Tag Archives: Bildungsroman

Anti-Semitism and the Zeitgeist

At the time I came to young womanhood, Jews of my generation believed we were way past the dark days of danger. Only refugees from recent tyrannies spoke of anti-semitism as a force that could show up “even here.” Well … Continue reading

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Beautiful Souls and Life on the Ground

We are back in Bucks County and home from a conference in San Diego where we each presented our just-published books. The title of mine, as was noted last week, is Confessions of a Young Philosopher and it’s a life … 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, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, 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, medieval, 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“The Completed ‘Confessions of a Young Philosopher'”

“The Completed ‘Confessions of a Young Philosopher’” Last Sunday, I finished a life work. I mean, finished it to my satisfaction. It’s done – as I always hoped it could be. Some years back, I had published an earlier version … Continue reading

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, childhood, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, power, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, relationships, roles, romance, romantic love, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

“Writing”

“Writing” I grew up among people whose most-oft-voiced concern was whether they would get their book, or next book, written. Without the book, the life-worth dwindled down to a small pile of ash, as my child’s mind pictured it. It … Continue reading

Posted in academe, culture, evil, history of ideas, literature, memoir, philosophy, power, psychology, relationships, spirituality, the examined life, theism, work, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments