Tag Archives: pulling moral rank
My Identity Problem
The title of this column tilts and teeters into a complaint so hackneyed – so yesterday – that even alluding to it might put one at social risk among the smart set. This although just a few years back, mores … 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 Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, 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, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, 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
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Tagged Abigail L Rosenthal’s Confessions of a Young Philosopher, academia and October 7 2023, academic cheering for atrocities, academic culture, anti-semitism returns, black philosophy students, black students, campus culture, conservative habits of belonging, contemporary culture, cultural trends, fashionable identity, fashions in victims, group belonging, group identification, group of one member, Holocaust memory, identity, identity and belonging, identity crisis, identity politics, identity problem, individual vs collective identity, Israeli family, Israelis and identity, Jewish history, Jewish identity, Jewish survival, liberal habits of denial, majority of one, male privilege, mob psychology, moral identity, Nazi racial classifications, persecution and privilege, persecution and social status, persona and identity, philosophy of identity, playing the victim card, pulling moral rank, self and society, social identity, social norms, socially accepted identity, socially unacceptable identity, victims du jour, white male heterosexual identity, white privilege
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“My Inescapable Femininity”
Sylvia Plath 1932-1963 Sylvia Plath is one writer I never wanted to read – partly because she seemed to have a “cult” following. My reluctance had, however, another motive: I don’t like to visit the lives or the works of … 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
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Tagged academic mentor’s advice, academic mentor’s insensitivity, academic politics, Alice James, anti-fascism, anti-heroes, “My Inescapable Femininity”, Barnard College classmates, Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score, biochemical psychology, brutal honesty, defining women, envying men’s freedom, Femininity, feminism’s over-simplifications, feminism’s personal cost, Freudian therapy, guilt by association, Henry James’ sister, living truthfully, love and suffering, male competition, personal honesty in culture, personal integrity in history, philosophy and femininity, philosophy as a masculine discipline, political extremism, prefeminist values, preventable suicide, preventable tragedies, psychic vulnerability, pulling moral rank, reductionism and femininity, rejecting cultural stereotypes, reversing trauma, Revolution and messianism, revolution and utopia, revolutionary competition, revolutionary purity, revolutionary sex appeal, self-masculinized academic women, Sigmund Freud, suicidal women, Sylvia Plath, the women’s movement, tightrope walking, trauma and the brain, Virginia Woolf, war of the sexes, William James’ sister, women and suicide, women defined as losers, women friends, women friends vs suicide, women in prefeminist culture, women supporting women, women writers, women’s failures
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Civilization’s Erotic Discontents
If you want to talk safely about the topic of sexual preferences, you must begin with the following disclaimer: “I don’t care what people do in …” In what? The privacy of their homes? Insofar as they’re old enough to … 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, book reviews, 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, Renaissance, 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
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Tagged adolescence and the popularity nightmare, adult credibility, bad faith about erotic desire, bad faith and eros, bad faith and erotic life, bad faith in argument, being asked to dance, boy-girl relations and patriarchy, Butler’s Bodies that Matter, Butler’s Gender Trouble, Butler’s Giving an Account of Oneself, capturing the moral high ground, civilization-authorized desire, civilization’s desire to live, civilization’s eros, civilization’s lack of desire to live, competition for erotic prestige, culture-authorized desire, desire to go on living, desire to persevere in one’s own being, disvaluing heterosexuality, disvaluing homosexuality, eros and civilization, eros in history, eros in the state and the individual, erotic bad faith, erotic desire, erotic discontent, erotic life as competitive, erotic playing field, erotic prestige, erotic rivalry, erotic safety, establishing credibility, feminist jargon, feminist passwords, feminist signals, feminist slogans, feminist theoretician, forms of oppression, fulfillment of bodily purpose, fulfillment of life purpose, heterosexual advantage in Western civilization, heterosexual advantages, heterosexual prestige, heterosexuality and homosexuality mutually disvaluing other sexualities, heterosexuality associated with oppression, homosexual competition, homosexual privilege in classical times, how to talk about private matters, indifference to what people do, internal and external erotic competitiveness, Judith Butler, lesbian social dancing, logical possibilities of sexual combinations, loss of desire to live, Nietzsche’s revaluation of values, non-standard erotic combinations, non-standard erotic possibilities, not being asked to dance, one way open-mindedness, oppression studies, outranking erotic rivals, patriarchy, patriarchy racism colonialism, philosophic facts of life, Plato’s republic, Plato’s state as the soul writ large, playing field in the game of life, popularity contest, pretending not to care, private life and public life, pulling moral rank, reality based discussion, reasons to live, restoring the desire to live, reviving the desire to live, rhetorical tactics in seduction, rhetorical tactics in sexual choice, rivalry between man-woman courtship and same-sex courtship, rivalry between same sex attraction and opposite sex attraction, rules of the game of life, same-sex monogamy, sexual preferences, social space for man/woman romance, Spinoza’s conatus, stakes in the game of life, the erotic territory, the game of life, the last shall be first, the trajectory of desire, there are no neutrals, trustworthiness in discussion, unfair erotic advantage, valuing non-heterosexuality, wallflower, Western Civilization, what people do in private
