Tag Archives: manipulativeness

Getting a Grip

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Abigail

Lately, I’ve been in a funny sort of crisis: the crisis when nothing is going wrong — and that’s what’s wrong! It’s as if the distance between my present place and its boundaries is equidistant on every side. Nothing inclines me to … 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, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, 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, 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, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", alone in a crowd, anguish, anti-semitism, Authenticity, author and critics, bad art, book as its own last word, California, changing what you can, choreographing a life, deciphering anguish, directionlessness, divine assignments and handicaps, divine clues, explaining one's book, fashionable despair, feeling disconnected, feeling rootless, feeling ungrounded, futility, Heidegger's uncanny, honest prayer, learning from horses, life seeming pointless, living with a handicap, loss of direction, loss of grip, loss of motivation, loss of purpose, manipulativeness, Martin Heidegger, mediation methods, meditation insights, mental standstill, messages from nature, neuropathy, neuropathy treatments, nobody understands me, overcontrolling, philosophy of human existence, psychological crisis, quieting the mind, styles of life, sympathizing with one's body, taking the body seriously, the future as predictable, the future as surprising, the future as unpredictable, the weight of the world, unheimlich, unwarranted despair, unwelcome freedom, what's wrong is that nothing is wrong, worry about the world | 1 Comment

My Mind Is Not My Brain

Posted on August 9, 2022 by Abigail

My Mind Is Not My Brain How much hangs on that denial – or on its contradictory, that my mind is my brain! If our minds are our brains, as I once thought, and as our educated contemporaries mostly still … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Christianity, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, 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, hidden God, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immortality, Institutional Power, Judaism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Medieval, memory, Mind Control, Modern Women, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, motherhood, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, science, scientism, secular, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged ambition, anguish, anxiety, attitudes toward death, brain and memory storage, brain death, brain death and consciousness, cardiac arrest and consciousness, cardiac care, computers and brains, conscious state and neural correlates, cruelty, cynicism, dealing with death, death and denial, death as escape, death as the end, despair, Does God make a difference?, EEG, God hypothesis, God question, identity theory, intellectual courage, life review, localizing conscious experience in the brain, manipulativeness, Materialism, mind/body problem, MRI, NDE, NDE research, NDE studies, near death experience, oblivion, paradigm shift, PET, Philosophical Materialism, physicalism, Pim Van Lommel, Pim Van Lommel's Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience, placebo effect, prejudice, reductionism and culture, reincarnation, right pathway, search for purpose, success fixation, surviving brain death, surviving death, terminal lucidity, the absurd, verifiable afterlife reports, willful blindness | 5 Comments

Men on the Timeline

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Abigail

Men on the Timeline The other night I was at the Franco-Tunisian café where I go to get some of my writing done. A sizeable group had taken one side of the section where I found a round table. They … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bigotry, Chivalry, Cities, Class, 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, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, 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, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged #metoo, a false life, artists under communism, award-winning films, believing in nothing, believing propaganda, black and white film, breaking faith, cafe eavesdropping, chivalry, classy cafe, communism v capitalism, communist-ruled Poland, condescension, deflecting advances, enabling sexism, escape to Paris, feminist preoccupations, foreign films, France, Franco-Tunisian cafe, grotesque sexism, heaven protect the working girl, high-end customers, human interconnectedness, ideality in men, ideology, inauthenticity, Iron Curtain, le coup de foudre, local diner, loss of faith, loss of trust, love without history, male protectiveness, male pushback, male revenge, manipulativeness, men who can cry, men’s new roles, night on the town, nihilism, out of line remarks, outmoded sexism, Paris, Parisian memories, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, permission to protest, Poland, Polish films, positive male role models, power advantage, pre-feminist days, pretended feminists, psychic interconnectedness, put downs, realistic men, redefining women, redefining women’s lives, reliable men, restaurant eavesdropping, romantic films, sensitivity training, sexist backlash, shared world, the French erotic model, the law of the brute, the party line, Tristan and Isolde, tunnel vision, uncalled for remarks, Upper Bohemia, what women want, women sharing a secret, women’s assertiveness, women’s self-definition, writers at cafes | Leave a comment

