Email Abbie!
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"I would like to open this site for conversation with women of all ages, convictions and styles of life – wherever situated on the gamut of experience. In principle, there is no bar to men joining in, since how one defines women has a lot to do with what it means to be a man. But it is women I invite to pull up a chair at this virtual café table and put their questions and views into the conversation. I can be wrong as often as right, so specific advice will be avoided. What will be sought is light on how best to frame the situation of women, considered as a highly interesting problematic. What kind of hand have we been dealt, as women, and how can we best play it?
Comments are warmly encouraged on any post at any point."
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Tag Archives: identity theory
How A Woman Can Be Liberated
How A Woman Can Be Liberated When I started this column a few years ago, I vowed not to give advice. I even put that in our subtitle: “The Non-Advice Column.” So why am I about to give some? Well, … Continue reading
Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, cults, 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, hegemony, Heroes, 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, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, motherhood, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, 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, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged a child’s body, a woman’s appeal, adolescence, Advice, American boys, American courtship, anatomy isn’t destiny, biological clock, biological imperative, boys and girls, child’s flexibility, de Beauvoir and Sartre, debts to feminism, European courtship, existentialist feminism, experience as evidence, extreme skepticism, false consciousness, Feminism’s preconditions, Frederich Nietzsche, Freud and women, Freudian theories, gender boundaries, getting dates, girlhood to womanhood, giving advice, growing up, growing up and liking it, ideas and culture, identity as a choice, identity theory, intellectual curiosity, Jean-Paul Sartre’s freedom, Jean-Paul Sartre’s fundamental project, Karl Marx, living a lie, losing inhibitions, male agendas, male-authored theories, moral motivation, natural laws, on the shelf, opinion shapers, personal consciousness and power structure, philosophical feminism, philosophy and courtship, philosophy and eros, playmates, pleasing men, puberty, search for truth, seduction’s consequences, self as an illusion, self-invention, sexual identity claims, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, testing ideas, the for-itself, trendy thinking, truth and objectivity, truth claims, unfairness to women, women giving up, women’s narratives
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The Meaning of Meaninglessness
I’m reading a book by a philosopher named Susan Wolf about the meaning of life. Or rather, about the importance of meaning in a good life. What prompts such a book? you may ask. Susan Wolf explains that philosophers have … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, books, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Feminism, Freedom, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Mind Control, Modernism, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, 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, Time, twentieth century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged curing depression, cynicism, definitions of the good life, depression, despair, empirical evidence, facts and theories, fashionable theories, finding your path, having a passion, human purposes, identity theory, life after death, life’s purposes, little things, meaning of life, meaning of meaning, meaninglessness, mind and brain, opinion shapers, passion for philosophy, personal quandary, philosopher’s books, philosophers, philosophic authors, pointlesslessness, quality time, quantity and quality, skepticism, socially constructed beliefs, socially constructed values, Susan Wolf’s Meaning in Life and Why It Matters, the absurd, the search for meaning, too brief to matter, too small to matter, value judgments, what happens when we die, worldviews
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Do Miracles Happen?
Do Miracles Happen? Occasionally something occurs that you or I might be tempted to call “a miracle.” But: what follows when you try to talk about a “miracle” that you think might have happened to you? Despite the Establishment Clause … Continue reading
Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Eternity, Ethics, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, glitterati, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immortality, Institutional Power, Journalism, life and death struggle, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, Mysticism, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, scientism, secular, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Freddie's lost his cool", A.J. Ayer, accepted views, altruism, Analytic philosophy, Anglophone philosophy, annihilation of consciousness, anthologies of religion, Atheism, atheist, atheist anxieties, belief system, body as mechanism, brain damage, brain death, British Humanist Association, brute features of humanity, chance as explanatory, Darwinism, definition of miracles, established religion, Establishment Clause, evolutionary biology, felt futility, First Amendment, fruitful outcome, getting nowhere, heart death, human refinement, identity theory, improbable events, laws of nature, laws of probability, life after death, life deceits, light on the meaning, logical positivism, meaning of life, meaningful events, meaninglessness, mental clatter, mind is brain, miracles, N.D.E., natural selection, near death experience, non-conformism, noticing a miracle, O.B.E., objectivity, origin of space and time, out of body experience, out of the closet, perceiving a miracle, philosophical failure, philosophical success, private experience, randomness, Rationalist Press Association, reductionism, religious doctrine, religious tolerance, role of chance, secular humanism, seeing God, selling the Brooklyn Bridge, sense data, social conformism, social dissent, social excommunication, social isolation, South Place Ethical Society, stopping to listen, stopping to look, Sunday Telegraph, supernatural event, survival drive, synchronicity, synchronous events, target of ridicule, The Big Bang, the material world, the objective world, the selfish gene, theory of evolution, US Constitution, what's a miracle?
