Tag Archives: thought experiment

Secrets of the Kingdom

Posted on December 20, 2022 by Abigail

Years ago, I was in the audience to hear a lecture by Columbia Professor of Ancient History Morton A. Smith who was discussing a verse he claimed to have discovered, anciently deleted from the gospel of Mark. In this new-found verse, Jesus … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, Christianity, 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, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, 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, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, radicalism, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, seventeeth century, 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, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged 613 Commandments, a life in balance, a personal God, academic gravitas, academic obscurity, aesthetic force, behind the curtain, Benedict de Spinoza, books on the Holocaust, chance or providence, Columbia University, defense of Jewish Orthodoxy, historical encounters with God, Holocaust and philosophy, Holocaust survivor, Holocaust testimony, ideal witness, intellectual dexterity, Jewish experience, Jewish historical continuity, Jewish Orthodox worldview, Jewish Orthodoxy and philosophy, Jewish Orthodoxy and physics, Jewish Orthodoxy debating skill, Leo Strauss, Leo Strauss and Benedict de Spinoza, life-scape, malicious actors, Modern Orthodoxy, moral intelligence, Morton A. Smith, Moshe Koppel, nazism and malice, normality, personal worship, racism, reasons to be a Jew, relativism, secret gospel, secrets of the kingdom, Shoah, Spinoza's Theological-Political Treatise, Strauss Spinoza and Sinai: Orthodox Judaism and Modern Questions of Faith ed. Jeffrey Bloom Alec Goldstein and Gil Student, stylish academics, subjective and objective, Talmudic conversation, Talmudic debate, The Risk of Sorrow: Conversations with Holocaust Survivor Helen Handler by Valerie Foster, the survival of Jewish culture, thought experiment, truth and psychological distortions, undistorted view | Leave a comment

The Moral Markers

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Abigail

The Moral Markers From time to time, I pause to picture how the recent phases of my life would look to me if there were no God in the pictures. It’s a sort of thought experiment. Philosophers are given to … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, books, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Journalism, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, nineteenth-century, novels, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, 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, 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, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged abstraction, absurdity, agnostic, Atheism, atheistic world view, Authenticity, beyond good and evil, brute forces, complementarity in friendship, concrete experience, consequential decisions, constructive orientation, controlled experiment, cynicism, deleted datum, erasing evidence, experimental confirmation, experimental disconfirmation, false consciousness, fashionable abstractions, fashionable views, feigned belief, fork in the road, Friedrich Nietzsche, integrating experience, limited palette, loyalty v betrayal, Martin Heidegger, meaning of life, meaningful life, models of the ultimate, modern life, Modernity, moral choice, moral fork in the road, moral indices, moral markers, moral neutrality, no rhyme or reason, novelistic plotline, objectivity claims, opinion shapers, opposites attract, pointlessness, power relations, projection, random energy, reality as absurd, relationship dynamics, Social Darwinism, social pretense, survival of the fittest, Swedish descent, the Modern world, the Post-Modern world, theism, theistic world view, thought experiment, Valhalla, Vedantist, Viking worldview | Leave a comment

The Devil in the Details

Posted on December 4, 2018 by Abigail

The Devil in the Details Depression is not an attractive word, but it describes my mood in recent days. Two explanations (or causes?) spring to mind. First: I have this neuropathy handicap. My walking lacks its former, rhythmic life-of-its-own, becoming … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, cults, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Male Power, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, 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, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Confessions of a Young Philosopher", beat the devil, Bible study, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, corrupt influence, counterproductive remedy, decentered feeling, dentists, depression, expensive cavities, experimental treatments, fair fights, firm footing, Halakah, hard-bought wisdom, holistic treatments, hollow self, ideal life story, impersonal wisdom, incurable, Jewish observance, life rhythms, life story, limping, Loma Linda Hospital, malevolent spirit, medical treatments, midrashim, mood changes, narrative view, neuropathy, New Age, New Age-niks, patient no better, Pentateuch, personal identity, personal wisdom, philosophy of religion, physical footing, physical therapy, place to stand, placeholder self, Reform temple, reversals of fortune, shell of oneself, solitary walker, speculative theology, spiritual footing, stratagems of evil, taking a walk, talking it out, textual study, the devil, thought experiment, Torah Study, treatment failure, treatment success, walking handicap | Leave a comment

