Dear Abbie - The Non-Advice Podcast

Years ago, when I was first in Jerusalem, I put a note in the Western Wall. “Did you pray at the Wall?” my Israeli cousins asked me, with their native-born, knowing irony. “Of course,” I rejoined. “Do you think I’m going to spend hundreds of dollars on an El Al ticket and not pray at the Wall?” Pilgrims and tourists put private notes in the crevices of the Herodian stonework (of the outermost reta...

So where’s the self? It’s found in the acts of living and defending one’s story. Is the self at risk? Yeah it is. Evil is absolutely out to get it. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Ros...

How does philosophy help the fight to live meaningfully? Does philosophy come into it at all? Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “ Dear Abbie: The No...

My private walled-in house is whirling through the high winds. We’re not in Kansas any more. . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “ Dear Abbie: The...

About the first insight: my father had always been quite mysterious to me. I’d gone into philosophy partly to try and understand him. Now at last, it seems, I get what he was . . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edi...

What I fear is taking the real, unmasked me into a wider arena – or trying to. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “ Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column...

.It’s Da King. Not Elvis. The Unconscious is the biggest thing around. Everything – everything you can mention – is under its iron heel. . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal...

When I heard that the American ambassador to Libya had been killed in a surprise attack on an U.S. embassy outpost in Benghazi, I felt it very much, as a wound on the body of our country. We are not collections of atoms in the void. We are made possible by the polities in which we gain the features of our humanity. A man is sent into the field to represent us all abroad. He is murdered there. It’s...

I cannot advise anyone as to whose election to the presidency of the United States would be worse for the future of the republic. About that, I have no special expertise. Personally, my concern is with the chivalry of men and the honor of women. But these are big, nay, vast topics. One way to cash them in for concrete value is, after all, to take up the question: which is worse? Or, to put it anot...

When I focus my mind on the new anti-semitism, I see only evil , sui generis, immemorial, incurable as a human phenomenon and perennially prepared to spring its ambush. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as...

Well, first of all, I’m a pretty literal girl. I never take things metaphorically or symbolically if there’s a literal way to take them. I try not to regard anything as mysterious if there’s a way to take it plain and straight up. As the late Leo Bronstein used to say, the mystery is in the mystification. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City Univers...

I finished a life work. I mean, finished it to my satisfaction. It’s done – as I always hoped it could be. . . . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “...

So what is this end time thing? By the way, don’t get me wrong. I’m just as susceptible to it as the next fella. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “...

Usually, when I write the weekly column for “Dear Abbie,” I’m in a reasonably upbeat state of mind, but I’m moved to write this one by anger and indignation. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks...

“Dear Abbie” was launched a few years back because I knew – having known some women who had it – that   there is an art to being a woman. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal wri...

Usually I wear sunglasses, because I don’t like the real colors of the world. In Downeast, I took them off. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “ Dear...

Why Do We Need Philosophy? Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “ Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column ,”  where she explores the situation of women. She...

Is there a real world? There are those who deny it, and they are not the smallest fry in the ranks of the influential. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column...

As I finished the chapter of Confessions of a Young Philosopher that’s about my years as a graduate student at the Columbia University and Penn State departments of philosophy, a missing piece of that time suddenly reappeared, filling a gap in memory. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at E...

Join us Thursday, March 22 as my podcast will now be weekly on Thursdays only. Thank you so much for listening!

Dear Listeners -my podcast is moving to Thursdays only!  Listen now for the details . Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “ Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice...

We continue with real life conversations with Jessica Cortes,  my friend and creative helper. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks .  Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “ Dear Abbie: The No...

We continue with real life conversations with Jessica Cortes,  my friend and creative helper discussing my upcoming book Confessions of a Young Philosopher. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks ....

Unrehearsed in real life conversations with Jessica Cortes,  my friend and creative helper.  Here’s what goes on off stage when we talk about themes in my upcoming book Confessions of a Young Philosopher. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York.  She is the author of A Good Look at Evil , a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing i...

He didn’t try to prove that God exists. He knows enough to know that enterprise is not a fruitful one. In the sunshine of his own natural faith, we classmates in Torah Study began using the word “God” without the scare quotes, unselfconsciously. Not as a metaphor. As the One you talk to when you pray. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University...