Dear Abbie - The Non-Advice Podcast
I would like this podcast to start a conversation with women of all ages, convictions and styles of life – wherever situated on the gamut of experience. In principle, there is no bar to men joining in, since how one defines women has a lot to do with what it means to be a man. But it is women I invite to pull up a chair at this virtual café table and put their questions and views into the conversation. 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,” (www.dearabbie-nonadvice.com) where she explores the situation of women. She thinks women’s lives are highly interesting. She’s the editor of The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes’s Secret; Spinoza’s Way by her father, Henry M. Rosenthal. She’s written numerous articles that can be accessed at Academia.edu .
Episodes
What does it really mean for a woman to be free? And how can we understand consent when we don't yet know what we're consenting to?
In this episode of Women Reading Confessions, philosopher Abigail L. Rosenthal and Amanda Horgan explore the relationship between consent, female vulnerability, and the realities of living in a woman's body.
Reading from Confessions of a Young Philosopher, Abigail begins with the Jewish people's covenant...
Abigail arrives in Paris at a point in a young romantic woman’s life when love comes before experience.
In the new podcast series Women Reading Confessions, philosopher and author Abigail L. Rosenthal and Amanda Horgan explore Confessions of a Young Philosopher, Abigail’s memoir of love, philosophy, womanhood, faith, and the search for a truthful life.
Each episode begins with Abigail reading an excerpt from her memoir, f...
In the final episode of Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, philosophers Abigail L. Rosenthal and Jerry L. Martin conclude their discussion of Confessions of a Young Philosopher with a question that has followed Abbie throughout her story: How does one return to reality after having been persuaded to abandon it?
Suzanne's increasingly delusional worldview had promised a higher understanding of life. Instead, it led to manipula...
What happens when an ideology offers certainty at the cost of reality?
In Part 4.2 of Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, Abigail L. Rosenthal and Jerry L. Martin continue their discussion of Confessions of a Young Philosopher and the danger of replacing lived experience with a ready-made system of belief.
Abigail returns to her relationship in Paris, where even love could become formulaic when experience was filtered through i...
Why does antisemitism keep returning?
In this episode of Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, Abigail L. Rosenthal and Jerry L. Martin begin Part Four, the Aftermath and final section of Confessions of a Young Philosopher, with Abigail’s idea of “passionate history.”
The conversation begins with Abigail seeing her former Paris lover years later and finding that he had developed strong antisemitic views. From th...
The strange world Abigail entered under Suzanne’s influence has reached its breaking point. Letters are being sent in Abigail’s name, passports and ordinary conventions have lost their authority, and the Gnostic system that once promised access to a higher truth is carrying her farther from the ground beneath her feet.
In this concluding episode of Part Three of Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, Abigail Rosenthal...
Abigail L Rosenthal thought she had entered a philosophical thought experiment. Now she is forced to consider something far more disturbing: whether her relationship with Suzanne has become a form of brainwashing.
In this episode of Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, Abigail L Rosenthal and Jerry L. Martin continue their discussion of Gnosticism, spiritual power, and the strange hold Suzanne has gained over Abbie's life. Abbi...
Abigail L. Rosenthal is searching for a way out of a life that no longer seems to be working. Then she meets Suzanne.
Suzanne speaks with unusual authority. She wants to be perfect. She calls herself a Gnostic Christian. She seems able to move through difficult situations without fear, without losing her femininity, and without accepting the limits that govern everyone else.
Abigail is skeptical, but she is also fascinated. Suzanne a...
What happens when the ideas that once gave your life direction no longer seem to work?
In this episode, Abigail L. Rosenthal and Jerry L. Martin explore the meaning of intelligent hope as Abigail reaches a breaking point in her philosophical and personal life. After years of trying to reconcile femininity, philosophy, love, and truth, she leaves for England with many of her earlier hopes exhausted.
Their conversation turns to the dif...
Can a woman be feminine and a philosopher?
Abigail L. Rosenthal and Jerry L. Martin explore the tension between femininity and intellectual life, drawing on Abigail’s experience as a philosophy student at Penn State during a time when philosophy was often treated as a distinctly masculine pursuit.
Abigail recalls being told that if she wanted to make real progress in philosophy, she would have to give up or even “destroy&...
What happens when living by your ideals becomes dangerous?
In this episode of Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, Abigail L. Rosenthal and Jerry L. Martin continue their discussion of Confessions of a Young Philosopher with the stories of John Armstrong and Anna.
John was a fellow Fulbright student in Paris who wanted to test whether his ideals of courage, honor, and integrity could survive in the real world. His decision to tr...
In this episode of Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, Jerry L. Martin and Abigail L. Rosenthal continue their conversation about the aftermath of Abigail’s first love and the complicated truth she carried home from Paris.
Abigail reflects on heartbreak, secrecy, the loss of innocence, and why telling the truth can sometimes distort an experience rather than preserve it.
