Tag Archives: defamation

When Your Enemy Is Another Woman

Posted on November 18, 2025 by Abigail

“Sisterhood is powerful.” Well, often it is, but that power is not always protective. After all, in Genesis, the first Book of the Hebrew Bible, the first recorded relation between siblings is that of murderer (Cain) to murderee (Abel). Despite … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, 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, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, 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, 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, Renaissance, 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 Aaron and the Golden Calf, Aaron in Exodus 32, Aaron’s betrayal, Aaron’s brand of leadership, Aaron’s leadership in Exodus, Abigail L. Rosenthal’s Feminism Without Contradictions, academic feminist, academic job struggle, academic politics, academic protocol, anti-chivalry, battle of the sexes, bearing false witness, betraying one’s trust, Betty Friedan, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, breaking protocol, Brooklyn College, church solvency, defamation, defamatory gossip, devoted husband, dinner to honor feminist, equality of the sexes, erotic competition, false accusations, falsely accusing, famous feminist, female power, feminism and celebrity, feminism and marriage, feminism founding mother, feminist battle scars, feminist career, feminist friend, feminist leader, feminist politics, feminist power struggles, feminist reputation, feminist teamwork, feminist wounds, fight for academic tenure, forgive and forget, Golden Calf, guest of honor, heroines, honor among feminists, honoring a friend, honoring women, house of worship, husband of feminist, iconoclastic stance, ingratitude, insolvent seminaries, invited speaker, invited temple speaker, keeping the books, male/female asymmetries, manipulative and vulgar speaker, overcoming resentment, philosophic feminism, philosophical career, reform and reparation, reformed Judaism, refusing idol worship, repairing academic rifts, repairing collegial relations, repairing misdeeds, sisterhood is powerful, solvency and seminaries, solvency in organized religion, supporting congregants, Synagogue finances, synagogue solvency, teamwork in a common effort, tenure fight, the feminist movement, The Second Wave Feminism, Top of the Sixes Restaurant, unprofessional behavior, violating protocol, women against women, women colleagues, women consoling women, women damaging women, women enemies, women heroes, women insulting women, women undermining women, women’s history, women’s solidarity, worshipping idols | 2 Comments

Desire and Defamation

Posted on August 23, 2022 by Abigail

Desire and Defamation Defamation tends to obliterate the erotic appeal of the person being defamed. That’s one reason it’s so infuriatingly irreparable. It makes the victim seem undesirable. We are social animals. We live by each other’s smiles and frowns. … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, 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, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, martyrdom, masculinity, medieval, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, non-violence, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romantic love, 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, 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 civilized life, conscience's enemies, damaging lies, defamation, demagogues, desirable and undesirable, divine teleprompter, erotic appeal, exceptional deeds, fanatical killers, Fiamma Nirenstein's Jewish Lives Matter: Human Rights and Anti-Semitism, global Jew hatred, groupthink, imaginary revenge, in touch with one's feelings, Joan of Arc, knowing what to say, malicious laughter, moral genius, mother's wisdom, neuropathy, other-directedness, Phyllis Chesler, power of attraction, power of resistance, psychogenesis, repressed rage, social animals, social murder, social pressure, spiritual genius, state of grace, swaying a mob, the beautiful people, the Dreyfus Case, the good the true and the beautiful, the symptom imperative, Thought Crimes, traumatic injuries, wide-scale defamation, women who attract strong feelings | 2 Comments

Virtue Epistemology and Feeling Normal

Posted on September 1, 2020 by Abigail

Virtue Epistemology and Feeling Normal I’ve got a funny feeling this is not a trendy topic. Oh well. Here goes. Epistemology, the logos of episteme, is philosophy’s term for theory (or theories) of knowledge. In modern times (that is, from … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, autonomy, books, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, 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, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, Industrial Revolution, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theology, time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 17th century philosophy, academic philosophy, ancient Athens, arête, Aristotle's Laws of Thought, Aristotle's Metaphysics, brain in vat, Copernicus, credibility, defamation, Descartes, empirical trust, epistemological optimism, epistemological pessimism, Epistemology, fallacy of hasty generalization, G.E. Moore, good judgment, gossip, human sociality, inauthenticity, inferential knowledge, intellectual excellence, intellectual trust, intellectual virtue, internalizing insult, internalizing prejudice, Jewish anxiety, judging correctly, Kepler and Galileo, knowledge claims, modern philosophy, modern science, modern skepticism, normality, other minds, other-directedness, philosophy course, political animal, postulating hypothesis, presumed guilty, presumed innocent, presumption of guilt, pretended skepticism, scientific method, self-directedness, self-trust, sense of security, skepticism, slander, social creatures, telling right from wrong, telling truth from falsity, the human norm, The Longest Hatred, theory of knowledge, thick hide, thick-skinned, thin-skinned, trendy topics, virtue epistemology, virtue ethics | Leave a comment

