Tag Archives: social pressure

Does Life Have Meaning?

Posted on December 9, 2025 by Abigail

Books by Viktor Frankl had been lying around the house for years, but I had never opened one. Their titles in translation (e.g. Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything) – seeming to capture banality pure, unalloyed and fully platitudinous … 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, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, 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, 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 | Tagged academic firing, academic job fight, academic life and conscience, academic politics, Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism, character test, collective unconscious, concentration camp dehumanization, conscience, conscience and moral law, conscience and personal decision, conscience in concrete situations, conscience in specific situations, consequential choice, consequential question, cultural contradictions, emotional drives, Frankl vs collective unconscious, Frankl's Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning, Frankl's Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything, Freud vs Frankl, Freudian therapy, Freudian therapy vs logotherapy, Freudian vs Jungian therapy, Hannah Arendt, Hannah Arendt’s political advice, harmless dodging vs dishonest dodging, harmless dodging vs harmful dodging, inner heights vs despair, instinctual drives, Kant and conscience, Kant categorical imperative, Kant universal law, life at the limits, life contradictions, limits of psychic mapping, living one’s conscience, logotherapy, mapping the psyche, moment of truth, moral challenges, moral courage, moral courage deprecated, Moral crisis, moral landscape, moral loneliness, moral test, one’s personal calling, personal despair, philosophy department politics, philosophy departments, platitudinous sayings, political pressure, politics of academic tenure, politics of experience, pre-feminism, question with life consequences, recognizing a defining choice, recognizing a moral crossroads, remaining oneself, shallow advice, social pressure, spiritual challenges, Ten Commandments, Ten Commandments and personal choice, Ten Commandments and unique situations, test of honor, the price of integrity, the price of remaining oneself, trial by fire, truth-telling and academic philosophy, untenured faculty, utilitarian greatest happiness, utilitarian maximizing happiness, utilitarianism, Viktor Frankl, Viktor Frankl’s death camp experience, well-intentioned therapist, women as second sex, women’s dependency | 2 Comments

Desire and Defamation

Posted on August 23, 2022 by Abigail

Desire and Defamation Defamation tends to obliterate the erotic appeal of the person being defamed. That’s one reason it’s so infuriatingly irreparable. It makes the victim seem undesirable. We are social animals. We live by each other’s smiles and frowns. … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, American politics, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, 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, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, martyrdom, masculinity, medieval, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, non-violence, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romantic love, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, 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 | Tagged civilized life, conscience's enemies, damaging lies, defamation, demagogues, desirable and undesirable, divine teleprompter, erotic appeal, exceptional deeds, fanatical killers, Fiamma Nirenstein's Jewish Lives Matter: Human Rights and Anti-Semitism, global Jew hatred, groupthink, imaginary revenge, in touch with one's feelings, Joan of Arc, knowing what to say, malicious laughter, moral genius, mother's wisdom, neuropathy, other-directedness, Phyllis Chesler, power of attraction, power of resistance, psychogenesis, repressed rage, social animals, social murder, social pressure, spiritual genius, state of grace, swaying a mob, the beautiful people, the Dreyfus Case, the good the true and the beautiful, the symptom imperative, Thought Crimes, traumatic injuries, wide-scale defamation, women who attract strong feelings | 2 Comments

The Other Culture War

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Abigail

The Other Culture War People live and die by ideas. That’s not the only thing we live and die by, but ideas are big in the lives of all of us. For the last 100 years or so, trend-setting thinkers … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bureaucracy, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, gender balance, glitterati, guilt and innocence, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mysticism, ontology, oppression, past and future, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romantic love, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, 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, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged animal communication, anomalies, anti-teleology, competing world views, cosmic mind, cultural power, culture war, cynicism, David Lorimer, denying evidence, despair, discredited paradigm, emotional wisdom, enforcing opinions, establishment power plays, good and evil, groupthink, horse psychic, idealism v materialism, ideas as causal, ideas in culture, inconsistent data, intellectual trends, laws of nature, loss of reputation, love as real, materialist paradigm, mechanistic universe, metaphysical idealism, metaphysical materialism, minds and brains, monistic idealism, NDE, near death experience, new realism, opinion shapers, paradigm change, paranormal phenomena, precognition, precognitive dreams, professional threats, reality check, reality of individuals, reasons v causes, refutation by refusing to look, scientific establishment, scientific method, scientific progress, scientific revolution, search for truth, skepticism v dogmatism, social pressure, The Galileo Commission, unconscious projections, Victor Zammit’s Friday Afterlife Report, women's wisdom | Leave a comment

“Peer Pressure”

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Abigail

“Peer Pressure” No one can resist peer pressure. Such is the judgment of Peter Berger, sociologist of knowledge. To this generalization, I am no exception. For that reason perhaps, peer pressure interests me. One time, I entered the lobby of … Continue reading →

Posted in academe, action, alienation, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, gender balance, Hegel, history of ideas, ideology, institutional power, male power, masculinity, master, memoir, philosophy, political, political movements, power, psychology, relationships, roles, sexuality, social conventions, sociobiology, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of woman | Tagged "Feminism Without Contradictions", "Philosophic Foundations of Feminism", "The Enfranchisement of Women", "The Subjection of Women", academic feminism, American Philosophical Association, argumentative power, cutting edge, feminists, Gender, good old boys, groupthink, hair style, Harriet Taylor Mill, identity, John Stuart Mill, nineteenth-century philosophy, peer pressure, Peter Berger, professional meetings, role models, sex, sex roles, social pressure, sociology of knowledge, The Monist, the social construction of reality, Women's Studies | Leave a comment

Dream Lessons

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Abigail

“Dream Lessons” When I was a small child, I had a recurrent nightmare in which someone was attacking me. I needed to scream for help but couldn’t, because no sound came out. I would try and try to scream, but … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, evil, fashion, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, ideology, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, memoir, philosophy, political, psychology, relationships, social conventions, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman | Tagged Achille Lauro, aesthetic values, being silenced, Choreographer: Mark Morris, Composer: John Adams, conformity, decency, demonstrators, Director: Peter Sellars, dream, Edouard Manet, fear, firing squad, group execution, History, human norms, Leon Klinghoffer, Librettist: Alice Goodman, Metropolitan Opera House, nightmare, normality, normative, oddball, official story, opera, ostracism, outlaw chic, personal narrative, protestors, social pressure, speechlessness, suppression, terrorists, The Death of Klinghoffer, The New York Times, The New Yorker, threat, trangressive, understanding, voice | Leave a comment