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As Philosophy Goes …
I hold the view, borrowed from G. W. F. Hegel, the nineteenth-century’s primo philosopher of history, that philosophy plays an oversized role in shaping human events. So do earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, global warming periods, plagues and nasty fights over water … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, 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, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, 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, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged academic martyrdom, academic power struggles, American Philosophical Association, Ann Gary, APA’s Proceedings and Addresses, are people like machines, brainwashing, can machines replace people, can you live inside your philosophy, Catholic convert, cognitive psychology, communicating across difference, competition between underdogs, David Chalmers, Eleonore Stump, Epistemology, facial recognition, fallacy of scattershot condemnation, fashionable ideas, feminist philosophy, feminist quarrels, forced confessions, groupthink, Hegel, human knowledge vs AI, human suffering, human thinking and AI, Hypatia, idealized knowledge, Incommensurable Otherness, intellectual autobiography, Jennifer Nagel, John Dewey Lectures, Jonathan Schaffer, learning models, logical positivists, Mariana Ortega, mechanist materialism as worldview, medieval logic, metaphysics, mind/body problem, moral one-upmanship, opposition to women in philosophy, people compared to machines, philosophical account of ultimacy, philosophical fashions, philosophical friendship, philosophizing about human suffering, philosophy and nonquantifiable experience, philosophy and the future, philosophy and worldviews, philosophy as a profession, philosophy as a truth-seeking discipline, philosophy as cultural influence, philosophy as life-shaping, philosophy lectures, philosophy of history, philosophy transcends the tyranny of fashion, philosophy's political influence, physicalism, physicalism and reductionism, physicalist worldview, Plato's view of knowledge, prediction errors, primary and secondary qualities, primary qualities, pulling moral rank, Reign of Terror, right opinion vs knowledge in Plato, Saint Augustine, Salem witch trials, sexism, the politics of philosophy, theory of everything, thinking machines, Thomas Aquinas, true knowledge vs opinion, Vienna Circle, wisdom as true knowledge, wisdom knowledge vs everyday knowledge, women in philosophy
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The Absolute is Up for Grabs
Recent changes in what was formerly considered socially okay may be seen in two incidents I couldn’t sidestep. A long-time woman friend figures in the first incident. We’ve been in each other’s lives since the time in Paris when we … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, 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, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, 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, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, 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, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged agenda driven misunderstanding, ancient religious underlayers, anti-Judaism as a culture import, Asian vs Western religious mindsets, Christian myths about Jews, collective guilt, competition for the covenant, competitive theologies, covenant and who God loves best, culturally embedded distortions, David Nirenberg’s Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition, diplomacy in friendship, discerning right from wrong, discerning the moral principle, Doctrine of Deicide, extra-historical spirituality, false naivete, faux pas, flipping moral status, friendship at risk, good guys and bad guys, goodwill confronting malice, historical religions, imperiled friendship, innocence and guilt in history, inverting moral relations, Israel’s right of self-defense, Israel’s right to exist, Jewish timeline, killing Socrates, malice in social settings, moral discernment, Oct 7 and ex-friends, Oct 7 and friendship, pulling moral rank, pulling rank on Jews, pulling theological rank on Jews, religious acculturation, rhetorical questions as insults, Secular Left’s ex-Christians, social insult, social life as war, social navigation, socially acceptable, St. Ambrose and Jewish legal rights, St. Ambrose and the burned synagogue, St. Augustine and Jewish legal rights, status rivalry, the burden of Jewish history, theological rank and social rank, theological social climbing, theology and modern Israel, unconscious cultural baggage, unholy theological doctrines, victimhood competition, victims and victimizers, victims falsely accused, victims treated as victimizers, what is absolute for a culture, woman friend, youthful friendships
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Where Is the Happy Ending?
