Tag Archives: philosophy
Rocky Mountain Lowdown
Rocky Mountain Lowdown Jerry and I have about finished the first leg of a complicated journey, the part that took shape in the cities of Denver and Boulder in the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado. Jerry had some talks to … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, Bible, Biblical God, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, faith, fashion, freedom, guilt and innocence, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, immorality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, memory, moral action, moral evaluation, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, power, presence, propaganda, public facade, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, secular, self-deception, social conventions, 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, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "the true Israel", academic conference, academic papers, ancient land, annihilation of the Jews, anti-Israel, anti-semitism, argument, Boulder, chosen people, chosenness, Christian doctrine, Colorado, covenant, covenant with Israel, death camps, death of God, Denver, divine encounter, divine visions, Evil, Faith, false prophets, God, God and humankind, God's chosen people, God's existence, History, Holocaust, Holocaust survivor, human freedom, human rights, intellectual defense, Israel, Jerusalem, Jewish angels, Jewish army, Jews, Jews as witness, Nazi murders, Nazi regime, philosophical argument, philosophy, public intellectuals, Richard Rubenstein, Rocky Mountains, shamans, Shoah, spirituality, Supercessionism, the absence of God, the human story, The Jewish nation, the presence of God, the prophets, theology, trial of Adolf Eichmann, tribal women, tribe, truth, Ur of the Chaldees., witness
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Léo
Léo A few days ago I took a trip to Manhattan, formerly my home town, to visit old friends. One friend was Laurin Raikin, a founder of NYU’s Gallatin Division. We’ve known each other for many years and among the … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Biblical God, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, relationships, religion, Renaissance, roles, romance, romanticism, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social conventions, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Fiddler on the Roof", academic celebration, aesthetics, anonymous gift, anti-clerical, anti-clerical Spaniard, art history, benefactor, books on kabbalah, Brandeis University, Brazilian cafe, Catalan style, Catalonia, celebratory weekend, challah, City of Lights, communal prayer, cosmopolitan, deceptive evil, downtown Manhattan, dream of one's death, epic story, evil doers, existential choice, expensive concert, Fine art, foster father, free thinker, Friday night candles, godfather/godchild, Gruenewald "Crucifixion", handsome youth, Henri Bergson, Henri Foçillon, Jewish mysticism, last rites, Laurin Raikin, leading revolutionary, Leo Bronstein's Kabbalah and Art, Leon Trotsky, leukemia, Lower Manhattan, male friendship, Manhattan, meaningful mystery, meaningful story, men friends, moral rank, mortal illness, motorcycle accident, mystery, Narcis Serradel I Pascual, New York Public Library, nom de guerre, nonjudgmental, NYU Gallatin Division, objectivity, old Jew, Paris in the '20s, Paris in the '30s, philosophy, philosophy of art, poor Jews, precognitive dream, professors of the Sorbonne, Russian revolution, sabbath wine, seductive evil, Shabbos, shtibl, spontaneous remission, students at Brandeis, tenderness, the Sabbath, true story, undeceived, unhappy love affair, University of Paris, unseduced
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Memoirs, True or False?
Memoirs, True or False? Readers of this column are reminded from time to time that I recently finished a memoir, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, and am looking round the publishing business to see if any editor/publisher will put up … Continue reading
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, law, legal responsibility, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, mind control, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, mysticism, nineteenth-century, ontology, oppression, past and future, 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, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, 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, 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 "a dog in that fight", 19th century Denmark, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", Abigail L. Rosenthal's Tales of Rav Tsair, academe, aetheists, akedah, autobiographical, being misinformed, believers, bequest, betrothal, biography, boat launch, broken engagement, Columbia class of 1925, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conflict of duties, Copenhagen, defamation, Diana Trililng's The Beginning of the Journey: The Marriage of Diana and Lionel Trilling, Diana Trilling, editor, ego-driven, formative experience, generous renunciation, Grandpa, hagiography, higher purpose, intellectual influence, intimacy, jilted girl, Joakim Garff's Kierkegaard’s Muse: The Mystery of Regine Olsen, Kierkegaard's Diary of a Seducer, Kierkegaardian influence, last will of Kierkegaard, Lionel Trilling, literary critic, magic mountain, male friendship, manipulation, married life, masks of ego, memoir, Mrs. Regine Schlegel, Natalie Robins' The Untold Journey: The Life of Diana Trilling, neurotic suspension of the ethical, New York intellectuals, obedience to divine commands, opinion shapers, philosophy, publisher, publishing business, realm of duty, Regine Olsen, self-will, shallow dogmatism, spiritual seduction, submission to the divine, Swiss sanitarium, Swiss TB treatment, TB treatment, teleological suspension of the ethical, The Binding of Isaac, the ethical level, the seducer, the spiritual level, theology, trust in God, University of Lausanne, woman as ideal
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Is the Bible True?