The conversation explores romantic disappoint...
What does it mean to be one of God’s chosen people, and why does the Jewish covenant carry both honor and an impossible burden?
In this episode of Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, philosophers Jerry L. Martin and Abigail L. Rosenthal explore “Of the Impossible Position of the Jews,” the opening chapter of Part Two of Abigail’s book, Confessions of a Young Philosopher.
Jerry and Abigail discuss the mea...
What does desire reveal about the difference between men and women?
In this episode, married philosophers Abigail L. Rosenthal and Jerry L. Martin return to a striking passage from Confessions of a Young Philosopher: “My heavy head of hair bent under his dominion.”
The word dominion is deliberate. Abigail does not mean cruelty, degradation, or the loss of freedom. She means the peculiar power of eros: the experience of be...
After her violating experience with Phidias leaves Abigail frightened, heartbroken, and facing the possibility of pregnancy, she turns to her friend Harper.
Instead of judgment, Harper gives Abigail the gift of recognition. Understanding more than Abigail expects, she offers practical help, kindness, and what Abigail later calls “that pearl without price”: feminine solidarity.
In this episode of Married Philosophers Discu...
In Part 1.3 of Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, Abigail L. Rosenthal and Jerry L. Martin continue their conversation on Part One of Confessions of a Young Philosopher.
After her innocence has been taken through seduction and manipulation, Abigail confronts a more difficult truth: beneath the violation, there may also have been something like love. Looking back on her first romantic relationship, she reflects on the authorit...
In Part 1.2 of Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, Abigail L. Rosenthal and Jerry L. Martin continue their conversation on Part One of Confessions of a Young Philosopher.
In Paris, a café conversation between two young philosophy students turns suddenly from politics to love. What begins as argument and intellectual sparring becomes Abigail’s first romantic encounter, forcing her to confront not only desire, but innocenc...
What does it mean to be desired—and what happens if you are not?
In Part One of Confessions of a Young Philosopher, Abigail L. Rosenthal arrives in Paris on a Fulbright fellowship and encounters a culture that seems to make space for romantic love in a way that 1950s America did not. Along the Seine, in the cafés, and throughout the Latin Quarter, she observes a world shaped by different assumptions about love, desire, and the...
What do you carry with you when you leave home for the first time?
In Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, philosophers Jerry L. Martin and Abigail L. Rosenthal revisit Abigail's memoir, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, chapter by chapter.
Married for decades, they look back together on the experiences, relationships, ideas, and historical events that shaped the young woman Abigail once was, and the life she would event...
In this deeply personal and spiritually rich episode, philosopher Jerry L. Martin is joined by Abigail L. Rosenthal on his podcast God An Autobiography for an intimate conversation about divine encounters, spiritual awakening, and what it means to experience a radically personal God.
Drawing from Jerry’s new book Radically Personal: God and Ourselves in the New Axial Age, the discussion explores how spiritual truth is no...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
DISGRACELAND is an award-winning music and true crime podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. Jerry Lee Lewis's 5th wife? Dead. Sid and Nancy? Both dead. Why? Because musicians are insane, and insane things happen to them. Why did we lose Amy Winehouse at 27? Was Debbie Harry really abducted by Ted Bundy as she claims? Is Patti Smith not just the "Godmother of Punk", but also the "Original True Crime Girl"? What really happened the night of the Jay Z nightclub stabbing? What do the Diddy indictments truly reveal? All these stories and more, on artists from every genre and their true crimes, in our massive 260-plus story archive. The Dead, the Stones, Johnny, Willie, Frank, Kurt, Courtney, Gaga, Lana, Taylor, and too many to name. DISGRACELAND is music history come to life through audio storytelling as you've never heard it before, with revealing facts: yes, assassins are the real reason the Beatles quit touring—reclaimed myths: no, Mama Cass didn't die from choking on a ham sandwich––and constant reckoning between art and artist––all told through the lens of true crime. This is the podcast for the self-proclaimed "Disgos", the musically obsessed and the true crime heads; the outsiders, the independent thinkers who know that the best history is the history that gets buried. DISGRACELAND is where host Jake Brennan tells the stories they didn't want told. The kind you'll end up telling someone else. Get ready to uncover hidden truths and buckle up for truly edge-of-your-seat storytelling. New, fully scripted, sound-designed episodes are released every Tuesday. Bonus chat-style episodes where Jake responds to voicemails, texts, and emails from Disgos hit on Thursdays, and "Rewind" episodes from our archive drop on Sundays. DISGRACELAND is not a journalistic podcast. It's an entertainment podcast inspired by true events. Certain dialogue and scenes are dramatized, as is common in scripted entertainment based on real stories. Sources and credits for each episode are available at www.disgracelandpod.com. To unlock ad-free listening, exclusive content, and connect with your fellow Disgos, go to www.disgracelandpod.com to become an All Access member. Rocka Rolla.