Jews, Christians, and Jesus

Posted on January 7, 2020 by Abigail

Jews, Christians, and Jesus I’ve just finished a scholarly book whose conclusion left me head-spinningly dumbfounded. Since I’m supposed to be a philosophe by profession, I’m pretty used to scholarly books, bring some acquired insulation to the reading of them, … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, books, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, reading, religion, roles, secular, self-deception, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged ancient fratricide, anti-Judaism, anti-semitism, attraction to Jesus, “the Son of Man”, Babylonian exile, Bar Kochba, biblical history, biblical Israel, Christian/Jewish dialogue, Christian/Jewish parting of the ways, colloquial Hebrew, Council of Nicea, Daniel 7, Daniel Boyarin’s The Jewish Gospels: The Story of the Jewish Christ, defamation, Emmanuel Levinas, fratricidal history, Hebrew language revival, history of Christianity, inter-religious dialougue, intercession for sin, Isaiah 53, Israel reborn, Israelite continuities, Jack Miles’s God: A Biography, Jesus as divine, Jewish continuities, Jewish origin of Christianity, Jewish/Christian reconcilement, Jews and Christians, Jews and Jesus, legendary figure, literary Hebrew, messianic expectations, new anti-Semitism, Nicene Creed, professional philosopher, promised land, rabbinic Judaism, Rabbinic scholars, Rav Tsair, religious persecution, revelation and religion, scholarly book, Second Temple's destruction, Suffering Servant, Talmudist of stature, The Covenant, the forgiveness of sin, the historical Jesus, the Holocaust, the Jesus movement, the Second Exile, vicarious expiation, vilification | 1 Comment

Homage to Milbridge

Posted on August 7, 2018 by Abigail

Homage to Milbridge Last week, Jerry and I spent two whole days in Milbridge, Maine, bookended by travel days of which (the return trip) the less said the better. About the state of Maine, I smile when, looking down, I … Continue reading →

Posted in action, afterlife, art, art of living, beauty, childhood, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, eternity, ethics, evil, faith, femininity, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, heroes, hidden God, ideality, identity, immorality, immortality, law, legal responsibility, love, memoir, memory, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, nineteenth-century, ontology, past and future, peace, philosophy, power, presence, promissory notes, psychology, relationships, religion, roles, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status of women, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes's Secret; Spinoza's Way" by Henry M. Rosenthal; ed. Abigail L. Rosenthal, "You Can't Go Home Again", Abigail's Adages, Alentejo Coast, babes in the woods, Bangor Airport, barrel racing, canoeing, cantering, city slickers, coming home, damaging stories, death of parents, defamation, defamation disbelieved, divorce, Downeast, Ellsworth Maine, familiar landscapes, first marriage, fishing village, fun days, half acre, homecoming, imaginary feeling, job fight, landscapes, last illness, local ghosts, local sage, Maine, Maine Coast Memorial Hospital, Milbridge Day, Milbridge Maine, more fish in the sea, Narraguagus Bay, New York apartment, orphaned, outdoor games, parental presence, philosophic manuscript, picnics, Portugal, posthumous manuscript, posthumous publication, precognition, proofs of ownership, real feeling, reviews, right-of-way, rodeo, rural adventures, rural property, sailing, saleable property, selling the house, sense of direction, shore strip, slander, southern mansion, state fair, telling the whole town, town events, travel days, trials of life, triumphs of life, unsaleable property, unseen presences, victorious fights | Leave a comment

Frustrations and Epiphanies

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Abigail

Frustrations and Epiphanies Our quiet town, with its Victorian houses (many of them kept in good repair by the law firms that have taken them over), its charming signs of civic care and pride, has for some years also been … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Biblical God, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, 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, 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, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged AFSC, Alan Dershowitz's The Case for Israel, American Friends Service Committee, anti-Judaism, Asaf Romirowsky and Alexander H. Joffe’s “When Did the Quakers Stop Being Friends?” in The Tower December 2013, befriending enemies, Bullying, charm, Christians in Middle East, civilians in Syria, confidentiality, conflict resolution, contagious ill will, David Nirenberg's Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition, defamation, dialogue, dinner invitations, ex-terrorist, foreign aid misuse, good will, harassment of Jewish students, hate crimes, incitement, inner turn, inter-group dialogue, intimidation of Jewish students and faculty, Israel, Israel Consul, Israel outnumbered, Jewish best friends, Jewish flight, Jewish survival, Jews in England, Jews in France, Joseph Puder’s “Iran’s Ugly Human Rights Record Must Be Addressed in StandWithUs Weekly Middle East Report 7/28/2017, judgments of fact, Kasim Hafeez, moral risk, neighborly relations, nonjudgmentalism, oldest hatred, one-sided views, Palestinian Authority, peace and love, Peace Center, persecution of Bahai, Persecution of Laogai, public debate, relativism, scapegoat, Second Temple, self-deception, self-righteousness, social anti-semitism, spiritual turning, street demonstrations, Students for Justice in Palestine, terrorist, threats to Israel, toxic claims, U.S. Senator, value judgments, vandalism, victims of hate crimes, vigils, violence, Werner Cohen's “The Quakers on Israel and China” in “Werner’s Opinions” 3/13/13, Western Wall, worldly experience, Yazidi | 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 the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, 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, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, 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

Should the Dead Know Their Place?