Is the Bible True? Two questions: Why should any educated person care? Whaddya mean by “true”? Who could care? Of course, people whose identities (sense of who they are) are bound up with particular views about the Bible will care … Continue reading
Posted in academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, childhood, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, faith, fashion, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, memory, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, nineteenth-century, past and future, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, self-deception, sex appeal, 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, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged allegorical reading, Bible, Bible in Western Culture, biblical battle plans, biblical inconsistencies, biblical influence, Biblical literalism, biblical warrant, Book of Judges, Book of Numbers, British Army, Catholic identity, death bed consolation, Divine actor, Divine Author, Divine command, documentary hypothesis, empirical warrant, Eric Voegelin's Israel and Revelation, ethnic identity, Greco-Roman civilization, Hebrew Scripture, higher criticism, hillbilly gospel, Hindu temple, Israel Defense Force, J E P and D, Japanese flower arrangement, Japanese tea room, Jewish identity, Jewish miracle, Jewish scholar, Jewish theologians, Jon Levinson's Creation and The Persistence of Evil, Jonah and the whale, Julius Wellhausen, Manhattan, meditative state, Michael Walzer's In God's Shadow: Politics in the Hebrew Bible, miracle of the quail, moral truth, Moses as author, New Testament, Ninevites, Numbers 11, Old Testament, pagan civilization, Pentateuch, personal identity, philosophy, philosophy as pagan, prophecy, Protestant identity, psalms as consolation, Psalms of David, rabbinic view, religious identity, religious wars, Robert Alter, spiritual practice, supernatural v natural, symbolic reading, symbolic truth, tea ceremony, The Covenant, Torah, Toraya, world civilization, world of action
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“The Suffering of the Situation”
“The Suffering of the Situation” While the record snowfall piled up, higher than my shoulders where it touched the house in some corners, I was not thinking how beautiful it all was. I was not breaking out the marshmallows to … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Christianity, cities, contemplation, contradictions, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, Hegel, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, martyrdom, masculinity, master, medieval, memoir, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, mortality, nineteenth-century, non-violence, ontology, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, slave, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 586 B.C., 70 A.D., Abigail L. Rosenthal's "God and the Care for One's Story", abuse, abuser, angels and demons, azuv, Benjamin Disraeli, Bible, blizzard, chess masters, Christian love, colonialism, commentators, Conor Cruise O'Brien's "The Seige: The Saga of Israel and Zionism", conquerers and conquered, conquest, cultural influence, E.U., empire, enabling, Europe's future, European Union, exile of the Jews, expulsion of the Jews, family history, First Temple, game plan, Gandhi, genealogy, genius, George Soros, hegemonic cultures, Henry Kissinger, Herbert Ausubel's "Flower of God: A Jewish Family's 3000-year Journey from Spice to Medicine", hubris, hyssop plant, idealism, ideology, imperialism, informers, Ladino, lamed vovnik, master plan, Middle East strategy, Moorish, moral rank, philosophy, political power, political theory, post-biblical, Power, pride, problem of evil, prophecy, realpolitik, satyagraha, scapegoats, Second Temple, self love, self-respect, suffering, suffering of innocents, Suffering Servant, survival, Talmudic study, Talmudics, The 36 righteous, The New York Review of Books, the prophetic spirit, the Shekinah, theology, Thomas Sowell, Thomas Sowell's "Conquests and Cultures: An International History", tolerance, Truth Force, victim, wandering Jew, Western culture, Yiddish
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Michael Wyschogrod
Michael Wyschogrod When the Jewish Review of Books arrived a few days ago, I noticed with pleasure the cover article, “Michael Wyschogrod and the Challenge of God’s Scandalous Love.” Good! I thought. Michael is being attended to and treated as … Continue reading →