How I Got My Philosophic Theme
As far as I can recall, it was a specific event, leading to a particular experience, that gave me the defining theme of the work I’ve done…
Stand on the Rock
If I could, I surely would stand on the rock where Moses stood. I don’t know which rock the singer had in mind. The great rocky crags…
Best of Times, Worst of Times
We’re living through what are - like all times - the best and worst of times. As our calendar enters the new year, we can’t help asking…
Bad Faith at Sartre’s Café
It may be of interest to note that post-World War II feminism (the “second wave”) was written-into-being by Simone de Beauvoir, a gifted French philosopher, in The…
Situated in History
This might be an unusual trait, but I am someone who has trouble knowing who she is, and what life asks of her, until she gets some…
Christians, Jews, and The Great Rift
I prefer to think of that world-historical-fault-line as a long, reparable misunderstanding. Whether or not that’s the right view, personally I want to patch it up. Yet…
The Soul Writ Large
Plato wrote a dialogue on political justice. In English it’s titled The Republic. Besides Socrates, the major speakers are Plato’s two brothers. They are trying to solve…
Desire, Distraction and Dialectic
I have a woman friend whose mother hated her in the womb. Surely an exaggeration! — you may protest. Well, I met the lady only once, but…
Thankfulness
The other day, in the Saturday morning Torah Study class at my Reform temple, we were studying the verses on the ancient temple cultus detailed – and…
Two Types of Intelligence
We’ve been in California this past week. That’s where I go periodically for neuropathy treatments. This time, the improvements weren’t merely measurable but also experiential. For example,…
Pixels Thin and Thick
On the day I got married, Jerry said to me after the ceremony, “Look in the mirror!” Puzzled, I pulled down the car mirror, looked, and said…
Sin and Covenant in Voegelin and Levinas
To sin is to make a wrong choice. It’s not a mistake. The enactor of a choice that is merely mistaken hasn’t chosen to make the mistake. …
Life Review in Seattle
We were in Seattle for a meeting of the Eric Voegelin Society. It’s a group within the American Political Science Association, probably the only such group that…
Tales of My Mother
Only in Victorian novels do we find good women who are also universally beloved. Here, from the annals of literary memoir, is the view of my mother…