Tag Archives: ostracism

As If We Were Free

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Abigail

As If We Were Free We are just back from the pleasant French city of Montreal in Canada, where Jerry and I gave papers and attended the presentations of others at the meetings of the Eric Voegelin Society, a group … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, bureaucracy, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master/slave relation, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, roles, romantic love, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, 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 academic horror stories, American Political Science Association, anonymous denunciation, apocalyptic fantasies, behaving as if free, Canada, coerced confessions, Czech dissidents, denounced anonymously, denouncer and denouncee, Eric Voegelin, Eric Voegelin Society, escaping the human condition, escaping the Nazis, existential questions, hard to be human, ideological path, ideology-driven regimes, imprisonments, life assignment, loyalty to the party, mass executions and gulags, materialist cynicism, materialist reductionism, mock trials, Montreal, moral defeat, Nazism and communism, no one is safe, no-longer-sayable, one-man rule, ostracism, penumbra of fear, pointless sacrifice, police state, political philosophers, political theorists, professional risks, social defeat, social eviction, social risks, soul-destroying ideologies, struggles for freedom, the fellowship of truth tellers, totalizing programs, utopian delusions, Václav Havel, Venezuela and Cuba, where to draw the line | 1 Comment

Explain This.

Posted on July 27, 2021 by Abigail

Explain This. If the roof falls in or the ship is taking water, I’m the teammate you’ll want to have around. I’ll do anything that seems to need doing and I won’t try to be important while I’m about it. … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, art, art of living, autonomy, beauty, bigotry, book reviews, books, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, Jews, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, martyrdom, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, 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, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 19th century novels, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", acupuncturist, avoiding platitudes, back to normal, barriers to friendship, can't make old friends, coming up roses, comrade in arms, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, covenantal renewal, defending the defenseless, extraordinary people, facing solitude, family reunion, fight with my name on it, friend in hospital, future Holocaust, going with the flow, group identity, illustrated books, in your lifeboat, Jewish origins, lifelong friendship, local sage, moral condescension, moral solidarity, multi-generational understanding, normality, ostracism, personal identity, picturing the story, post-surgical visit, preparing the Shoah, repairing friendship, rolling with the punches, social condescension, story and picture, teammate, unforced familiarity, what I am, who I am, women friends | 5 Comments

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, postmodernism, 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

Recognition

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Abigail

Recognition There is a battle scene in Homer’s Iliad where a deep, obscuring fog comes down suddenly over the field of combat. The soldiers have endured danger, hard blows and mortal injuries, but this they cannot stand. “Please,” they cry … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, 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, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, mysticism, 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, race, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romanticism, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, 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 academic bureaucracy, academic combats, academic hearings, academic termination, accusing the victim, action theory, Adolf Hitler, angelic message, angels, appeasement, aspiration, being seen, being witnessed, brainwashing, casing the situation, consolation, counter arguments, defeatists, Dunkirk, feeling alone, feeling outnumbered, field of combat, film dramatizations, general rules, great men, great women, heroes of resistance, high principles, History, history's vindication, homecoming, Homer's Iliad, Homeric gods, Joe Wright's "Darkest Hour", keeping one's bearings, knowing the particulars, knowing the precedents, links with nature, links with wild creatures, losing one's bearings, memory links, Mind Control, nazis, Nazism, ostracism, other worldly messengers, particular cases, personnel actions, Phyllis Chesler's Islamic Gender Apartheid: Exposing A Veiled War Against Women, pilgrimage, psychological damage, psychological torture, recognition, reunion, rights of women, rules of conduct, sacred journey, Screenwriter Anthony McCarten, self-knowledge, shunning, social force, solitary confinement, their finest hour, thought police, thought reform, totalism, university administration, verified prediction, Winston Churchill, World War II, WWII | 2 Comments

Freud and Fraudulence

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Abigail

Freud and Fraudulence The New York Review of Books is the semi-monthly repository of tasteful opinion within the boundaries of what it is intellectually correct to think. The books under review are just the launching place for essays that are … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, childhood, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, Renaissance, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, 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, 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 "New York Review of Books", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Getting Past Marx and Freud", abused children, Adolf Grunbaum, Anglophone philosophers, architect of the Taj Mahal, Authenticity, B. A. Farrell, Bernard Williams, bohemians, civilization and repression, co-ed dorms, Continental philosophers, creative people, cultural theory of everything, curing repression by repressing dissent, drugs and creativity, Elisabeth Roudinesco's "Freud: In His Time and Ours", feminine self-respect, feminine virtues, filial piety, Frederick Crews' "Freud: What Left?", Freud and manipulation, Freud and seduction, Freud and street insults, Freud and the unconscious, Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud's cocaine use, Freud's fictions, Freud's Moses and Monotheism, Freud's patients, Freud's The Future of an Illusion, Freud's theoretical claims, Freud's therapeutic claims, Freud’s Totem and Taboo, Freudian cure, Freudian definition of women, Freudian diagnosis, genius and neurosis, Greek lyric poets, Greek tragedy, holistic explanations, holistic thought world, imitative courtship styles, incestuous desires, intellectually correct, Lionel Trilling, Marcus Aurelius, Michelangelo, modesty, Montaigne, nineteenth-century novelists, Oedipus complex, ostracism, parent-child bond, Patrick Swales, penis envy, Plato, Plotinus, politically correct, psychic depths, psychoanalysis, received views, Rembrandt, repressed desires, Roger P. Greenberg, Ronsard, second-hand scripts, self-redemption, sexual explanation, Seymour Fisher, Shakespeare, shunning, Sigmund Freud, state of the art, the beast within, The Emperor Has No Clothes, the next big thing, the psalmists, unromantic advances, Vermeer | 1 Comment

