Tag Archives: war of the sexes

Naked Apes?

Posted on October 21, 2025 by Abigail

Lately I happen to have been reading two books on what Darwin – and his intellectual descendants (like Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene or Jane Goodall, In the Shadow of Man) – got wrong! The two books are philosopher … 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, eighteenth century, erotic life, 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, Industrial Revolution, 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, 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 | Tagged abortion public opposition private need, abstract ideals vs lived views, ape reproductive strategies, apes and pair bonding, apes and parenting, Applied Ethics, Atheism, authenticity and sociobiology, Bible as history book, competition and courtship, Creationism, culture and theories, Darwin’s allies, Darwinian courtship, David Hume, David Stove’s Darwinian Fairy Tales, Desmond Morris’ The Naked Ape, DMA, erotic life and reductionism, etiquette for courtship, female guilt, female pliancy, groupthink, healthy relationships, herd mentality, Homo sapiens and monogamy, human brains and monkey brains, human evolution, human mating strategies, human psychology, idealism and cynicism, idealism vs real life, Jane Goodall’s In the Shadow of Man, jealousy in human beings, Jonathan Leaf’s The Primate Myth, lived philosophy, male guilt, MRI, Oedipus complex, pair bonding and human evolution, philosophical reductionism, possessiveness in human beings, power politics, prehistoric monogamy, primitivism and social style, profaning the sacred, Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene, sex differences, simian reproductive strategies, social influence of theories, social result of wrong theories, sociobiology and bigotry, sociobiology and civilization, sociobiology and gender roles, sociobiology and human courtship, sociobiology and man/woman relations, sociobiology and misanthropy, sociobiology and misogyny, sociobiology and seduction, sociobiology and sincerity, sociobiology’s social influence, survival of the fittest, theology vs real life, theories and human reality, Thomas Malthus, toughness in women, unhealthy relationships, virginity and courtship, war of the sexes, who gets abortions, young men and chivalry | 2 Comments

“My Inescapable Femininity”

Posted on October 14, 2025 by Abigail

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 | 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 | Leave a comment

Philosophers’ Lives: As Told and Untold

Posted on October 29, 2024 by Abigail

Recently, I’ve been going through back issues of Proceedings and Addresses, the official publication of the American Philosophical Association. A given issue will contain programs and announcements for the current meetings, and Memorial Minutes, which of course means obituaries for … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, bureaucracy, chivalry, 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, filial piety, 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, journalism, 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, Nihilism, novels, ontology, oppression, 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, 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, theology, time, Truth, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a truthful academic, a truthful man, a truthful philosopher, academic blacklisting, academic blackmail, academic books, academic mean girls, academic obituary, academic power disparities, academic power play, academic power politics, academic reprisal, academic seduction, academic sore loser, academic sucker-punch, American Philosophical Association, APA Memorial Minutes, believing something true, brutal honesty, career busting, Colin McGinn, Colin McGinn scandal, collegial appreciations, costly candor, cover-up stories, creatures of fashion, Darwinian psychology, diplomatic obituaries, dressing for the women’s movement, exaggerated eulogies, Freudian experiments, Freudian psychology, going along to get along, graceful comeback, How would you look in a novel?, Intellectual fashion, introducing women’s liberation, lives of philosophers, male vulnerability, materialist psychology, not going to get along, over-educated rationalizations, philosopher Edward Erwin, philosophers cover stories, philosophers who lie, philosophy as pursuit of truth, philosophy at Stony Brook, philosophy at University of Miami, playing the victim, professionally costly honesty, public feminist, reductionist psychology, refusing to lie, Regime of Denunciation, schadenfreude, sexual harassment and murky motives, songs for the women’s movement, SUNY at Stony Brook, tenure fight, the genius project, the official story, the unofficial story, thinking away responsibility, totalitarian tactics, truth-telling cousin, victim power, victim’s power games, war of the sexes | 2 Comments

A Writer’s Conscience

Posted on May 28, 2024 by Abigail

I just finished reading – actually skimming – what I’m tempted to name as the worst book in the history of the world. It’s a romance novel titled Forever Amber, set in seventeenth century England, which came out originally in … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, anthropology, appreciation, art, art of living, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, bigotry, book reviews, books, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, 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, immortality, institutional power, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, 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, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a Protestant sensibility, a writer's double-vision, a writer’s motives, a writer’s self-condemnation, ancients vs moderns, banned books, Barbara Taylor Bradford, bodice busters, denounced books, editing one’s experience, experience and authenticity, experience as grist for the writer’s mill, experience as the first draft, experience giving self-knowledge, fact/value coexistence, fact/value split, facts and values, female vulnerability, fiction and real life, fiction’s influence, filtered experience, heroine without conscience, historical fiction, historical panorama, honoring human experience, immoral heroine, Joan Didion’s On Keeping a Notebook, Joan Didion’s Slouching Toward Bethlehem, Kathleen Winsor’s Forever Amber, life without conscience, living as the first draft, living at second hand, modernity’s fact/value split, moral choice, novelist, predicaments of Restoration England, raw experience and interpreted experience, reign of Charles II, Restoration England, romance novels, self-awareness and ego, self-knowledge, seventeenth century England, social ambition, social panorama, society from bottom to top, the cost of being a writer, the cost of living one’s talent, the Great Plague of 1665, the writer’s vocation, time travel, time travel through fiction, time travel through novels, unedited life, values and the writer’s vocation, war of the sexes, writer’s conscience, writers and ego, writers using experience as material | 2 Comments

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