Dear Abbie - The Non-Advice Podcast

When you think of it, the anti-semite’s belief pays a sort of inverted tribute to the claim God makes for the descendants of Father Abraham: In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed . It’s God’s very promise to the Jews, only with the word “cursed” put in place of “blessed.” Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the a...

I have just been reading the youthful correspondence between my future father, Henry M. Rosenthal, and his best friend in college and for some years thereafter, Lionel Trilling.  Trilling went on to make for himself the most brilliant career of his generation as a public intellectual.  Since they had been so very close, I never knew exactly why my father broke it off with him, but that could well...

In the claims and counter-claims of real life, what is to count as evidence? Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's "confession" in the tradition of Augustine and Rousseau. She writes a weekly online column, "Dear Abbie: The Non-Ad...

So how does one stay real , and stay in real life, at times of utter frustration?  Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's "confession" in the tradition of Augustine and Rousseau. She writes a weekly online column, "Dear Abbie: The...

  “In spite of everything,  I still believe that people are really good at heart.” These words — set down as a belief , not a question — are among the last lines in the diary of Anne Frank, before the Frank family’s hiding place was betrayed and the Nazis came for them all.   Did she still believe that in Bergen Belsen, the concentration camp where she died? Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emeri...

Of course, many a woman has tried to save a man to her own detriment and without succeeding.  There are excellent reasons to warn a girl against embracing such an ideal. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's "confession" in the traditi...

  “People live and die by ideas!”  “ You are what you think – much more than what you eat!” With encouraging words like these, I would try to persuade students in an intro course to see the study of philosophy as a help and benefit to themselves.  Many did, at least for a little while, I think. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is...

If you think we weren’t scared, think again.  We each have a long list of very realistic reasons to believe that we can’t – without extreme diminishment – survive the loss of the other. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's "confession&quot...

Why should truth-seekers hide their findings?  It sounded like a Conspiracy Theory without conspirators, a drama without Dramatis Personae, a tempest in an émigré philosopher’s teapot. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's "confession"...

Do men and women now treat each other better than they once did? The feminist revolution peeled off the conventions that used to govern relations between the sexes. Yet man-woman relations seem never to have been in worse shape, the exaggerations from the #MeToo movement matched by the vileness of powerful men who’ve targeted vulnerable women. A New York firefighter once told me that his training...

Nudnik: “A nudnik is not just a nuisance; to merit the status of nudnik, a nuisance must be the most persistent, talkative, obnoxious, indomitable, and indefatigable nag.”  The Joys of Yiddish, by Leo Rosten. As for “ Nudnikerie ,” the coinage is mine.  I hope and trust it will pass into general usage. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York...

There people know you in the round .   If you want to do something you don’t want the whole town to know, don’t do it in Milbridge.  By the same token, if you want to make up a damaging story about someone of whom the town knows no evil: Don’t do it in Milbridge. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A...

What’s the best way to live?  What’s the best way to die? Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's "confession" in the tradition of Augustine and Rousseau. She writes a weekly online column, "Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column" a...

We live under the sheltering umbrellas of our worldviews.  To the point where we would feel naked if we were caught in the street without them. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's "confession" in the tradition of Augustine and Rousse...

We are social beings, so nobody likes to be shunned. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's "confession" in the tradition of Augustine and Rousseau. She writes a weekly online column, "Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column" along...

It’s occurred to me that, several times in the past, I succeeded better at an effort when I didn’t do it for me .   I don’t mean that I got “ego” out of the way, whatever that means.  What’s ego?  What’s necessary life force?  Which is which? Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (fo...

The task of A Good Look at Evil is to make clear the shape of a good life and the role of evil in trying to destroy what is good in a life. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's "confession" in the tradition of Augustine and Rousseau....

As a little girl, I would set the lunch table extra slowly so that I could overhear the philosophic conversations between my father, Henry M. Rosenthal , and Léo Bronstein, his closest friend. Understanding not a word, I still liked that music better than any other. For me, it was like having died and gone to heaven.  Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City Univer...

Being born and raised a Jewish girl from Manhattan’s old-rent, upper east side, the last thing I’m expected to like is country gospel. Or so I’m often told. People shake their heads. Here comes the dog walking on its hind legs. It’s not done well, as Dr. Johnson said, drawing this analogy with the lady preacher, but the wonder is that it is done at all. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at...

Let me explain who and what he was, a little.  He was tall, white-bearded when I knew him, and had the sad, seen-it-all-at-least-two-times-over Jewish eyes, as well as tremendous personal vibrancy and humorous resilience.  His name is on a street in Jerusalem.  Though he didn’t over-value it, he also had a German doctorate in Judaica.  Without presuming to say who’s ahead on points, or ahead in wh...

Well, I always write about what most concerns me, and beggars can’t be choosers, so – nothing for it – I’d better plunge headfirst into The Nothing.  Hey, what does that feel like?  Be the first kid on your block to find out. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which...

Say what you will about the costs (and they were many and steep) women today are freer and happier than they were back then.  You can see the change in the documentaries about feminism.  The early combats were grim and the combatants solemn and desperate. . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Youn...

Aside from my personal encounters with it, and study of some of the cases that made history, what do I know about it? Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's "confession" in the tradition of Augustine and Rousseau. She writes a weekly on...

The Rabbis inveigh against gossip.  Since a lost reputation is almost as hard to recover as a lost life, they deem it equivalent to a capital crime. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's "confession" in the tradition of Augustine and R...

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? Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of Confessions of A Young Philosopher (forthcoming), which is a woman's...