Tag Archives: French Revolution

“Thankfulness”

Posted on November 22, 2022 by Abigail

Abbie is unable to write a new column this week because she and her husband, Jerry Martin, are stuck in Denver, CO, where a succession of flights home have been canceled. She and Jerry were in Denver for a fascinating … Continue reading →

Posted in Academe, Action, Alienation, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Faith, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, History, Ideology, Philosophy, Psychology | Tagged anger, bad faith, blessings, candor, collective community, Committee of Public Safety, consensus, covenant, decorum, dissent, Foucault, French Revolution, gratitude, Hebrew Scripture, homophobia, honesty, ideality, inauthenticity, insensitivity, Islamophobia, Israel, kibbutz, Leviticus, Mount Sinai, personal sincerity, politeness, political correctness, popularity, prayer, racism, ritual, sacrifice, sexism, Thanksgiving, The Archaeological Method, The Terror, Thought Crimes, Torah Study, unity | Leave a comment

“Thankfulness”

Posted on November 23, 2021 by Abigail

“Thankfulness” The other day, in the Saturday morning Torah Study class at my Reform temple, we were studying the verses on the ancient temple cultus detailed – and I mean detailed – in the Book of Leviticus. My patience with these Memory … Continue reading →

Posted in Academe, Action, Alienation, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Faith, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, History, Ideology, Philosophy, Psychology | Tagged anger, bad faith, blessings, candor, collective community, Committee of Public Safety, consensus, convenant, decorum, dissent, Foucault, French Revolution, gratitude, Hebrew Scripture, homophobia, honesty, ideality, inauthenticity, insensitivity, Islamophobia, Israel, kibbutz, Leviticus, Mount Sinai, personal sincerity, politeness, Political Corrrectness, popularity, prayer, racism, ritual, sacrifice, sexism, Thanksgiving, The Archaeological Method, The Terror, Thought Crimes, Torah Study, unity | 2 Comments

Desire, Distraction and Dialectic

Posted on November 2, 2021 by Abigail

Desire, Distraction and Dialectic I have a woman friend whose mother hated her in the womb. Surely an exaggeration! — you may protest. Well, I met the lady only once, but she was the coldest being I ever encountered who … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, 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, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, 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, 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 "created equal", 5th Commandment, a mother's instinct, a mother's love, aim of history, aiming at purity, being hated, contradictions as opportunity, contradictions in history, coping with history, end of history delusions, enmity distracts from one's story, fatal flaw, female coldness, foundational relationship, founding contradictions, French Revolution, gaslighting, holier-than-thou, honoring parents, human imperfection, human traffickers, knitting women, Les Tricoteuses, living in history, method of denunciation, method of dialectic, narcissistic mother, object of hatred, personal history, playing the cards you're dealt, politically sexy, prenatal struggle, psychological abuse, recovery from gaslighting, recovery from longterm abuse, religious obligation, search for purity, self-trust, slave system, societal denial, strategies of hatred, The American DNA, the Guillotine, unease of the founders, unmaternal feelings, unmaternal instincts, unvalidated experience, USA as motherland, woman friend | Leave a comment

Back by Popular Demand: It’s Hegel!

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Abigail

Back by Popular Demand: It’s Hegel! Hegel is one of the philosophers from whom I’ve learned a lot. Though he was born and died in nineteenth-century Germany, he’s still timely. In the Anglo-American sphere, the question I get is, “What’s … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Art of Living, Autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, 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, nineteenth-century, 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, Romanticism, 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, Theology, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 19th-century philosophy Anglo-American philosophy, academic scandal, acquiring wisdom, administrative regulations, belief and identity, blacklisting, brute force, cancel culture, caste system, civil society, collegial friendship, contextual knowing, Continental philosophy, Corneille, cultural knowing, damn-fool scrape, deathbed regrets, decoding fiction, democratic infrastructure, democratic institutions, denouncers denounced, destroyed status, dishonoring, dominant group, Empiricists, enemy of the people, false beliefs, federal system, fictional characters, freedom unalloyed, French Revolution, G.W.F. Hegel, German philosophy, getting smart, guillotine, he said she said, historical forces, homo sapiens sapiens, human fairness, human governance, human unfairness, identity politics, inability to lie, inherited privilege, instant freedom, involuntary, Jane Austen, life achievement, life of ideas, lost standing, Marxism, Marxist materialism, mass executions, material cause, means of production, mediating institutions, metaphysical idealism, moral high ground, mutual mercy, mutual understanding, natural disasters, novelistic, Oppression, personal identity, philosophic friendship, plagues in history, political bullies, political center, political denunciation, political dissenter, political mobbing, popular demand, power dynamic, power relations, power to the people, professional standing, protective truths, pulling moral rank, raw data, Reign of Terror, revolutionary aims, sense perception, Shakespeare, shared fantasy, social standing, student/professor eros, the general will, tricoteuses, true beliefs, unconscious power, victim power, voluntary, voluntary associations, who seduced whom, world views | 2 Comments

