Tag Archives: narrative
Alter Egos
Alter Egos I’ve just finished reading the remaining chapters of my book, A Good Look at Evil. Though it’s a contribution to the field of philosophy, it has a dramatic build to it. Initial chapters deal with the conceptual battles … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, Christianity, 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, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Arabian horses, Arendt’s personal story, banality of evil, behaviorism, bureaucratic conformism, cog in the wheel, conceptual fights, connecting the dots, crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jews, dramatic story, Eichmann trial, equine therapy, following orders excuse, genocide, Gentile world, getting thrown, going country, Hannah Arendt, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Holocaust, horse as confidante, horse grooming, horsemanship, horses and risk, influence, intellectual detective work, intellectual rationale, intuitive horseback riding, Israeli secret agents, Jewish world, just following orders, Laurel Nobilis Arabians LLC, Milgram experiments, moral displacements, moral evasions, moral projections, narrative, Nazi haven in Argentina, obfuscations, personal life, philosophy, received truth, scared of horses, Skewbald, spirit of history, Stanford Prison Experiments, stilling the mind, talking horse, the kidnap of Eichmann, the Mossad, trust and mistrust, value judgments, you are what you think
Leave a comment
“Marriage”
“Marriage” Marriage has always seemed to me a great mystery. Clearly it has a political aspect. To most people, this is at least somewhat apparent. In an earlier American era, the negative politics of single womanhood was quite obvious. Take … Continue reading
Posted in academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, autonomy, Biblical God, chivalry, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, memoir, nineteenth-century, ontology, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, roles, romance, romantic love, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged a positive mystery, actualized potential, aging virgins, Authenticity, “It’s a Wonderful Life, ” Jimmy Stewart the actor, bashert, biochemical criteria for romance, brides-to-be, busted, change in being, Christmas movies, compatibility criteria, compatibility of philosophers, courage, effort in marriage, falling in love, fear, female friendship, Films, friendship, fulfillment, God & marriage, great wives, happily-married wives, human status, imprudent confidences, intimacy, life capital, loss of friendship, loss of rank, loss of status, marital adventures, marital prestige, Marriage, marriage and status, marriage as destined, mystery, mystery of marriage, narrative, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables, necessary pains, necessary secrets, negative politics, ontological change, outranking, paranoia, philosophic friendship, philosophic papers, philosophic prestige, politics of marriage, positive power, rabbinic view of marriage, realistic fear, risks in marriage, romantic eligibility, Salem witch trials, secret of marriage, self-integration, single womanhood, social prestige, social status, spinsters, status of women in Muslim world, suppressed possibilities, talking it out, Texas panhandle, the feminine condition, threatening candor, unearned status, unmarried women, Upper East Side, virgins, wedding rings, white nights, women friends, Yoga centers
2 Comments
“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
Leave a comment
“Things in Their Right Places”
“Things in Their Right Places” The editing of my to-be-reissued memoir has its own life rhythms. The version that appeared a decade ago included a scaffolding of explanations. At that point, I was trying to do something that received opinion, … Continue reading
Posted in academe, action, alienation, autonomy, contemplation, cool, culture, desire, ethics, evil, faith, freedom, health, history of ideas, identity, institutional power, Jews, life and death struggle, memoir, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, roles, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of woman, twentieth century, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged anti-Israel, anti-semitism, anti-Zionism, argument, Ariadne, bigotry, biochemical, Brooklyn College, brownshirts, cause, diagnosis, doctors, editing, Freud, Germany in the 30s, Greek mythology, handicap, holistic treatment, horses, infamy, intimidation, labyrinths, memoir, Minotaur, MRI, muscular, narrative, neurologist, physiatrist, physical therapy, post modernism, purposefulness, resignation, stoicism, the unconscious, theory, therapeutic riding, Theseus, university campuses, Western medicine
4 Comments
“Writing”
“Writing” I grew up among people whose most-oft-voiced concern was whether they would get their book, or next book, written. Without the book, the life-worth dwindled down to a small pile of ash, as my child’s mind pictured it. It … Continue reading
Posted in academe, culture, evil, history of ideas, literature, memoir, philosophy, power, psychology, relationships, spirituality, the examined life, theism, work, writing
Tagged "A Good Look At Evil", "Conversions: A Philosophic Memoir", academe, alienation, American woman, Augustine, Authenticity, author, becoming a writer, Bildungsroman, books, brainwashing, childhood, coming-of-age books, confessions, conversion, critics, despair, double-binds, editors, explanatory hypotheses, Henry M. Rosenthal, intellectuals, Jane Cullen, Jewish Theistic essence, Leo Bronstein, literary ambition, literary criticism, narrative, philosophical articles, publishing, real life, referee, rejection letters, reviewers, Rousseau, Russians, secrets, university press, writers, writing
2 Comments
“Rest”
“Rest” Rest, as I’ve said before in these columns, is hard for me. I don’t know when it got to be so hard. It seems one of the downsides of growing up but, since I’m not in favor of growing … Continue reading
Posted in academe, action, alienation, art, chivalry, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, evil, faith, femininity, feminism, friendship, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, life and death struggle, memoir, philosophy, poetry, political, power, psychology, relationships, roles, sexuality, slave, social conventions, spirituality, the examined life, the problematic of woman, time
Tagged battle, combat, emotional work, failure, Faith, feminine self-image, frantic, Furies, God, Greek Lyrics, hurry, identity, introspection, jeopardy, life direction, life plateau, life purpose, life tasks, loss, lost time, memory, mental rape, motivation, narrative, other-directedness, personal history, purposive desire, rape, redemption, rest, Richard Lattimore, self-command, stolen identity, The 300, The Epitaph at Thermopylae, threat, unsuccess, victory and defeat, vocation, wisdom, work
2 Comments