Tag Archives: Hannah Arendt
“Evil is Really Not Banal”
“Evil is Really Not Banal” This past week we’ve been in California, where I’ve resumed my treatments for neuropathy at the Loma Linda hospital. The other event of the week, salient for me, was a talk at the Claremont School … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, dialectic, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, glitterati, guilt and innocence, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, martyrdom, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", audience Q&A, author/publisher relation, “The Rake’s Progress”, banality of evil, behaviorism, Bernard Harrison’s Blaming the Jews: The Persistence of a Delusion, blaming the Jews, book endorsements, book reviewers, book reviews, bureaucratic mindset, Claremont School of Theology, Coincidences, conscious evil, diabolical cunning, Evil, evil personified, excusing the Holocaust, explaining evil, fiction and real life, fighting the good fight, firming resolve, futile counterargument, groupthink, guidance from above, Hannah Arendt, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Holocaust research, illustrations from life, knee fracture, Loma Linda Hospital, meaning what you say, moral coverup, Nazi arguments, Nazi canards, Nazi materials, Nazi talking points, neuropathy treatments, publishing snafus, speaker event, synchronicities, the Holocaust, the seducer, theologians, traps of argument, truth stranger than fiction, white-washing evil, wolf in sheep’s clothing
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My Identity Crisis
My Identity Crisis Our week in California, never an easy one — because much has always required attention there — was difficult in various ways but notably hard for me this time. First, the neuropathy treatments I get at Loma … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, childhood, chivalry, cities, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, gender balance, glitterati, health, heroes, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, masculinity, memoir, memory, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, novels, past and future, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, relationships, roles, romance, romantic love, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social construction, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", adolescence, anthropology, Ashley Wilkes, blood circulation, cause of neuropathy, difficult vacation, Dr. Mark Bussell, empirical outlook, evil defined, experimental treatment, good and evil, Hannah Arendt, Holocaust controversies, identity crisis, identity formation, Margaret Michell's "Gone With The Wind", moral illustrations, moral reflection, neuro-vascular system, neurologists, neuropathy, neuropathy diagnosis, Neuropathy Institute at Loma Linda, philosophic arguments, philosophic originality, political philosopher, reading romances, research hospital, Rhett and Scarlet, side effects, the good life, the Holocaust, The Jews
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Success in San Francisco
Success in San Francisco Jerry and I spent the last three days (plus two for travel) in San Francisco. The trip wasn’t exactly a willing one on my part because my spouse had talked me into giving a paper at … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Biblical God, Christianity, cities, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, 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, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, mysticism, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, scientism, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged academic conference, academic illusions, academic panel, academic retirement, apocalypse, breath control, Brooklyn College, colleagues, communism, control of pace, crumbled illusion, delusional systems, disliking publicity, disliking travel, dissenters, divine dimension, Downeast, eliminating dissent, enraged millennialism, Eric Voegelin, Eric Voegelin Society, escapism, esteem of colleagues, esteem of peers, Evil, EVS International Meeting, extremism, false escapes, false messiahs, fear of public speaking, gnostic movements, growth rate, Hannah Arendt, human uncertainty, idealogues, ideologies, invisibility, John Rawls' Theory of Justice, killing the messenger, liquidating dissenters, Maine, man-made gods, Millennial Experience, millennial movements, Name professorships, Nazi regime, Nazism, original position, panel discussion, philosopher, philosophic relevance, political dissenters, political thinker, posthumous glory, prayer, prayer guidance, presenting papers, public speaking, reductionism, revised reading list, San Francisco, sinking feeling, small town, the Hannah Arendt industry, the Holocaust, the human condition, the human predicament, totalitarian temptation, totalitarianism, totalitarians, travel, Voegelinians, wealth redistribution, woman philosopher
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A Funny Thing Happened to Philosophy (on its way to the deepest depths)
