Tag Archives: opinion shapers
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, postmodernism, 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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“What Are We Really Arguing About Now?”
“What Are We Really Arguing About Now?” My recent columns were about “argument” in the philosopher’s sense of reasoning. Thinking they might find them of special interest, I’ve sent the columns to philosopher friends. And was pleased, but not surprised, … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, books, cities, 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, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, ontology, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, secular, seduction, self-deception, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Albert Camus, arguing to win, argument, argument from authority, argument from design, argument from observation, bad arguments, Bloomsbury group, Cheryl Misak’s Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers, conscious assumptions, conscious reasons, de Beauvoir’s Paris, drama of argument, famous philosophers, folk theology, forcing the argument, Frank Ramsey, Freud, Freud’s Vienna, global citizens, global culture, globalization, Gnosticism, human imperfection, human incompleteness, imperfect people, inspiration, intuitions, life purposes, life-defining argument, life-shaping argument, manipulative argument, necessary imperfections, opinion shapers, philosopher friends, philosophic argument, philosophic life world, realm of argument, reason, reasoning, rejecting the world, resisting the human condition, rhetorical tricks, Socrates in Athens, Stephen Toulmin’s and Allan Janick’s Wittgenstein’s Vienna, tales of argument, teleological argument, Tennessee farmers, the human condition, the perfect is the enemy of the good, unconscious assumptions, unstated subtexts, utopian ideals, verbal victories, Wittgenstein, world citizens, world city, world culture, world of ideas
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Fording the Flood
Fording the Flood I had a dream the other night, depicting the journey I’m in the midst of at present. On a bus traveling long distance, I was a passenger. It was not a bus of recent vintage. It lacked … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, childhood, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, novels, oppression, past and future, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged academic life, “The Great American Novel”, bright young men, Clifton Fadiman, collegial competitiveness, Columbia University, Columbia University’s class of 1925, crossing dryshod, dream interpretation, dream journey, extreme subtlety, father-daughter relation, feeling flooded, feeling overwhelmed, figure out of his time, flood waters, Freud, genius of the class, Hasidic Master, Hebrew prophet, Henry M. Rosenthal, Henry M. Rosenthal’s Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes’s Secret; Spinoza’s Way, Hunter College, inner journey, inner summons, intellectual pecking order, Israel, Israel’s providential role, Jeanne Hersch, life of the spirit, life problematic, Lionel Trilling, literary critic, literary parties, Marx, meaningful dreams, Modernism, Modernity, Mordecai Kaplan, Moses, opinion shapers, past life vision, past lives, philosophers, psychic vision, reconstructionism, Red Sea crossing, Reed Sea, Reform Judaism, spiritual frustration, supersessionism, sure-footedness, talking well, the best talker, the Holocaust, the Jewish spirit, the Jewish state, vintage vehicle, weather emergencies, white heat intensity
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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, postmodernism, 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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