Stories, as I see them, are supposed to come out right. And here’s what I mean by “right.” It’s nothing deep, mysterious or esoteric. Our romantic couple rides off into the Western sunset. They have the time for their trip, … Continue reading →
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, 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, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged 36 righteous, academic politics, academic romance, academic victory, adult ed, anti-Jewish cartoons, campus anti-semites, Chronicle of Higher Education, conflict and congregations, core curriculum, cowboy gets the girl, cowboys, criterion for righteous deeds, defending Jewish students, Evangelicals and Zionism, facing justice, fashionable victims, former terrorist, good guys and bad guys, good story with bad ending, grace under anti-semitic pressure, grace under persecution, grace under pressure, happy ending, holier than thou, how things ought to be, inappropriate with women, Israel Consul vs Quakers, Kasim Hafeez's Never Again?, Lamed Vavnik, liberal arts program, love and marriage, metric for righteous deeds, miraculous cure, miraculous cure for anti-semitism, mitzvah, moral high ground, moral holiday, ousting a predator, philosophy department at Brooklyn College, philosophy professor, Phyllis Chesler, Phyllis Chesler's The New Anti-Semitism, politics in the real world, prayer and miracle, Presbyterians and BDS, public debate, pulling moral rank, rabbinical search committee, Reformed Temple, remembering the story, reprisals vs whistleblower, righteous deeds, righteous deeds vs chaos, righteous warrior, safeguarding the story, sanctimony, saving the core curriculum, search committee, StandWithUs, Stephen Spector, Stephen Spector's Evangelicals and Israel: The Story of American Christian Zionism, stories ending wrongly, suffering of Jewish students, synagogue congregants, targeting Jewish students, trauma and recovery, unequal power relations, Western movies, whistleblower's trauma
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Call No Woman Happy
In his Histories, Herodotus tells the tale of a certain King Croesus of Lydia (reigned 585-547 BCE) who boasted of his happiness to a guest, the wise Solon. The guest warned him that – given life’s uncertainties – no one … Continue reading →
Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, 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, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged admitting that one is happy, anachronistic judgements, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle’s view that the dead suffer from the living, beyond our control, call no man happy, call no man happy until he is dead, cancel culture, Charles Van Doren, Charles Van Doren’s congressional testimony, classical proverbs, Columbia College Class of 1925, congruence with one’s self, Cyrus and Croesus, dangers of success, death as refuge, destroyed reputation, don’t speak ill of the dead, dumb and happy, family honor, family in the public eye, family politcs, family prestige, fascism and antifacisim, father son relation, fear of success, feeling another’s sorrows, fortune is fickle, Founding Fathers, friendship and empathy, good breeding, good taste and bad form, happiness and envy, happiness in the real world, happiness mistaken for stupidity, Henry M Rosenthal, Herodotus’ Histories, heroes unmasked, highbrow reputation, hubris, ignorance is bliss, inward joy, joy and misfortune, joy vs happiness, judging the past by current standards, King Croesus, learning life's lessons, life’s contingencies, lifelong regrets, literary celebrity, loss of standing, luck and merit, mob mentality, moralism, nobody’s perfect, personal downfall, posthumous disgrace, posthumous loss of reputation, pride goeth before a fall, public approval, pulling moral rank, realistic happiness, repercussions, reputation reversal, retroactive moralistic denunciations, rich as Creosus, rolling with the punches, self integration, showbiz or dishonesty, showbiz vs integrity, social hierarchy, Solon and Croesus, students of Mark Van Doren, success and happiness, tempting fate, that’s showbiz, the ancients were right, The Autobiography of Mark Van Doren 1958, the etiquette of happiness, the hazards of joy, the integrated self, the past is present, the risks of happiness, TV celebrity, uncertainties of fate, uncovering secrets
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The Price of Living One’s Philosophy
At our Torah Study class this week, we took up the concluding portion of the Book of Exodus. Mostly it deals with instructions for constructing the Mishkan (Tent of Meeting). That’s the portable temple housing the famous box (the Ark … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, 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, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, 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, motherhood, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, science, 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, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged academic groupthink, academic politics, Arc of the Covenant, Attention Deficit Disorder, Authenticity, becoming a woman, being a woman, Book of Exodus, bridge of words, bridge to nowhere, bringing gifts to the Mishkan, competitive feminists, cultural impact, defending one’s worldview, delusive victories, demystifying philosophic terms, discussion