A Funny Thing Happened to Philosophy (on its way to the deepest depths) Recent projects of work have put me back in contact with a strange business in which philosophy had a strange part to play. In the 1920’s, as … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art of living, atheism, autonomy, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, 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, male power, masculinity, master, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, mysticism, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romanticism, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, status, suffering, terror, terrorism, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged argument chains, Authenticity, average man, average opinions, Beethoven, being-there, being-toward-death, bloodbath, careerism, classroom philosophizing, collapse of trust, country music, currency and trust, currency and value, Dasein, deep thought, dishonor, Edmund Husserl, Emmanuel Levinas's Otherwise Than Being or Beyond Essence, Emmanuel Levinas's Totality and Infinity, expulsion of Jews, fall of German mark, generations of thinkers, genius, German defeat, German professoriate, Hank Williams's Your Cheatin' Heart, Hannah Arendt, History of Philosophy, human decency, inflation crisis, Jewish mentor, Jewish students, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Martin Heidegger's Being and Time, Nazi party, new foundation, opinion shapers, outmoded worldview, personal destiny, philosophic betrayal, philosophic competition, philosophic depth, philosophic genius, philosophic influence, philosophic legacy, philosophic loyalty, philosophic rivalry, philosophic Romanticism, philosophic stardom, primeval, public intellectuals, Rector at Freiburg, spellbinding lectures, strange business, the best and the brightest, the human face, ultimacy, University of Freiburg, University of Marburg, Ur source, victors and losers, World War I, World War II, worldview, young windbag
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“A Forgotten Detour”
“A Forgotten Detour” As I finished the chapter of Confessions of a Young Philosopher that’s about my years as a graduate student at the Columbia University and Penn State departments of philosophy, a missing piece of that time suddenly reappeared, … 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, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, 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, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, postmodernism, power, presence, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, relationships, religion, roles, romance, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged a life problematic, academic ambition, Columbia philosophy department, Columbia Seminar on Hermeneutics, Columbia University, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, Fair Play for Cuba Committee, gender of the mind, graduate assistants, Hannah Arendt, Hegel seminar, Hermeneutics, Jacob Taubes, James Baldwin, John Hermann Randall, jokes about women, Krister Stendhal, New Testament, New York intellectuals, Old Testament, opinion shapers, Paul Kristeller, philosophic apprenticeship, pre-feminist days, predatory professors, Susan Sontag, the beautiful people, the greasy pole, theological bigotry, theology of contempt, truth-seeking, Union Theological Seminary, woman's honor, women graduate students, women philosophers, women philosophy students
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“Philosophical Gossip”
“Philosophical Gossip” Not long ago, the writer Cynthia Ozick had a front page piece in the New York Times Book Review about gossip. In her usual talent-laden voice, Ozick wrestles with the double sense of gossip. Could it be deplorable … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Bible, childhood, chivalry, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, mind control, modernism, mortality, nineteenth-century, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "the evil tongue", "the few and the many", "the noble and the base", 19th century novels, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Defining Evil Away: Arendt's Forgiveness", banality of evil, behaviorism, Bettina Stangneth's Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer, censorship, charisma, clandestine romance, classical philosophers, colleagues, collegiality, conventional religion, courtship, Cynthia Ozick, Cynthia Ozick's "The Novel's Evil Tongue", de-Nazification, dominance and submission, dramatic lives, eavesdropping, Eichmann trial transcript, emigres, evil as conformism, female vulnerability, Femininity, fiction, flattery, free will, freedom, German-Jewish philosophers, German-Jewish students, gossip, Hannah Arendt, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hans Jonas Memoirs, Hans Jonas The Gnostic Religion, Henry James, historical characters, Jane Austen, lashon hara, Leo Strauss, Leo Strauss' Persecution and the Art of Writing, Letters 1925-1975: Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger, lifelong love affair, lifelong romance, love letter, Male Power, malice, Martin Heidegger, modern sensibility, Modernity, moral choice, narrative, novelists, Orthodox Judaism, persecution, persona, personal magnetism, personal v political, philosophers, philosophic friendships, philosophic lives, philosophic romances, Philosophy v Religion, plot lines, private passion, private persons, professorial power, public intellectuals, public v private, refugees, seduction, slander, Stanley Rosen, Tarzan and Jane, The Nazi Party, The New York Times Book Review, theologians, Tolstoy, University of Chicago, unpretentiousness, whitewashing, World War II
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