Tag Archives: philosophical colleagues

Ave Atque Vale (Hail and Farewell)

Posted on August 19, 2025 by Abigail

The other day I scanned the internet for news of ex-friends who’d stayed significant in my memory. “We quarreled,” as French philosopher Sartre said about one former friend, the philosopher Merleau-Ponty, “a quarrel does not matter. It’s just one more … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, anthropology, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, 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, 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, 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 academic colleagues, academic dramas of character, academic politics, aristocratic decadence, aristocrats and plebeians, Augustine's boyhood theft, ave atque vale, bad debt, belated farewell, code of conduct, code of honor, concepts of logic, creative logician, decadence, dramas of character, drunk driving, ex-friend, fateful choice, filicide, former friends, French philosophers, friends beyond death, friends beyond the grave, friends’ lives, hail and farewell, honorable losers, labyrinth of man-woman relations, legal redress, loan between friends, logic tutor, love of wisdom, man/woman labyrinth, Merleau-Ponty, moral candor, Moral crisis, moral discernment, moral price of job security, moral price of tenure, moral risk, moral temptation, outward repentance, paying one’s dues, philosopher ex-friend, philosophical colleagues, philosophical conversation, philosophical curiosity, playing with good and evil, politics of experience, pompous philosopher, pompous wordiness, potential dishonesty, prep school and manhood, quarrels of friends, reformed character, reformed church-goer, reformed rake, remembered friends, risking one’s honor, Sartre, selling out, selling your vote, sense of honor, significant friends, symbols and words, toying with wrongdoing, trained emotional suppression, training to suppress feelings, unrepaid loan, upright citizen | Leave a comment

My Time-Out Is Over

Posted on June 25, 2024 by Abigail

I’ve had two refuges at the present phase of my life. To both I’ve repaired for weekly shelter from the main lines of my work, its thinking and varied obligations. So what for me constitutes the Life Obligation from which … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, 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, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, non-violence, 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, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, 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, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", active non-listening, answering for your life, anti-semite's hatred for God, betrayal after death, betrayal by family friend, betrayal of dead friend, Columbia University, complicity with attacks on Jews, concealed betrayal, decisive prayer, denying Jewish history, empathy with cruelty, evading moral choice, expulsion of the Jews, false childlike simplicity, feigned naivete, God as our witness, God as witness to life stories, God of history, God on the timeline, guiding vision, hazards of life, hidden betrayal, hiding from history, holistic malpractice, honor and dishonor, horse-whisperer, illuminating vision, immoral neutrality, innocent nature vs guilty history, invisible to God, Jewish passion for God, key moment in the story, life obligations, life refuge, life-defining experience, life-defining prayer, living a defensible life, living in interesting times, moral amnesia, moral shelter, morally invisible, nature as refuge from history, nature vs history, orienting prayer, philosopher friend, philosophical colleagues, philosophical friendship, posthumous betrayal, praying in the subway, pretended simplicity, reactions to the Israel-Gaza war, refuge from history, signs of anti-semitism, spiritual vision, the Jewish Calling, time-out from history, what is a Jew?, What sort of God?, when no one's looking, when the cat's away the mice will play | Leave a comment

Our Twenty-Fourth Anniversary

Posted on January 24, 2023 by Abigail

As of last Friday, Jerry and I have been married for twenty-four years. By the time we met, neither of us expected to meet our true love – Mr. and Ms. Right – much less meet the way we did. … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, 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, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's A Good Look at Evil, academic excellence, acting on principle, analytic and continental philosophy, Brooklyn College, chance and providence, college administration, collegial conversation, commuting marriage, defending principles, defending who one is, destruction of the second temple, fact and fiction, faculty vote, failed marriage, fighting the good fight, Finding Mr. Right, giving up personal life, God makes divorces, God makes marriages, Graduate Center of CUNY, happy endings, improbable romance, inharmonious marriage, institutional intimidation, intimidated faculty, Israeli cousins, Jerry L. Martin, Jerusalem 70 CE, liberal arts curriculum, love and self protection, love when you least expect it, marital relations, marriage broker, married love, Mr. Right, Ms. Right, no atheists in foxholes, note in the Western Wall, personal defenses, personal life balance, petitionary prayer, philosophical colleagues, philosophical research, philosophy at Sydney University, prayer at the wall, principled life at personal cost, providence, providence and coincidence, religious skeptics, romance and self protection, romantic disappointment, romantic disillusion, romantic interest, romantic other, saving liberal arts, saving the core, secret ballots, selfless act, sense of self, serendipity and providence, shared values, strategic prayer, The Western Wall, true love, vulnerability, wedding anniversary | Leave a comment

Collegiality

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Abigail

Collegiality It’s one of the most precious chances life offers: to be a team player, a cooperator in a venture, a fellow worker in a joint work. Nothing could be more fun than this sharing of skilled seriousness. Student … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, autonomy, bureaucracy, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, 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, 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, reductionism, relationships, 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, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", academic colleagues, academic quarrels, allies, anguish of parents, broken friendship, casing the target, children in peril, colleagues, cooperating, deaths of parents, defamatory fictions, determined enemy, divorces, enjoying differences, fellow worker, frightening diagosis, having fun, heartbreak, intellectual struggles, irreparable quarrels, joint work, knowing where to strike, longterm friends, lost friendship, malevolent intentions, objective roles, objective rules, personal struggles, philosophical colleagues, righteous combat, rites of passage, rules of the game, search for truth, senior colleague, shared quest, shared skills, state of grace, striking the vulnerable, student life, targeting a weakness, volleyball, weddings, work projects, young adulthood | Leave a comment

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