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Abigail

Should the Dead Know Their Place? What are the dead up to? Are they just nonexistent? Many philosophers believe that and most would rather be annihilated than wrong. Are they sleeping? After the great bloodbath of the American Civil War, … Continue reading →

Posted in academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, 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, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, nineteenth-century, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, seduction, self-deception, 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, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "Hamilton" the musical, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "What Ayer Saw When He Was Dead", afterlife communication, American Civil War, Applied Ethics, Authenticity, Bertrand Russell, citing philosophers, college jocks, counterproductive therapy, death as sleep, defamation, duties to the dead, Existential Analysis, Founding Fathers, Francis Miles Finch's "The Blue and the Gray”, ghost stories, ghosts, good writing, gossip, Hamilton Awareness Society, Henry James, Jane Robert's The After Death Journal of an American Philosopher: the World View of William James, lean prose, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, Ludwig Binswanger, mediums, mediumship, naturalism, no way out, novelists, philosophical stylists, political rivals, posterity, power of rumor, pragmatism, psychologial conventions, purple prose, reductionist explanation, reputation, restoring reputation, ruined reputation, scholarly citation, scholarly protocol, silencing, skepticism, spiritual good manners, spiritualism, Stephen F. Knott's Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth, stereotyping, suicide, the afterlife, the dead, the last word, the paranormal, therapy, Thomas Jefferson, unacademic methods, William James | 4 Comments

The Moral Drama of the World

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Abigail

The Moral Drama of the World It’s Erev Rosh Ha Shana (the eve of the Jewish New Year 5777) and here I am, not in synagogue tonight, because I have a column to script. Likewise tomorrow I’ll be late for … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Biblical God, chivalry, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, 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, love, martyrdom, master, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, mortality, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, 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, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "the evil tongue", "the natural attitude", "the phenomenological reduction", Abigail's Adages, aggression, anti-Semites, anti-semites at Trump rallies, attachment, BDS anti-semitism, BLM anti-semitism, bracketing, closing argument, college campus anti-semites, commitment, defamation, derogatory speech, detachment, doing philosophy, Edmund Husserl, Erev Rosh Ha Shana, Evil, false and defamatory, fighting back, give it your all, gossip, High Holidays, hope and fear, intrigue, Jewish acculturation, Jewish life, Jewish mainstream, Jewish New Year 5777, lashon hara, life review, loss of reputation, making the case, manipulation, martial arts, moral drama, non-resistance, objectivity, oldest hatred, personal enemy, Persuasion, philosophy's practical uses, prayer guidance, professional defenses, Reform temple, reputation, rumors, self-defense, slander, social defeat, social defenses, social self-defense, Submission, synagogue services, synagogues, temple, Terror, the moral drama of the world, the new anti-Semitism, turning the other cheek, usefulness of philosophy | Leave a comment

The Gift of the Jews

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Abigail

Unwrapping the Gift of the Jews What’s the gift of the Jews? It’s to live with God chronologically. Is that all? Is that anything? Well, I don’t know if it’s anything, but it’s the reasoning behind the Bible. Keep track … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, Christianity, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, heroes, hidden God, 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, mortality, nineteenth-century, non-violence, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romanticism, seduction, sex appeal, 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, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "God is my witness", 19th century thought, anti-semitism, anti-Zionism, appeasement, atrocities, Australian Outback, bad people, beheadings, Bible, biblical studies, Charles Dickens, Christians, crucifixions, defamation, Emmanuel Lévinas' "A Religion for Adults" in Difficult Freedom, Emmanuel Lévinas' Difficile Liberté, genocide, good people, good people and bad people, grace, gratitude, Hans Castorp, ISIS, Israel, Joseph Puder, literary criticism, living historically, malice, Malmo, Middle East, Modernity, narrative criticism, non-fiction lives, normality, novelistic lives, novels of ideas, Oliver Twist, pacificism, Peace, Philosophical fiction, Quakers, Roger Sandall's documentary films, salt of the earth, sanatoriums, sanity, sentimentality, StandWithUs, Sweden, Swedish Anti-Semitism, thankfulness, The Covenant, the face of The Covenant, The Face of the Other, the gift, the Other, Thomas Cahill's The Gifts of the Jews, Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, World War I, Yazidis, Zionism | 2 Comments

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