Therapy from the Jews

Posted on January 30, 2018 by Abigail

Therapy from the Jews Have the Jews anything to offer the world today in their capacity as Jews? The remarkable plasticity and resilience of anti-semitism doesn’t answer my question about being a Jew: what the hell good is it? Let’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Bible, Biblical God, Childhood, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Freedom, Friendship, Gnosticism, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Memoir, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, public facade, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, secular, self-deception, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, War, Work, Zeitgeist | Tagged Alber Camus, anti-semitism, assimilation, authorship by committee, being modern. modernity, Bibical record, Bible, Bible as metaphor, Brooklyn College, chronological experience, conventional conduct, covenant, cultural baggage, dialectical life, documentary hypothesis, dogmatism, erasing personhood, escapism, ethnic identity, false transcendence, God as energy, God as Person, God of history, higher criticism, History, human wholeness, human/divine relations, intersectionality, Jewish mind-set, Jewish orthodoxy, Jewish practices, linear thinking, literary reading of Bible, living one’s time, mechanical conformity, merger with the Absolute, Mysticism, observant Jews, Oral Law, Orthodox students, personal God, personhood, pragmatism, pretentiousness, principle of charity miracles, problem-solving, providential interventions, realm of action, religious identity, religious pretense, role of chronology, saintliness, scientism, self-correction, signing on to the covenant, Sinaitic covenant, supersessionism, Talmud, the Biblical record, The Examined Life, The Jewish Review of Books, Thomas Cahill’s The Gift of the Jews & How the Irish Saved Civilization, thought experiment, universality, Utopianism, world without Jews | Leave a comment

Political Innocence

Posted on March 28, 2017 by Abigail

Political Innocence If each of us were sure we were right, we would never quarrel with anyone – much less break with friends – over politics. The politically-triggered quarrels, friendship breakages, civil-society breakdowns, result from our insecurity over what we … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, 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, Femininity, 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, Industrial Revolution, Institutional Power, Jews, Journalism, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master, Medieval, memory, Messianic Age, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, Mortality, nineteenth-century, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Poetry, Political, Political Movements, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, 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, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged ad hominen fallacy, aim of marriage, Alasdair Macintyre's Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity, alienation, arguing to win, argument train, assembly line production, banked labor, better argument, broken friendship, capital, Capitalism, civil society, civil society breakdown, civility breakdown, communitarians, economic solutions, economic theory, elusive Beloved, emotional security, erotic life, fallability, fragmentary evidence, hidden Beloved, hypothetical explanation, hypothetical views, imperfect world, Industrial Revolution, informal fallacies, inherited consensus, inherited norms, insecurity, intellectual insecurity, Jane Roberts' The Afterdeath Journal of An American Philosopher: The World View of William James, liberty of mind, Marxian theory, mass production, modern philosophy, Modernity, moral insecurity, originality surpressed, originality v groupthink, persecution of Jews, philosophical argument, philosophical discussion, political solutions, power as the only truth, quarrels, Reform temple, repairing the world, social power, Song of Songs, space of friendship, Spinoza's Ethics, theory of surplus value, thought experiment, traditional values, trained philosophers, truth, truth-seeking, tyranny of gossip, unintended consequences, witch burning | Leave a comment

	Abigail on The Divine Name
	Romola Chrzanowski on The Divine Name
	Abigail on Voegelinian Vagaries
	Judy Dornstreich on Voegelinian Vagaries
	Abigail on New Year’s Day 2023

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