“Hundreds of People”

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Abigail

“Hundreds of People” In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens’ great novel of the French Revolution, there is a scene where the book’s heroine says: “I have sometimes sat alone here of an evening, listening, until I have made the … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged AAR, AAR Conference 2016, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", Amazon reviews, Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, American Academy of Religion, American Philosophy, archives, belief systems, Benghazi, Bernard Harrison, book exhibit, British philosopher, Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities, Chris Stevens, climbing the barricades, colleagues, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, current physics, cynicism, Dostoevsky, echoes, elevator pitch, Emerson, footsteps, French Revolution, grandfather, guillotine, guilty, High Holidays, inner depths, inner life, innocent, Jewish historiography, Jewish history, Jewish spirit, John Kaag's "American Philosophy: A Love Story", literary agents, Lydie Denier, Lydie Denier’s A Voice for Ambassador J.Christopher Stevens, morphic fields, murdered diplomat, not in Kansas, philosophers, philosophic life, philosophical journey, premonition, private life, private life invaded, publishers, rabbis, Rav Tsair, Reign of Terror, romantic life, Rupert Sheldrake, Rupert Sheldrake's Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home, San Antonio, spiritual journey, submission to publishers, Talmudics, Thoreau, training lab rats, transliterated prayers, truthful life, William James, world view | 6 Comments

“Peace in the Eye of the Storm”

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Abigail

“Peace in the Eye of the Storm” Today in morning meditation I noticed a sense of large-scale peacefulness in me. (Don’t worry, friends. It’ll pass, it’ll pass! I’ll still be me.) I must say it took me quite by surprise, … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Cool, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, History, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Mortality, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, Public Intellectual, relationships, Roles, Seduction, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Time | Tagged adventure of life, Alexander the Great, Alexandrian empire, American Academy of Religion, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Aristotle, Asia Society, bullies, burnout, cafes, cafes and philosophers, Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities, classical civilization, college administrators, conceptual accuracy, cultural heritage, denouncers denounced, denunciation, Diogenes, down time, Emmanuel Levinas, Epicurus, foresight, foretelling the future, freedom of conscience, French Revolution, futurology, G.W.F. Hegel, Greek amphitheaters, groundless denunciation, guillotine, Hellenistic civilization, hindsight, Hitler, hope, Human Resources, hunters and hunted, ideological bullies, inner peace, intelligent hope, McCarthyism, meditation, Metropolitan Museum, micro-aggression, miracles, moral directness, museum exhibits, museum going, overloaded, owl of Minerva, pedagogic vocation, Pergamon, peripatetics, personnel file, philosophers, philosophic talent, Prometheus, punishment of Prometheus, Roman temples, safe space, Salem witch trials, search for truth, Stoics, Sydney Carton, tainted personnel files, Title IX effects, transmission of culture, wave of the future, witch hunts | 4 Comments