“Rudeness”

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Abigail

“Rudeness” A few years ago I was riding from terminal to terminal on an airport bus in Texas. By the time I climbed on board, the bus had standing room only. I was hanging on a strap, keeping my hand … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, anthropology, art of living, beauty, chivalry, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, male power, masculinity, master, memory, mind control, mortality, non-violence, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, power, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, roles, romance, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social conventions, sociobiology, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged academic dinner parties, action theory, ad hominem argument, Aristotle, Aristotle’s Ethics, Australian philosophical life, baiting, belief systems, Bullying, Cambridge University, chivalry, civil life, collegial relations, collegiality, conviviality, courtesy, desperate straits, dinner parties, effrontery, faculty wives, false consciousness, frustrated chivalry, gallantry, gentlemen, governing charters, hegemony, Hobbes’s Leviathan, human history, idealization of men, idealization of women, impertinence, incivility, ingratitude, insults, Jew-baiting, kid stuff, ladies, ladies first, launching a movement, life and death struggle, macro-history, Male Power, male supremacy, manners, manners and rules, masked insults, membership dues, membership roster, minority group, minority status, name-calling, new political movement, number one, obscenity, Oppression, oppressive system, ostracism, outspokenness, patriarchy, Peterhouse, philosophers from Peterhouse, philosophical abstractions, Political Movements, politics of the future, power smiles, powerlessness, precision in action, pretense, privacy, private sensibilities, rape, rape threat, rule of law, rule of the stronger, rules, sensitivity, ship christening, social complexity, social courage, social dilemmas, social empowerment, social ordeals, social patterns, social reciprocity, social reprisals, state of nature, Texans, the Other, the right act, toothy smiles, tyranny of the majority, U.K., unfair advantage, virtues, vulgarity, war of all against all, women & children first | Leave a comment

“Gossip”

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Abigail

“Gossip” One of Abigail’s Adages – though I have yet to post it – is this: Slander is always believed. Even more so if it’s in print. Jurgen Habermas wrote a book called (forgive me, it’s his title, not mine) … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, autonomy, chivalry, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, heroes, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, immortality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, martyrdom, mind control, nineteenth-century, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 18th century clubs, Ancient Judea, baby names, banishment, cafes, capital crime, cartoons, celebrity, character assasination, Classical Athens, coffee houses, credulity, crucifiction, damaging fiction, Danish philosophy, death, defamation, Downeast Maine, execution, friendship, gazettes, gossip, guilty verdicts, hemlock, Herodotus' Histories, I.F. Stone, I.F. Stones' The Trial of Socrates, I.F. Stones' Weekly, injustice, Jesus, Jurgen Habermas, justice, libel, Loyalty, magazines, malice, Marie Antoinette, modern Israel, moral luck, moral smallness, newsletters, op-eds, opinion journalism, ostracism, political cartoons, popularity, pornographic pamplets, post-war malaise, posthumous reputation, public opinion, quarrel, reputation, reputation loss, reputation rehabilitation, salons, shunning, slander, small town life, Socrates, Soren Kierkegaard, stereotyping, The Corsair, village life | 3 Comments

Dream Lessons

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Abigail

“Dream Lessons” When I was a small child, I had a recurrent nightmare in which someone was attacking me. I needed to scream for help but couldn’t, because no sound came out. I would try and try to scream, but … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, evil, fashion, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, ideology, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, memoir, philosophy, political, psychology, relationships, social conventions, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman | Tagged Achille Lauro, aesthetic values, being silenced, Choreographer: Mark Morris, Composer: John Adams, conformity, decency, demonstrators, Director: Peter Sellars, dream, Edouard Manet, fear, firing squad, group execution, History, human norms, Leon Klinghoffer, Librettist: Alice Goodman, Metropolitan Opera House, nightmare, normality, normative, oddball, official story, opera, ostracism, outlaw chic, personal narrative, protestors, social pressure, speechlessness, suppression, terrorists, The Death of Klinghoffer, The New York Times, The New Yorker, threat, trangressive, understanding, voice | Leave a comment

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