Tag Archives: philosophy
“Living in History”
“Living in History” That’s a theme of mine, though it’s easier to give the theme a name than to say exactly what it means. I can hone in on it by at least by saying what it’s not. If you … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, chivalry, Christianity, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immortality, institutional power, Jews, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, mortality, mysticism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, 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 absurdism, accidents, action, Advaita Vedanta, against the odds, agnosticism, agnostics, anomalies, anti-religious, anxiety, apostasy, argument, atheists, being fired, being human, belief system, Brooklyn Bridge, censorship, certainty, Christianity, clarity, close-mindedness, closure, cognitive virtues, communism, conceptual defeater, corrigibility, corrigible hypotheses, cosmetic concerns, counter-example, cultural relativism, data, deconstructionism, despair, dialectic, disappointment, disillusionment, dissenters, Divine Presence, doubt, doubters, dread, empowerment, epistemological doubt, Eric Voegelin's "Autobiographical Reflections", evidence, evidence for God, facism, Faith, false consciousness, false gods, fears, fixed idea, Freudianism, genius, getting pregnant, getting sick, Gnosis, God, guidance, Hinduism, historicizing, historiography, History, honesty, hope, hopeless situations, hopelessness, humility, hypotheses, Idealistic Monism, Ideologues, inconstant faith, inner certainty, Intellectual fashion, intellectual reversal, intellectual rigidity, Islam, Jean-Paul Sartre, Judaism, knowledge, lifelines, misanthropy, misology, moral realism, Party Line, philosophy, Plato's Phaedo, police state, problem of history, Procrustean bed, reality, refuting instance, religionists, religious people, repression, Right and Wrong, rigidity, Sartre's "Hope Now", serene faith, shattered nerves, Shekinah, skepticism, Socrates, subjective relativism, sure-footedness, talent, the half-dark, the Other, the true God, theists, uncertainty, unconscious doubt, unpredictability, writer
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“Ain’t I a Person?”
“Ain’t I a Person?” What’s a person? Am I a person? All the time? Is God? What’s going on when people say yes or no to questions like that? Jerry and I were in D.C. this week to celebrate the … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, autonomy, chivalry, cities, contemplation, contradictions, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, heroes, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, mind control, motherhood, non-violence, ontology, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "the fix", academe, addiction, adulthood, alcoholism, anti-semitism, argument, autonomy, Brooklyn, Brooklyn College, collegiality, communication, corruption, D.C., dangers, defensiveness, dialogue, dignity, dumbstruck, empathy, fear, feminine identity, Feminism, fractional self, friendship, girlhood, God as Person, gothic, graft, grifters, happy child, healing, hidden self, higher ed, identity, inner core, innocence, interpretive frame, Jewish self-respect, Jewish students, life stages, loss, missing persons, opinions, orthodox Jews, person, personal God, personhood, philosophy, photo documentary, presence, reason, religious sincerity, righteous combats, self-respect, shock, teenage, toxic, trust, verbal hate, wholeness, womanhood, words, young-girl-in-flower
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“Hanging Fire”
“Hanging Fire” I seem to be at a rather gratifying plateau. “Confessions of a Young Philosopher” is now edited almost to completion. It may take another few weeks but the major hurdles have been cleared. It is, if I may … Continue reading
Posted in academe, action, alienation, art, autonomy, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, institutional power, Jews, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, modernism, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, reductionism, relationships, roles, seduction, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, theism, time, twentieth century, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", "Conversations with My Father", "The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes's Secret; Spinoza's Way" by Henry M. Rosenthal; ed. Abigail L. Rosenthal, 9/11, American culture, archives, biography, blessings, book projects, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, cracking the code, editing, enigma, experience of God, fathers and daughters, genius, Henry M. Rosenthal, High School of Music and Art, historical memoir, Hobbes, Holocaust rescue, intellectual friendships, Islamism, Jews, journals, letters, liberal intellectuals, Lionel Trilling, literary critic, male friendship, New York, New York intellectuals, Partisan Review, personal correspondence, personal God, philosophy, posthumous conversations, posthumous publication, public intellectuals, rationalism, seventeenth century rationalists, Spinoza, Terror, terrorism, theism, theistic experience, victims, Wars of Religion, writing