leader, early days in the feminist movement, early experiences in the feminist movement, engineering with words, exploitive relationships, femininity as social construct, feminism and philosophy, feminist establishment, feminist theory, from nowhere to nowhere, groupthink, harmful victories, healing through our stories, influence of philosophy, intellectual credibility, Intellectual fashion, intellectual trends, inverting social reality, ivory tower philosophy, Jacques Derrida, language of philosophy, life lessons in novels, living inside one’s worldview, living one’s philosophy, manipulative victims, mariage de raison, marriage of reason, meaning what you say, Mishkan, not the official story, nothing outside the text, novels and women, one size fits all, opportunistic marriage, overcoming disabilities, Paris garbage strike and the postmoderns, Parisian postmoderns, Park Ave penthouse feminists, pas de hors-texte, philosophical jargon, philosophy and history, playing the victim card, portable temple, pulling moral rank, Pyrrhic verbal victories, Rabbi Sigal Brier, real life analogies to Biblical stories, revolutions and hypocrisy, sacred femininity, sacrificial gift, saying what you mean, sexual stereotyping, sincerity and philosophy, sisterhood is powerful, speaking philosophically, straight talking, straight talking in academe, supportive husband, teaching inner city kids, Ten Commandments, Tent of Meeting, the influence of philosophers, the last shall be first, the philosopher and the man on horseback, the philosophic establishment, the philosophic life, Torah Study, trading up, true stories that heal, two stone tablets, unbalanced marriage, universal claims about men and women, utopian slogans, verbal tour de force, verbal triumphs, view from nowhere, woman as social construct, woman’s destiny, woman’s lot, women against women, women’s competitiveness, women’s friendships, women’s liberation, write only what you have lived, yin and yang
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A Therapeutic Proposal
A Therapeutic Proposal It’s hard to compare previous eras to this present one — which is always “the best of times and the worst of times.” That said, there are features of life in our America that feel new to … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, books, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, nineteenth-century, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, 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, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged best of times and worst of times, common sense, cultural diagnostic, cultural therapy, culture and dialectic, curing injustice, death by denunciation, defining culture, defining history, exploiting resentment, fair competition, group think, Hegelian analysis, Hegelian remedies, historic injustice, human self-acceptance, living in history, living in one's time, man on horseback, manipulating guilt, mediation v immediacy, mob mentality, mutual respect, Next time no more Mister Nice Guy, ordinary life, patience and persistence, peaceful transfer of power, philosophy in history, political common sense, professional assassination, projected guilt, pulling moral rank, recognizing dignity, safe-guarding childhood, self-censorship, silencing dissent, social common sense, social death, story of history, the human condition, thought police, timeliness as a skill, victimization claims, world view, Zeitgeist in present day America
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The Right Way to Act
The Right Way to Act An essay of mine with that title, excerpted from my Good Look at Evil, is now posted on academia.edu. It’s on the question of how to conduct oneself during one’s Holocaust. The title is meant … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, freedom, friendship, guilt and innocence, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, martyrdom, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mysticism, ontology, oppression, past and future, politics of ideas, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, secular, self-deception, social conventions, social ranking, 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, twentieth century, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "A Good Look at Evil", academic colleagues, Argumentum ad baculum, armchair moralizing, author meets reader, behaviorism, being ready for a book, blaming the victim, book smart v street smart, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn College faculty, Brooklyn College students, character test, children of survivors, choices of duties, complex people, conditioning as excuse, confronting malice, cruelty as a motive, exonerating the guilty, extenuating circumstances, faculty reception, God as a person, hasidic tales, Hasidism, historian's verification, Holocaust, Holocaust atrocities, Holocaust commemorator, Holocaust studies, Holocaust survivor interviews, Holocaust survivors, human devotion, interviewing sources, Martin Buber's "Tales of the Hasidim: The Early Masters", moral confusion, moral evasion, naturalism, oversensitivity, personal love, Personal loyalty, primary sources, pulling moral rank, social conditioning, spiritual endurance, the hasidic world, the human spirit, the Jewish spirit, the teaching is in the tale, the triumph of the human spirit, The World of Truth, Yaffa Eliach's Hassidic Tales of the Holocaust
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