Tag Archives: human nature
Overload
Straight ahead for us this week is a trip to California, with complex, hybrid purposes. Following an academic weekend in L.A., where both of us are presenting papers at the Eric Voegelin Society (which is a group within the American … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Childhood, Christianity, Cities, 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, 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, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, 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, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged academic combat, academic etiquette of atheism, academic honor, academic hygiene, academic meetings, American Political Science Association, anti-nazi thinker, APSA, Bible as life in history, Biblical self criticism, Biblical supersessionism, biblical truth, Cain and Abel, cleaning up your act, covert anti-semitisim, Eric Voegelin, Eric Voegelin Society, Eric Voegelin's Israel and Revelation, Esau’s complaint, escaping the Gestapo, escapist transcendence, fairness in history, fight for the blessing, fight to be the favorite, George Foote Moore’s Judaism, God as Witness, gratitude in history, historical timeline, historicity of the Bible, human nature, human nature in history, in touch with feelings, Jacob and Esau, Jacob steals the blessing, Jews as history’s record keepers, justice and chronology, life on the timeline, linear history, linear timeline, neuropathy treatments, non-dogmatic spirituality, objectivity in history, philosophy of history, presenting academic papers, preserving minority opinions, preserving the divine image, preserving the human presence, rabbinic discussion, reading between the lines, repressed history, respecting minority opinions, seeking truth in history, sibling rivalry, spiritual factor in history, surviving the test of time, surviving to tell the story, The Longest Hatred, theory of history, truth-seekers, uncovering the subtext, under-served features of the human story
Leave a comment
Are People Really Good at Heart?
Are People Really Good at Heart? “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” These words — set down as a belief, not a question — are among the last lines in the diary … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Jews, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Martyrdom, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, non-violence, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged acts of kindness, American idealists, being set up, believing illusions, believing the best, Bergen Belsen, betrayal to the Nazis, Black American Exiles, concentration camp, death in the desert, defenselessness, Egyptian authorities, enabling, enabling evildoers, Fulbright scholars, gestures of kindness, good-heartedness, hiding from the Nazis, Holocaust victims, human goodness, human kindness, human nature, idealistic values, Isis attack, John Armstrong, kindness as natural, Kindness Tour, kindness tourists, Lauren Geoghegan and Jay Austin, life lessons, lowering defenses, misguided trust, mistakes of kindness, mitzvot, mortal miscalculations, naivete, non-violence, Parisian expatriate, reforming evildoers, repairing the world, Richard Wright, safeguarding good people, satyagraha, saving good people, The Diary of Anne Frank, the goodness of others, The Shoah, thirst and exposure, tragedy, trusting people, Tweety bird
6 Comments
“The Man Behind the Curtain”
“The Man Behind the Curtain” As a sometime student of the mechanics of mind control, I’ve been aware of the ways in which, nowadays, well-intentioned people of diverse climes and views must walk in fear of being denounced. For what? … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, 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, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, scientism, 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, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "the philosophy of praxis", Albert Camus, Andrey Vyshinsky, Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks, bigotry, breaking the rules, coerced confessions, counter-revolutionary, diversity, equality and justice, established disciplines, former believers, French philosopher, future of humanity, G. W. F. Hegel's Reason in History, G.W.F. Hegel, good intentions, Great Soviet Experiment, guilty mind, haters, hegemony, human nature, inner life, intellectual disciplines, intellectuals and history, man on horseback, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Merleau-Ponty's Humanism and Terror, Mind Control, Moscow Trials, Napoleon, objective guilt, objective psychology, oppressed group, oppressor and oppressed, outward life, political denunciation, power games, preparations for revolution, revolutionary activity, revolutionary aims, revolutionary potential, revolutionary strategy, Richard Wright, Russian revolution, show trials, social stakes, social winners and losers, solitary thinkers, styles of denunciation, subjectivity and objectivity, The God That Failed, true believers, universal brotherhood, utopian visions, virtue signaling, Vyshinsky Trials, world historical figure, zone of intentions, zone of subjectivity
1 Comment
Sex and Porn
Sex and Porn O boy! A hot topic! I bet I get a hundred million followers! Some years ago, a friend of mine, a well-known feminist writer, discovered that her psychiatrist husband was being unfaithful to her. Worse, his infidelity … Continue reading
Posted in Academe, Action, Alienation, Art, Autonomy, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, History, history of ideas, ID, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Mind Control, nineteenth-century, Oppression, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, Power, Psychology, relationships, Roles, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged a life of one's own, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Getting Past Marx and Freud", addiction, animality, art of being a woman, Arthur Schopenhauer, being with-it, betrayal, book reviews, Charles Darwin, contemporary mores, Darwin’s Origin of the Species, decadence, divorce, enforcing consensus, erotic expectations, Friedrich Nietzsche, German Romanticism, getting hooked, group pressure, historical romance novels, human motivation, human nature, hypnotic therapy, ID, infidelity, inhibitions, Intellectual fashion, libido, Linda Tarazi’s Under the Inquisition: an experience relived, losing inhibitions, medical malpractice, Nancy Jo Sales’ American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers, obsession, past life regression, past life therapy, past lives, peer pressure, Peggy Orenstein’s Girls and Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape, pleasure, political correctness, pornography, post modernism, primal aims, prudish, psychiatric malpractice, reductionism, repression, reviewers, romance novels, settled science, sex, Sexuality, sociobiology, soft porn, Spanish Inquisition, species aims, the new normal, The New York Review of Books, the unconscious, theory-driven, traditionalism, trauma, trendiness, uptight, will-to-life, will-to-power, woman’s wisdom, Zoe Heller
Leave a comment