The Feminine Force

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Abigail

The Feminine Force Some years ago, I met a young woman artist, a painter of very large canvasses, who had married a young Moroccan in order to give him a way to live and work in New York City. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Chivalry, Cities, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, Ontology, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, 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, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged #metoo, 19th century philosophy, 19th-century literature, a woman's interest, anti-feminist, Arab youth, asymmetry of sexes, biological imperatives, Bullying, Cleopatra, co-education, conflicts in feminism, conformism, danger of rape, deceptive charm, dissent, equal representation, erotic ideal, ethical duty, expressing one's charm, fear of dissent, Feminine Force, Femininity, Feminism, free spirit, frustration, future of Russia, gallantry, gallantry in men, getting pregnant, handsome hero, Henry James's The Bostonians, ideal situation, imprinted by intimacy, Julius Caesar, lifting morale, Lionel Trilling, love worthiness, manipulativeness, Mark Antony, marriage for green card, masculine force, mastering the space, meaning of life, meeting mother, men's protectiveness, Michael Artzibashev's Sanine, Moroccan youth, mutual love, mysteries of eros, New York City, nihilist, obligation to be happy, original work, ostracism, peer pressure, personal fulfillment, post-Civil War, power of volition, protection of women, reading one's mind, reading the best, reciprocal commitment, relaxing resistance, resisting pressure, revising the canon, Richard Lovelace's To Lucasta Going to the Wars, rule breaker, Russian novels, self-actualization, self-surrender, sisterhood, social safety, Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra: A Life, Submission, surrendering one's will, Tel Aviv, the canon, the erotic, theoretical discussions, undocumented immigrant, what counts as consent, will power, women and STD, women in Islam, women students, women's charm, women's first intimacy, women's impregnability, women's liberation, women's seducibility, women's self-protection, women's vulnerabilities, yin and yang | Leave a comment

Are the Stories We Live True?

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Abigail

Are the Stories We Live True? Good people try to live the sorts of stories that will solve the problems of their lives as reasonably and realistically as they can. Meanwhile, evil people aim to mess up good people’s stories. … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, bureaucracy, Chivalry, Class, conformism, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, scientism, 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, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", abstraction, abuse of power, adultery, Anglophone philosophers, authority figure, Bernard Harrison's What Is Fiction For: Literary Humanism Restored, Bertrand Russell, chronology, Continental philosophers, creative living, credence, credulity, deconstruction, deconstructionism, delusions, early Wittgenstein, empiricism, Evil, evil people, false consciousness, fantasy, Ferdinand de Saussure, fictional stories, French philosophers, Freudian unconscious, Gilles Deleuze, giving credit, good people, goodness, graduate student, incredulity, Jacques Derrida, manipulativeness, marital cheating, metaphysics, Michel Foucault, narrative, narrative theory, narrative view, narrativity, novels, Ontology, outside the text, philosophical analysis, plot line, scholarly attribution, seductive ploy, self-mistrust, self-trust, sense data, skepticism, social embarrasment, Steven G. Smith's Full History: On The Meaningfulness of Shared Action, suppressed stories, suspicion, the marginal, the powerful, theory, theory of being, true stories, ultimate reality, verbal vertigo, wish fulfillment | Leave a comment

“Sex Appeal”

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Abigail

“Sex Appeal” Is it a good thing? A subversive thing? A morally neutral thing? Some years ago, I felt the need of fresh light on my situation. Since modern life’s more approved diagnostic tools and remedies seemed to me shopworn … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Femininity, Feminism, Philosophy, relationships, Sexuality, Social Conventions, Spirituality, The Problematic of Woman | Tagged astrology, being desired, charm, desire, erotic influences, erotic wisdom., European women, fair play, Frenchmen, G. W. F. Hegel's Reason in History, Gandhi, manipulativeness, Mata Hari, Paris, passion, reciprocity, sex appeal, sex energy, sexy, subterfuge, tattoos, the Evil Impulse, the rabbis, therapy | 1 Comment

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