Tag Archives: World War II
What Kind of a Man?
I grew up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side (in the days before that got to be a swank neighborhood) and, aside from Mr. Z (our superintendent who turned out to be a Nazi spy), nobody – rich or poor or … 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, 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 abnormal motives, anti-semitism as a syndrome, attacking the vulnerable, blaming the Jews, Catherine Chalier, chivalrous men, Christianity re human relations, conference on Levinas, conspiracy theorist, covert social insult, duties of a guest, eliding Levinas’ Jewish influence, Emmanuel Levinas, eros of life, evil unambiguous, French philosopher, handling social insult, Hannah Arendt and Eichmann, Hannah Arendt and Holocaust victims, Hitler unpopular in New York, Holocaust and philosophy, Holocaust survivor, honoring a guest, Jewish approach to human relations, Jewish identity, Levinas and assassination threats, Levinas and Jewish thought, Levinas and the human face, Levinas re the human face, Levinas’ disciple, living out one’s story, Manhattan's Upper East Side, manhood and courtesy to women, manliness and unmanliness, misremembering history, misremembering Hitler, moral clarity, moral clarity in World War II, moral clarity vs moral ambiguity, Nazi spy in Manhattan, nonresistance to evil, normality of friendship, Peterhouse in Cambridge U, pseudo questions, psychology of anti-semitism, resistance to evil, respecting the human face, reversing good and evil, secular human relations, self-realization, simplicity of evil, social reality, social reality before anti-semitism, socially problematic to be Jewish, Spoiling One’s Story: The Case of Hannah Arendt in Abigail L. Rosenthal’s A Good Look at Evil, Sydney University’s Dept of Traditional and Modern Philosophy, the human norm, World War 2’s domestic front, World War II
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A Funny Thing Happened to Philosophy (on its way to the deepest depths)
A Funny Thing Happened to Philosophy (on its way to the deepest depths) Recent projects of work have put me back in contact with a strange business in which philosophy had a strange part to play. In the 1920’s, as … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, art of living, atheism, autonomy, chivalry, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, courtship, 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, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, love, male power, masculinity, master, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, mortality, mysticism, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romanticism, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, status, suffering, terror, terrorism, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged argument chains, Authenticity, average man, average opinions, Beethoven, being-there, being-toward-death, bloodbath, careerism, classroom philosophizing, collapse of trust, country music, currency and trust, currency and value, Dasein, deep thought, dishonor, Edmund Husserl, Emmanuel Levinas's Otherwise Than Being or Beyond Essence, Emmanuel Levinas's Totality and Infinity, expulsion of Jews, fall of German mark, generations of thinkers, genius, German defeat, German professoriate, Hank Williams's Your Cheatin' Heart, Hannah Arendt, History of Philosophy, human decency, inflation crisis, Jewish mentor, Jewish students, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Martin Heidegger, Martin Heidegger's Being and Time, Nazi party, new foundation, opinion shapers, outmoded worldview, personal destiny, philosophic betrayal, philosophic competition, philosophic depth, philosophic genius, philosophic influence, philosophic legacy, philosophic loyalty, philosophic rivalry, philosophic Romanticism, philosophic stardom, primeval, public intellectuals, Rector at Freiburg, spellbinding lectures, strange business, the best and the brightest, the human face, ultimacy, University of Freiburg, University of Marburg, Ur source, victors and losers, World War I, World War II, worldview, young windbag
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“Philosophical Gossip”
“Philosophical Gossip” Not long ago, the writer Cynthia Ozick had a front page piece in the New York Times Book Review about gossip. In her usual talent-laden voice, Ozick wrestles with the double sense of gossip. Could it be deplorable … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, Bible, childhood, chivalry, class, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, heroes, hidden God, history, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, institutional power, Jews, journalism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, memoir, mind control, modernism, mortality, nineteenth-century, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political, political movements, power, propaganda, psychology, public intellectual, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, seduction, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social conventions, sociobiology, spirituality, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "the evil tongue", "the few and the many", "the noble and the base", 19th century novels, Abigail L. Rosenthal's "Defining Evil Away: Arendt's Forgiveness", banality of evil, behaviorism, Bettina Stangneth's Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer, censorship, charisma, clandestine romance, classical philosophers, colleagues, collegiality, conventional religion, courtship, Cynthia Ozick, Cynthia Ozick's "The Novel's Evil Tongue", de-Nazification, dominance and submission, dramatic lives, eavesdropping, Eichmann trial