Tag Archives: authority

Mysteries

Posted on September 28, 2021 by Abigail

Mysteries What part of our lives is a real mystery? I’m not talking about our yet-to-be-solved life problems nor about messages made deliberately unclear or ambiguous in order to confuse people. Leo Bronstein, who was a professor at Brandeis and … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, bigotry, Cities, 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, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, Mysticism, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, 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, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", assuming another's debts, authority, bad actor, bad acts drive out good, clearing up obscure situations, closure, completing a quest, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, dispelling illusions, Divine mystery, domineering men, Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor, dream messages, empathy, epiphanies, existential angst, feminine paranoia, feminine vocation, filial obligations, first love, flunking lifemanship, group dynamics, group therapy, heartbreak, ideal resolution, illustrative anecdotes, inexhaustible Source, insoluble romantic problem, last words of Caesar, Leo Bronstein, life adventures, life do's and don'ts, life quests, lifemanship, memory traces, miracle, mystery, mystification, overcoming ambivalence, overgeneralizing, psychologically double, self-help situations, shadowy situation, solving life problems, solving mysteries, spiritual irrelevance, technical support, the human scale, transgression breeds transgression, unresolved issues, unresolved romance | Leave a comment

“Jews on the Brain”

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Abigail

“Jews on the Brain” Over time, I have from time to time lost a friend or two – to many forces and factors – but, among them, sudden and insistent incursions of anti-Jewish feeling. Interestingly, I’ve encountered relatively little anti-semitism … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Medieval, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, Suffering, Terror, terrorism, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "Judaizing", 18th century reason, anthropology, anti-Jewish, anti-semitism, authority, biblical lessons, bigoted epithets, bigotry, chairs of Hebrew, Christian culture, Christian polemic, Christianity and Islam, Church Fathers, counter-culture, covenant, Culture, David Nirenberg's Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition, divine/human partnership, dominance, Enlightenment, epithets, filial piety, fully human life, generic human task, Gnosticism, God's pilot project, group identity, groupthink, hadiths, happy endings, Hebrew Scripture, human nature, Islamic culture, Jewish influence, Jews and Gentiles, Jews on the Brain, lending at interest, Living in sacred history, medieval kings, metaphysical unreality, modern economy, new revelation, normality, normalizing life, Old Testament, Patristic writers, personal identity, philosophes, political stratagems, political theology, pre-judgment, prejudice, profane history, projection, Protestant Reformation, prototypical sacred history, reading the Bible, real life, reason, religion of Jesus, repression, reverence for parents, reverence for teachers, rigid legalism, sacred history, Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, sola scriptura, temptation, ten lost tribes, the historical level, the historical playing field, the normal, the plane of history, the Western tradition, theological dogmas, theology, tribe of Jehudah, ur-language, usury | 2 Comments

“Where Is God?”

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Abigail

“Where Is God?” We flew to Southern California this week, to look in on my father-in-law. He lives in a town near San Bernadino, the now-famous site of the latest mass murders. Over the four-day period of our trip, while … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Autonomy, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, Heroes, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immortality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Mind Control, Mortality, nineteenth-century, Past and Future, Peace, Political, Political Movements, Power, Propaganda, Psychology, relationships, Religion, Roles, Seduction, slave, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, Violence, War, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged adventure stories, adventures, afterlife, afterlife rewards, air travel, anthropologists, authority, bad guys, believers, boyhood, buccaneers, care, classroom discipline, classroom disruption, crewmen, Dante's Inferno, destiny, dying, faithfulness, falsehood, fate, field work, God, golden rule, good guys, Good Orderly Direction, guilty minds, heaven and hell, heroes, ideas, ideology, Jurgen Ziewe's Vistas of Infinity, love of neighbor, Loyalty, magic, mass murder, maturity, mistaken ideas, mutaneers, mutineers, piety, pirates, Portuguese fishing village, punishments, realism, respect, responsibility, rewards, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, San Bernadino, sea captains, seamen, security, Southern California, Success, survival, symbolism, the Other, the political animal, the speaking animal, treasure, triumph, truth, unbelievers, victimizers, victims, Victor Zammit, victory, violent jihadis | Leave a comment

“Being Brave”

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Abigail

“Being Brave” Nobody wants to think of herself as a whining, sniveling, cowering coward. At the same time, one of the advantages of the female sex is that (forgive me, sisterhood!) we are not expected to wear such courage as … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Action, Alienation, Art, Autonomy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, Contradictions, Cool, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, History, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Institutional Power, Jews, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Mind Control, non-violence, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Seduction, slave, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Time, twentieth century, Violence, War, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "The War Has Taken Place", assault, authority, bad guys, blaming victims, bravery, breaking under torture, consensus, conventions, courage, courage under fire, coward, cowardice, criminals, extreme situation, extreme tests, freedom, gender roles, genocide, German occupation of France, grace under pressure, Holocaust, honor, Jewish prayer, judging victims, martial arts, masculinity and femininity, massacre of Armenians, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, nazis, New York City, pain, pain threshold, pain tolerance, prayer, risk-taking, self-defense, social construction, socially constructed identity, Stephen Crane's "Red Badge of Courage", subway crime, subway mugger, tests of valor, torture, training in courage, urban crime, victim's conduct, victim's courage, World War II | Leave a comment

“Victims”

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Abigail

“Victims” The other day, Jerry and I attended an event bringing together people whose professions circle around religion. There were ministers, scholars and theologians in academic departments, of Religion or Theology, students in seminaries and nuns in street clothes. (Nuns … Continue reading →

Posted in Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Autonomy, Chivalry, Courtship, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, non-violence, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, Race, relationships, Roles, Seduction, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Time, twentieth century, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged anger, argument, authority, betrayal, brute power, chivalry, debate, diplomacy, ecumenical, equality, erotic power, Feminism, functional power, Gender, identity, inequality, intellectual power, moral blackmail, Nietzsche, nuns, nuns' habits, patriarchy, Plato's Republic, politics of gender, power of the weak, power struggle, reductionism, religion, rich husbands, social forces, Socrates, theology, Thrasymachus, top dog, underdog, unisex, yin and yang | 4 Comments

“Is ‘Right and Wrong’…Wrong?”

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Abigail

“Is ‘Right and Wrong’ … Wrong?” One time I had registration duty at the opening of fall term. Along with other faculty representing their departments, I sat on one side of a long table. Students would approach from the other … Continue reading →

Posted in Cool, Culture, Philosophy, Political, Psychology, The Examined Life | Tagged authority, fantasy, fear, good and evil, heroes, inner voice, intuition, judgment, moral, moral high ground, non-judgmental, Right and Wrong, sexy, Torah, Vietnam, villains | Leave a comment

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“Is ‘Right and Wrong’…Wrong?”

Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column

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