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“Proof of Heaven”
“Proof of Heaven” We are in Riverside, California, having arrived from Phoenix, Arizona, where we had a five-minute TV appearance on Pat McMahon’s show, The Morning Scramble. Jerry had had his first radio interview with Pat, an hour-long substantive conversation … Continue reading
Posted in Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, Cities, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Eternity, Faith, Freedom, Friendship, Health, Heroes, hidden God, Identity, Immortality, life and death struggle, Love, Memoir, memory, Mortality, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics, Power, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, self-deception, Social Conventions, Sociobiology, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, Theism, Theology, Time, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged afterlife, alimentary canal, Arizona, bacterial meningitis, bodily wisdom, body’s viewpoint, brain death, California, cognitive function, cognitive recovery, cognitive survival, coma, cultural change, cultural influence, Dante, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Dante’s Paradise, deathbed communications, Eben Alexander’s Proof of Heaven, empirical evidence, evidence, father-daughter relations, father-son relations, filial piety, heaven and hell, identity theory, liars, life as story, love as force, Materialism, materialist worldview, media visibility, medical team, medical worldview, mind and body, mortality, narrative view, natural law, near-death experiences, neurosurgeons, out of body experiences, paradigm shift, Pat McMahon, peer pressure, performers, personal identity, personal responsibility, philosophers, philosophic influence, philosophic wisdom, philosophical materialists, Phoenix, professional courage, professional duty, professional responsibility, Q & A, radio interviews, Riverside, scientism, talk shows, the Big Questions, The God Show, The Morning Scramble, the paranormal, trip to heaven, truth, truthfulness, TV interviews, untruthfulness
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“Knowing Thyself”
“Knowing Thyself” My right foot has a walking difficulty. I have been trying unsuccessfully to cure it for as long as I’ve had it. That’s about twenty years. No one in the medical field has been able to diagnose it. … Continue reading
Posted in Action, Cool, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Faith, Femininity, Philosophy, Poetry, Psychology, relationships, Roles, Social Conventions, Spirituality, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Woman
Tagged acupuncture, Aristotle, Authenticity, body rhythm, brain, contradiction, diagnosis, disability, dualism, eliptical, energy, exercise, handicap, hope, hypothesis, identity theory, Materialism, medication, medicine, mental causation, MRI, neurology, physical causation, placebo effect, psychic healing, psychosomatic, psychotherapy, riding, sincerity, strolling, symptoms, The Mind-Body Problem, the will, therapeutic riding, Total Gym, walking, yoga
5 Comments
“Grief”
“Grief” Of late, it’s been one friend down after another. They’re falling over like soldiers raked with machine gun fire, each one opening another gap in the serried ranks. With every loss, one feels a whole dimension of one’s self … Continue reading
Posted in Academe, Culture, Friendship, Philosophy, relationships
Tagged Aging, brain, death of a friend, elegy, fallen comrades, grief, grief support, identity, identity theory, Kaddish, life story, lifetime, loss of a friend, Materialism, meditation, mourning, mourning a death, mourning a loss, Nevermore, philosophy, soldiers, The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, the self, witness
4 Comments
“Materialism”
“Materialism” Sometimes, when I am feeling particularly out of sorts, I imagine how my day or week would look to me if I were a materialist. That makes me feel better, because I remember that I’m not one. By “materialist” … Continue reading
Posted in Academe, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, history of ideas, Literature, Philosophy, Political, Psychology, relationships, Sexuality, Social Conventions, The Examined Life
Tagged 13th century physics, Aristotle, Beatrice, Beatrice Portinari, cognitive science, Dante, Dante Alighieri, death of a parent, Divine Comedy, erotic quick fix, false consciousness, father's death, Florence, George Gilder, heaven, heliocentrism, hell, hook-up culture, identity theory, love, Materialism, May-Day, paradox, physical brain, Ptolemy, purgatory, reductionism, sociology, soul's journey, the soul, Thomas Nagel, Thomas Wolfe
6 Comments
"Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column" 