Tag Archives: moral courage
Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions: Preface, Part 4
Today Dr. Jerry L. Martin and Dr. Abigail L. Rosenthal (author of Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column) complete their discussion of the Preface to her new book, Confessions of a Young Philosopher. Let’s see how their discussion winds up. *** *** Jerry: In … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, 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, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, 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, theism, theology, time, Truth, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", 20th-century philosophy, Abigail L. Rosenthal, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", academic philosophy, authenticity and truth, authenticity in love, Confession as a genre, Divine witness, ethics and integrity, ethics of love, examined life, existential reflection, faith and reason, feminist philosophy, Fulbright scholarship, God as backup for truthfulness, God as Witness, God's bias for truthfulness, God's Witness and truthfulness, grin and bear it, happy ending, honest motivation, human experience, idealism vs reality, inauthentic religion, insuperable obstacles, intellectual honesty, intellectual independence, Jewish philosophy, leaving home, liberty of mind, life as experiment, life as experiment with truth, life's ideal dimension, life's verticle dimension, live your philosophy, living authentically, living sincerely, living without pretense, living your ideas, love of wisdom, married philosophers, moral courage, moral philosophy, mystical experience, Paris, Paris in the 20th century, Paris memoirs, personal philosophy, philosophical autobiography, philosophical journey, philosophical memoir, philosophical storytelling, philosophy and love, philosophy and spirituality, philosophy of love, putting ideas to the test, real life as a test of ideas, romantic marriages, search for truth, seeking truth, seeking wisdom, self-deception, self-discovery, self-trust, sincerity in philosophy, smile!, Spinoza, stoicism, testing one's ideals, true aim of marriage, true love, truth in marriage, unforeseen pitfalls, wisdom traditions, witness to truth, women authors, women philosophers, worldly warnings, you can't fool God
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When It Has My Name On It
There are moments that put one’s integrity to the test. They aren’t necessarily to be ranked higher than the everyday moments that only require one to keep on keeping on. In first youth, one dreams of deeds of heroic daring … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, anthropology, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, 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, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, 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, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", academic politics, admitting the truth, all that glitters is not gold, answering a call, avoiding a calling, being put on the spot, breaking the silence, career risk, careerism, child abuse, coming out of the closet, courage to grow up, derring-do, dodging a duty, duties one cannot dodge, earned vs phony status, everyday courage, everyday moments, expressing remorse, familial sexual abuse, family loyalty, family tree, father-daughter abuse, go along to get along, gossip, heroic efforts, imaginary heroics, integrity, integrity on the line, integrity's price, Israel, job threats in academe, life between heaven and hell, life challenge, life on the timeline, living normally, missing one's moment, moral blindness, moral challenge, moral courage, moral evasion, moral summons, morality has no gender, normality as heroic, ordinary choice vs moral choice, outward status vs real merit, Paul Newman in Exodus, power threats in academe, PTSD, putting one's honor on the line, real manhood and pretense of manhood, rising to a challenge, sharing a painful truth, social conformism, the call to courage, the call to heroism, the cost of truth, the courage to be normal, the moral dimension, the truth as reinstating reality, war wounds, war wounds and personality change, yearning for extremes, youthful dreams
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Anti-Semitism’s Secret Springs
Before October 7, 2023, the anti-Semite was a type I seldom encountered. I can remember the very first time the phenomenon came my way in an academic setting. A philosophic colleague of my late father was scheduled to give a … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, 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, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, 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, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", academic freedom, academic philosophy, answer to prayer, anti-hero, anti-Semite defined, anti-Semites, chronology and guilt, chronology and moral judgment, Columbia University, concealed cunning, death ending a friendship, divine revelation, divine revelation in New York subway, divine separation and human visibility, divine separation and our narrative, family friends, friends become enemies, friendship betrayed, friendship lost, God can see through masks, God sees the story, guests for dinner, hating God's historical aspect, heroes and villains, hiding from God, human life as storylike, human visibility to God, inherited friends, institutional powerlessness, Jewish mission defined, Jewish passion for God, Jews and God in history, living behind a mask, masked protesters, misreading the Bible, misusing the Bible, moral courage, mysticism and moral evasion, naive facade as a mask, October 7, personal God vs God as Oneness, philosophic colleagues, philosophy of religion, pretended naivete, selective Biblical citations, the timeline and moral clarity, transcendent God vs immanent God, trial run for unacceptable behavior, what people will do in the dark, what you see is what you get, when the cat's away the mice will play
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The Family Laundry
A cousin just told me that the Israeli branch of the family is putting out a book that she has seen in advance of publication. It’s about the immediate forebears of that branch, who are people of large consequence in … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, books, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, glitterati, guilt and innocence, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, medieval, memoir, memory, mind control, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, oppression, past and future, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, secular, seduction, 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, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Uncategorized, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged anti-semitism, anti-Zionism, biblical Israel, Biblical narrative, book projects, Commemorative volume, Coulda been a contender, El Al flight, Eminent families, Exclusivism in religion, Family flaws, Family lineage, family prestige, Family pride, Family secrets, Family shame, family tree, Flaws and virtues, Generational change, God and Abraham, going along to get along, Grammatical competence, Holy envy, Identity reinforced, Identity undermined, Jerusalem, Jungian thought-forms, Kibbutznik, Krister Stendahl, lech, lecha, Life summonses, Medieval Jerusalem, modern Israel, moral courage, Objective case, opportunism, Passing the buck, Personal truthfulness, Political dynasties, pride and shame, promised land, Reclaiming desert, Religious pluralism, Reproving transgression, Self-betrayal, selling out, Sense of identity, Skeletons in the closet, Speaking Hebrew, Taking a stand, The cost of taking a stand, The navel of the world, truth unvarnished, Visiting Israel, Washing family laundry, Wedding on the Jordan
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“Presence”
“Presence” Our rabbi, whom our temple can no longer afford to employ, will be gone in a few more weeks. This Friday, the temple is holding a service in his honor and I am one of those in the lineup … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, memoir, memory, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, politics, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, seduction, self-deception, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twenty-first century, Utopia, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "be here now", "being here now", 1776, absence, America, American covenant, Biblical covenant, biblical criticism, biblical Israel, chagrin, clock time, covenant, Declaration of Independence, employment contract, Eternity, farewells, feminine side of God, Femininity, forefathers, Fourth of July, frustration, hail and farewell, half-absence, higher criticism, History, homesickness, Independence Day, insolvency, Jewish continuity, Jewish memory, Jewish scholarship, Jewish temporality, Jewish theology, Jon D. Levenson, Jon D. Levenson's Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible, living in the now, loss, maternal love, meditation, memory, moral courage, Mother, past present and future, patriotism, pop psychology, presence, Rabbi, rabbinate, sabbath, Shabbat, Shekinah, spirituality, temporality, Torah Study
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