transcript, emigres, evil as conformism, female vulnerability, Femininity, fiction, flattery, free will, freedom, German-Jewish philosophers, German-Jewish students, gossip, Hannah Arendt, Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hans Jonas Memoirs, Hans Jonas The Gnostic Religion, Henry James, historical characters, Jane Austen, lashon hara, Leo Strauss, Leo Strauss' Persecution and the Art of Writing, Letters 1925-1975: Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger, lifelong love affair, lifelong romance, love letter, Male Power, malice, Martin Heidegger, modern sensibility, Modernity, moral choice, narrative, novelists, Orthodox Judaism, persecution, persona, personal magnetism, personal v political, philosophers, philosophic friendships, philosophic lives, philosophic romances, Philosophy v Religion, plot lines, private passion, private persons, professorial power, public intellectuals, public v private, refugees, seduction, slander, Stanley Rosen, Tarzan and Jane, The Nazi Party, The New York Times Book Review, theologians, Tolstoy, University of Chicago, unpretentiousness, whitewashing, World War II
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“Being Brave”
“Being Brave” Nobody wants to think of herself as a whining, sniveling, cowering coward. At the same time, one of the advantages of the female sex is that (forgive me, sisterhood!) we are not expected to wear such courage as … Continue reading
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, action, alienation, art, autonomy, chivalry, cities, class, contradictions, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, faith, fashion, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master, mind control, non-violence, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, political, political movements, power, 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, time, twentieth century, violence, war, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "The War Has Taken Place", assault, authority, bad guys, blaming victims, bravery, breaking under torture, consensus, conventions, courage, courage under fire, coward, cowardice, criminals, extreme situation, extreme tests, freedom, gender roles, genocide, German occupation of France, grace under pressure, Holocaust, honor, Jewish prayer, judging victims, martial arts, masculinity and femininity, massacre of Armenians, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, nazis, New York City, pain, pain threshold, pain tolerance, prayer, risk-taking, self-defense, social construction, socially constructed identity, Stephen Crane's "Red Badge of Courage", subway crime, subway mugger, tests of valor, torture, training in courage, urban crime, victim's conduct, victim's courage, World War II
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“Beyond Recovery”
“Beyond Recovery” I’ve been reading a book with the rather haunting title, Beyond the Ashes: Cases of Reincarnation from the Holocaust. The author, Yonassan Gershom, is a rabbi who is well versed in the kabbalistic, mystical strain within Judaism. His … Continue reading
Posted in action, alienation, culture, desire, dialectic, ethics, evil, faith, femininity, freedom, guilt and innocence, health, history, history of ideas, identity, ideology, institutional power, Jews, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, male power, master, memoir, peace, philosophy, political, political movements, power, race, relationships, roles, slave, social conventions, spirituality, suffering, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, time, twentieth century, violence, war, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged 1930's, archetypes, Beyond the Ashes: Cases of Reincarnation from the Holocaust, cancer, concentration camp tattoos, gang rape, gas chambers, genocide, Jews and Gentiles, Kabbalah, memory, mystical, past life, philosophers, post-traumatic stress, Rabbi, radiation treatment, recovery, reincarnation, safety, Shoah, the new anti-Semitism, theologians, therapy, trauma, treatment for trauma, universal consciousness, World War II, Yonassan Gershom, Zeitgeist, Zyklon B
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“Places”
“Places” “There are no places anymore.” This was the complaint we two hitchhikers, Anna and me, heard from an American traveler at a roadside stop. Our informant — who was saying this to his two compatriots many decades back — … Continue reading
Posted in action, alienation, art, cities, class, cool, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, fashion, freedom, history, history of ideas, identity, institutional power, literature, love, memoir, nineteenth-century, psychology, relationships, roles, social conventions, suffering, the examined life, time, twentieth century, war, writing, Zeitgeist
Tagged "Portrait of Jenny", "The World of Yesterday", 9/11, artists and writers, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bateau Mouche, beats, Big Apple, bohemians, book burning, cafes, Cool, cosmopolitan, country music, earth, Europe, European cities, German Occupation, Hemingway, hitchhiking, nazis, New York, New York in the nineteen forties, Notre Dame, Paris, Robert Frost, Stefan Zweig, Stephen Vincent Benét, The Great War, the Seine, tourists/tourism, travel, World War I, World War II
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Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions: Preface, Part 2
Today, Dr. Jerry L. Martin and Dr. Abigail L. Rosenthal (author of Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column) carry forward last week’s discussion of Confessions of a Young Philosopher. Let’s see how their discussion continues. *** Jerry: Having said that true love … Continue reading →