In Quest of Healing
We are just back from one of our weeks in California, in quest of healing for my neuropathy. As I’ve said here before, the experimental treatment on…
The Kiss of God
Nowadays, on Wednesday evenings, I drive to the local Chabad, when I can manage it, to study the Parshah (section from the Pentateuch being read during that…
The Pain of Separation
Disaggregation. It’s the polysyllabic term for what I need to do: separate out and deal with the present pileup of life challenges, each of which is new…
The Gnostic Revolutionary as Professor: A Review of Jerry Muller’s “Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes”
Jerry Muller. Professor Apocalypse: The many Lives of Jacob Taubes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022. This well-crafted, exhaustively researched, intellectually balanced biography of Jacob Taubes may…
Academic Gossip
One of the seldom-mentioned pleasures of life in the academy – the House that Plato Built – is academic gossip. It juxtaposes the life of ideas against real-life –…
Dragon Hunting
Dragon hunting has never, to my knowledge, been deemed the sport of kings since the requisite skills are not confined to any class of people, royal or…
The Transgressions of Jacob Taubes
Prominently featured in a recent issue of the New York Times Book Review is a biography titled Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes by…
Iris Murdoch: Bringing Philosophy Back to Life
When Jerry and I fly to California for another round of my neuropathy treatments, we each bring something to read en route. Obviously our selections have to…
The Pathbreaking Philosophical Women: A Review of Benjamin Limpscomb’s “The Women are Up to Something”
Benjamin Limpscomb. The Women Are Up to Something: How Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley, and Iris Murdoch Revolutionized Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. …
How Can we Know if it’s God?
Are we making a big mistake? Couldn’t it be Tom, Dick, or Susie instead? Well, no. Those three friends are all palpable, visible, leave imprints when they…
Believers: How I Became a Believing Jew
When I was a child, the grownups around me held all kinds of beliefs and I wished I could be like them. Failing that, I hoped they…
Books Matter: A Review of “The Original Bambi: The Story of a Life in the Forest”
Felix Salten, The Original Bambi: The Story of a Life in the Forest. Translated & Introduced by Jack Zipes, Illustrated by Alenka Sottler. Princeton: Princeton University Press,…
Culture and Therapy: Can Hegel Help Us Understand Our Cultural Malaise?
It’s hard to compare previous eras to this present one – which is always “the best of times and the worst of times.” That said, there are…
Easter and Passover: A Reflection
This year, the climactic commemorative celebration days for each religion actually did overlap. Which raised questions about their possible relationship, or at least how they stand today…
Philosophy and Me: A Life of Thought Through the Centuries
The other day, I went to a new acupuncturist. We got to talking, I and the nice young man who’d been assigned to me for my initial…