Tag Archives: philosophy students
Acquiring Jewish Existence
“You have the Jewish essence,” I was once told by a friend. “But you don’t have Jewish existence.” The verdict had been pronounced by my late friend Milton Schubin, who was then a partner in a powerful New … 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 God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, 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, 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, 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 academic fight, academic job fight, antisemitism as an illness that breaks out, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn College of CUNY, chasing ghosts, common sense and the occult, family in high places, finding water with a dowser, flight from the Jewish assignment, global fight against global antisemitism, God as old man with white beard, grandfather looking like God, Henry M. Rosenthal's philosophy students, Israeli family, Jewish calendar holidays, Jewish calendar year, Jewish existence, Jewish existence as frightening, Jewish in life habits, Jewish in the head, Jewish life method, Jewish ritual observance, Jewish ritual practices, Jewish time in history, Jewish time in recorded history, Jewish wariness re the occult, Judaism as a field of practices, Judaism as a way of life, keeping a kosher diet, leaving the rabbinate, legal advice, legal fight, living the Jewish assignment, looking up to your grandfather, Milton Schubin, mixed signals, Nazi use of sealed trucks, New York law firm, occult experience as destabilizing, Oct 8, Oct 8 global antisemitism, out of body experience, out-of-body view of global antisemitism, out-of-body vision, past life memory, past lives, philosophy students, pre-Holocaust killings, pro bono legal advice, rabbinic descent, Rav Tsair, remembering a past life, resisting fear, seeing hate from above, spiritualism, teacher-student friendship, the Jewish essence, the occult and its dangers, the occult and moral danger, the occult and psychological danger, the occult and spiritual danger, the run-up to the Holocaust, understanding Judaism conceptually, understanding Judaism existentially, understanding Judaism experientially, wariness and skepticism, wariness re the occult
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Remembrances
When people are no longer present to each other, or able – in an unforced way – to walk in and out of each other’s days, the risk is that spatial distance will become psychic distance. That’s when measures of … Continue reading
Posted in academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, beauty, Biblical God, 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, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, journalism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, reading, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, 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 almost a saint, antebellum house, career comeback, career crash, closing a house, down to earth, Downeast Maine, emotional ties, family home, fixing the fight, friend as a witness, friendly silences, generational roots, getting tenure, groupthink, homesickness, jury bias, keeping old friends, lifelong friends, localism, longing for a friend, more fish in the sea, most beautiful girl, natural aristocrats, near saints, nostalgia, old friends, philosophy professor, philosophy students, Plato, reconstituting relationships, remembered years, remembering friendships, resilience, resisting defamation, resisting gossip, saints, small town approval, small town life, small town smarts, spiritual shelter, sports writer, stored in memory, surviving one’s parents, the face of love, unfinished friendship, winning a job fight, witnessing one’s story
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“Philosophy is Learning How to Die”
“Philosophy is Learning How to Die” Socrates said that about philosophy, in front of his grieving student/disciples, at the hour when he was to down the lethal hemlock served him by the jailer. Death was the sentence passed on him … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art of living, books, cities, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, martyrdom, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, non-violence, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged anger, angst, anxiety, apprentices in philosophy, Athenian jury, beliefs falsified, cleaning closets, con man, consolations of philosophy, corruption, costly victory, deep calls to deep, dropping baggage, existentialist categories, frustration, gastrointestinal distress, healing wounds, hemlock, hurt, hydrotherapy, inherited baggage, Inner Spa, interiority and exteriority, internalizing insult, keeping what you need, learning how to die, letting go, life as adventure, love of truth, love of wisdom, minimalism, nobility, one-room apartment, outrage, philosopher, philosophy as a preparation for death, philosophy as academic discipline, philosophy as way of life, philosophy students, psyche and soma, righteous combat, risks of philosophy, self-renewal, sex harasser, sexual predator, simplify simplify, Socrates, somatization, thownness, traveling light, undiscovered countries, violation
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Delusions of Intellection
Delusions of Intellection “People live and die by ideas!” “You are what you think – much more than what you eat!” With encouraging words like these, I would try to persuade students in an intro course to see the study … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, law, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, nineteenth-century, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reductionism, relationships, Renaissance, roles, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, status, status of women, suffering, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged Albanian student, Alexander Bloom’s Prodigal Sons: The New York Intellectuals and Their World, American assimilation, Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks, Arabian student, bad ideas, bad karma, Brooklyn College of CUNY, careerism, children of immigrants, class inequality, class war, communism, cultural assimilation, delusions, delusive thoughts, dialecticians, division of labor, educated delusions, fall of Soviet Union, first generation Americans, flawed ideas, Great Soviet Experiment, hope of the future, immigrants, Indian student, intellection, intellectual delusions, intellectual diversity, intellectuals, Jewish intellectuals, Jewish quotas, Karl Marx, Karl Marx’s The German Ideology, left wing writers, Marxism, Moscow demonstration, multiculturalism, New Masses magazine, opportunism, parental dreams, Partisan Review, peer approval, philosophy, philosophy professor, philosophy students, pied piper, risk of belief, Russian student, self-deception, Somalian student, specialization, teaching philosophy, Texan student, the 1930’s, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes Terror Repression, the Great Depression, the Other, The Soviet Union, thought world
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