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“Worldliness”
“Worldliness” My father, the late Henry M. Rosenthal, was the antithesis of a worldly man. “He never made a useful friend,” as someone said who was well placed to know. Speaking at his memorial service, a college classmate recalled, “We … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, academe, action, alienation, art, autonomy, chivalry, cities, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, memoir, modernism, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, power, psychology, reductionism, relationships, roles, seduction, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, theism, time, twentieth century, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "The World of Yesterday", academic politics, accepting praise, accolades, American studies, betrayal, career, careerism, celebrity, clique, collegiality, Columbia class of 1925, cosmopolitanism, David and Jonathan, dishonesty, esteem, ex-friends, friendship, friendships of utility, genius, Germany in the 1930s, happiness, Henry M. Rosenthal, Holocaust, honesty, honor, honors, integrity, intrigue, Lionel Trilling, literary "in" group, literary critic, literary culture, living a lie, male friendship, mundanity, nazis, New York City, philosophers, philosophy, praise, professional sabotage, renown, reputation, savoir faire, sincerity and authenticity, Stefan Zweig, Success, tastemaker, therapeutic riding, truth unvarnished, uncompromised life, Vienna, witness, worldliness
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“Country Gospel”
“Country Gospel” Being born and raised a Jewish girl from Manhattan’s old-rent, upper east side, the last thing I’m expected to like is country gospel. Or so I’m often told. People shake their heads. Here comes the dog walking on … Continue reading
Posted in culture, life and death struggle, philosophy, social conventions, spirituality, the examined life, the problematic of woman
Tagged Atheism, belief, conviction, country gospel, Donald J. Shockey, Dr. Johnson, Faith, feminine intelligence, Frances Ryals, God, heartbreak, hymns, Jewish girls, lady preachers, lyrics, music, Nashville, philosophy, records, Red Foley, simplicity, suicide, The Ryman Auditorium
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“Men!”
“Men!” For some years I had a brilliant friend, male, with whom I used to talk far into the night about the most sublime and transcendent matters. We were sufficiently drawn to one another to be lovers, other colleagues … Continue reading
Posted in academe, art, culture, desire, erotic life, femininity, friendship, gender balance, masculinity, relationships, spirituality, the problematic of woman
Tagged character, colleagues, con-artistry, coquetry, desire, fate, flattery, friend, ideal, ideality, intention, intuition, lovers, man/woman friendships, Masculinity, money, moral fragility, morality, philosophy, Plato, platonic relationships, repentance, rip off, sincerity, sublime, transcendent conversation
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“Grief”
“Grief” Of late, it’s been one friend down after another. They’re falling over like soldiers raked with machine gun fire, each one opening another gap in the serried ranks. With every loss, one feels a whole dimension of one’s self … Continue reading
Posted in academe, culture, friendship, philosophy, relationships
Tagged Aging, brain, death of a friend, elegy, fallen comrades, grief, grief support, identity, identity theory, Kaddish, life story, lifetime, loss of a friend, Materialism, meditation, mourning, mourning a death, mourning a loss, Nevermore, philosophy, soldiers, The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, the self, witness
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“The Coat”
“The Coat” The other day, I could not find my coat. I’d sat through one edifying lecture too many, during which I’d had trouble not falling to the floor from sheer fatigue. Afterward, famished, I’d stopped at my café for … Continue reading
Posted in culture, desire, fashion, femininity, philosophy, the problematic of woman
Tagged boutique, coat, coffee, Degas, demi-saison, fashion, French fashion, garments, loss, love, meaning of life, New York City, philosophy, style, Women
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