Landscapes of the Heart

Posted on March 29, 2016 by Abigail

Landscapes of the Heart I hadn’t been to Manhattan (my home town) in over two years. But last week I went into town to meet my life-long friends, Frank and Ada, at the Neue Gallerie on 86th and Fifth. That’s … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Childhood, Christianity, Cities, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Culture, Desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hidden God, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Immortality, Jews, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Mortality, nineteenth-century, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Political Movements, Power, Propaganda, Psychology, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Seduction, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, Social Conventions, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 9/11/01, ancient regime, art gallery, artifacts, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Buddhist, cab drivers, Central Park, character assasination, Christian, city life, civic life, civic wounds, coquettrie, court painter, deal-making, death, death scenes, defamation, dorm life, dying, eavesdropping, Edvard Munch, Edvard Munch's "The Scream", energy, Evangelical Christian, Existential dilemmas, farewells, feminine intelligence, French Revolution, German Expressionism, gossip, graveyards, guillotine, healing, Hebrew prayer, homesickness, igneous rock, internet shopping, landscape, last words, love of New York, love of Texas, Lower Manhattan, Loyalty, Marie Antoinette, mourning, Neue Gallerie, New World Trade Center, New Yorkers, Norwegian painters, nostalgia, painting, personal identity, pied à terre, portrait painting, psalm, rebirth, recollection, Reign of Terror, repair process, reputation, resurrection, skyline, skyscrapers, slander, small shops, small town life, social wounds, sociopaths, soul of a city, Spring, Twin Towers, Viennese cafés, Viennese pastries, Vigée Le Brun, will to live, World Trade Center, World War I, wounds | Leave a comment

“Thankfulness”

Posted on November 26, 2015 by Abigail

Posted in Academe, Action, Alienation, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Faith, Friendship, Guilt and Innocence, History, Ideology, Philosophy, Psychology | Tagged anger, bad faith, blessings, candor, collective community, Committee of Public Safety, consensus, convenant, decorum, dissent, Foucault, French Revolution, gratitude, Hebrew Scripture, homophobia, honesty, ideality, inauthenticity, insensitivity, Islamophobia, Israel, kibbutz, Leviticus, Mount Sinai, personal sincerity, politeness, Political Corrrectness, popularity, prayer, racism, ritual, sacrifice, sexism, Thanksgiving, The Archaeological Method, The Terror, Thought Crimes, Torah Study, unity | 2 Comments

Political Correctness and Sex Appeal

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Abigail

Political Correctness and Sex Appeal These would seem to be unrelated topics. But not in my world. First, about this Political Correctness mania. It is starting to act like a cumulonimbus cloud, soaked in its own heavy humidity, making us … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Autonomy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Hegel, History, history of ideas, ID, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Modernism, nineteenth-century, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Seduction, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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 "A Tale of Two Cities", "Absolute Freedom and Terror", appeasement, argument, bullies, Charles Dickens, city kids, city life, dating game, dialogue, enemy of the people, erotic strategies, Estates General 1789, feminine strategy, French Revolution, G.W.F. Hegel, guillotine, guilt trips, identity, influence, Jean Jacques Rousseau, losers, Manhattan, manipulation, monologue, national action committee, National Assembly, PC, political correctness, political policy, politics of ideas, radicalism, radicals, religious identity, Rousseau's "The Social Contract", sex appeal, sexual losers, status, temple membership, the "general will", The Left, The Phenomenology of Mind, thought control, thought police, wallflowers, winning arguments | 2 Comments

“Encore Marie Antoinette”

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Abigail

“Encore Marie Antoinette” Last night, I read to its sad finale Stefan Zweig’s can’t-be-more-definitive biography of Marie Antoinette, the unluckiest Queen of France. She got a passing mention in “My Inner French Girl,” not a very respectful notice, but now … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Action, Alienation, Art, Autonomy, Chivalry, Class, Courtship, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, History, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Memoir, motherhood, nineteenth-century, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, relationships, Roles, Seduction, Sexuality, Social Conventions, Spirituality, Suffering, The Problematic of Woman, War, Zeitgeist | Tagged "Affair of the Necklace", "Liberty at the Barricades", biography, captive, chivalry, Count Axel von Fersen, couples, crowned heads of Europe, Dauphin, deficits, Delacroix, escape, French Revolution, grifter, guillotine, hero, impotence, Louis XVI, love affair, luck, Marie Antoinette, Marie Antoinette: The Portrait of an Average Woman, misogyny, mob, monarchy, pleasure, prison, public opinion, queen, Queen of France, Rococo, royalty, scandal, sexual dysfunction, Stefan Zweig, symbol, teamwork, The Night of Varennes, tumbril, voyeurism, world historical figure | 2 Comments

Tag Archives: French Revolution

“Thankfulness”

“Thankfulness”

“Thankfulness”

Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column

Recent Posts