

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Abigail

How I Got My Philosophic Theme As far as I can recall, it was a specific event, leading to a particular experience, that gave me the defining theme of the work I’ve done since then in philosophy. I’d gone uptown … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Female Power, Femininity, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", academic politics, academic seminar, cat's away mice can play, collegial relations, Columbia University, don't bore God, family friend, getting God's attention, God as personal, God as Witness, good v evil plotline, hating God of Israel, human visibility to God, intellectual competition, Leo Bronstein, living a true story, loyalty to origins, metaphysical vision, naivete as armor, philosopher's motivating themes, philosophic argument, philosophic colleagues, philosophic counter-argument, philosophic experience, philosophic theme, pretended purity, social weaponry, struggle between good and evil, the life of argument, the religion of Israel, the test of dialectic, theological anti-semitism, unquestioned trust, vision on New York subway, what is a Jew?, What is an anti-semite?, writer's primary datum | Leave a comment

Light on the Longest Hatred

Posted on July 20, 2021 by Abigail

Light on the Longest Hatred I’d intended to devote this column to leisurely reflections on what I sometimes term “the Jewish assignment” in history. Reflections prompted by a biography I’m now reading, with the title, Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Martyrdom, memory, 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, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal’s “The Right Way to Act”, academic politics, academic union, anti-Nazi resister, armchair moralists, choice of evils, Divine mystery, Divine Presence, extremist tactics, Franz Rosenzweig, Genesis 12:3, group think, I and Thou, Israel's right to exist, Jewish disunity, Jews in history, Leo Baeck, longest hatred, Martin Buber, Michael A. Meyer's Rabbi Leo Baeck: Living a Religious Imperative in Troubled Times, opinion shapers, partnering with God, Professional Staff Congress CUNY, PSC Israel resolution, rabbinic responsibility, ritual observance, the Jewish assignment, tying past to future | Leave a comment

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

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