Tag Archives: non-conformism

A Quarrel That Mattered

Posted on May 19, 2026 by Abigail

It was Jean-Paul Sartre who wrote, “A quarrel does not matter.” He was writing about a friend with whom he had broken. I believe it was Maurice Merleau-Ponty of whose death he had just learned. And, in the same commemorative … 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, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, 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, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, 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, 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, terrorism, 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, Abigail L Rosenthal’s Spoiling One’s Story: The Case of Hannah Arendt, affective ties, avoiding hope to prevent disappointment, being above moral judgement, bracketing moral questions, broken friendship, combating malice, comfortable with solitude, consequential fork in the road, credible lies, death preventing reconciliation, deep quarrels, destructive lies, destructive lies that are believed, dodging disappointment, envy and defamation, envy and friendship, envy and social influence, existentialists, existentialists vs rationalists, exonerating nazis, feeling ties, finding meaning in history, finding meaning in real life, friends who quarrel, friends who share memories, friendship and disloyalty, friendship betrayed, friendship over professional ambition, friendships between philosophers, friendships with history, getting above bourgeois morality, getting above chronology, getting above history, getting above morality, Hannah Arendt, Hegelian view of history, Hegelians, Heideggerians, Jean-Paul Sartre, jumping the tenses, lifelong friends, loyalty and friendship, meeting in cafes, Merleau-Ponty, moral relativism vs wickedness, Nietzschians, Nihilists, non-conformism, nonjudgementalism vs conscious evil, not asking life to make sense, opposing evil, personal force, persuasive lies, philosopher friends, philosophers of history, philosophic differences, philosophic differences and real life consequences, philosophic differences that become consequential, philosophic irrationalism, philosophic rationale for personal betrayal, Plato is dear but truth is dearer, premature transcendence, pulling meaning out of real situations, quarrel between friends, quarrel unresolved, quarrels that don’t matter, quarrels that matter, refusal to judge, refusing to judge, rights and wrongs and friendship, seeking meaning in real situations, solitude on an arctic island, superficial quarrels, surviving alone in the arctic wilderness, the bad guys who seem to win, the real is not the rational, the real is the rational, the Viking model, transcendence as evasion, transcending moral norms, transcending right and wrong, truth and friendship, truth and philosophic friendship, twin opposites, Viking attitudes, women friends, women philosophers, women philosophers who are friends, women philosophers who were friends | 2 Comments

“Evil? What Do You Mean, ‘Evil’?”

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Abigail

“Evil? What Do You Mean, ‘Evil’”? Back when the first edition of A Good Look at Evil came out, I told a Maine neighbor that I had written a book about evil. He was a carpenter who had done a … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, 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, martyrdom, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged backhanded compliment, biological determinism, class privilege, common sense, concealed enmity, controlling, copping out, cruelty, cultural determinism, cultural relativism, defying public opinion, denial, determinism, dissent from consensus, dodging responsibility, Downeast, encounters with evil, environmental determinism, escapism, evil as objective, evil as subjective, experimental psychology, expertise, fact/value split, fearing the worst, finding excuses, following the crowd, free will, guilt trip, hard-heartedness, history of evil, hitting the mark, holier-than-thou, hoping for the best, illusion of free will, illusion of freedom, indoctrination, insensitive, interested party, involuntary reactions, judgementalism, judgments of fact, judgments of value, Maine neighbors, manipulation, meanness, missing the mark, money privilege, moral absolutism, moral common sense, moral danger, moral evasion, moral evidence, moral interest, moral intuition, moral manipulation, moral relativism, moral superiority, moralistic language, morality moralism, narrowness, non-conformism, non-judgmentalism, one of the herd, out of control, out of touch, outlier, over-privileged, people as herd animals, personal condemnations, personal insults, projection, rationalizations, relativism, rigid, self-interest, self-righteousness, skepticism, social privilege, subjective relativism, the loner, tongue-lashing, tyranny's recruits, unconscious motivations, unforgiving | Leave a comment

Do Miracles Happen?

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Abigail

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, postmodernism, 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? | 2 Comments

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