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 with God, a historical partnership grounded in consent, responsibility, and the preservation of lived experience. Amanda draws an unexpected connection to Abigail's own experiences as a young woman in Paris, where romantic expectations and sexual innocence raised difficult questions about what genuine consent means.

Their conversation challenges the idea that women's freedom can be understood apart from the physical and social realities of female life. Abigail reflects on sexuality, pregnancy, the expectations placed on women, and the vulnerability that persists even when society insists that women are as free and invulnerable as men.

The discussion also returns to Jewish history, the meaning of being a chosen people, and the troubling persistence of antisemitism in the modern world.

Through personal experience and philosophical reflection, Abigail and Amanda ask what it means to recognize vulnerability without surrendering freedom, and to face the realities of life without denying them.

Read Confessions of a Young Philosopher by Abigail L. Rosenthal:
https://a.co/d/1ypibqo

***

Join the discussion and explore a life lived philosophically.

Get the book, Confessions of a Young Philosopher: https://a.co/d/1ypibqo

Explore more about Confessions of a Young Philosopher.

Dr. Abigail L. Rosenthal is a distinguished philosopher, educator and author of Confessions of a Young Philosopher, (following the tradition of Augustine and Rousseau, but from a woman’s perspective, with illustrations) and of A Good Look At Evil, Pulitzer-nominated.

Through her platform, Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column, Abigail engages her audience with thought-provoking blogs and podcasts, discussing among other things the fascinating intricacies of women’s lives and shedding light on contemporary experience. Her philosophical and other articles span a wide range of topics which can be found in academia. She is also the editor of The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes’s Secret; Spinoza’s Way by Henry M. Rosenthal, her late father.

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, followed by reflections and conversations exploring the experiences, choices, and questions that shape women’s lives.

In this opening episode, Abigail remembers Paris as a place where romance and sexuality were everywhere: lovers in the Métro, mirrors in shop windows, advice about how a woman should look, and the expectation that romantic life would eventually become sexual.

She also reflects on the stories that shaped her idea of love, especially Tristan and Isolde and the coup de foudre, the sudden lightning strike of romantic passion.

At the time, Abigail was still a virgin and had very little experience of romantic life. Looking back, she can see the difference between what she believed about love and what she was about to learn about desire, sex, reputation, and the realities facing a young woman of her generation.

The series begins with the romantic initiation at the opening of Confessions of a Young Philosopher and the experience of becoming a woman before fully knowing what womanhood will ask of you.

Read Confessions of a Young Philosopher by Abigail L. Rosenthal:
https://a.co/d/1ypibqo

***

Join the discussion and explore a life lived philosophically.

Get the book, Confessions of a Young Philosopher: https://a.co/d/1ypibqo

Explore more about Confessions of a Young Philosopher.

Dr. Abigail L. Rosenthal is a distinguished philosopher, educator and author of Confessions of a Young Philosopher, (following the tradition of Augustine and Rousseau, but from a woman’s perspective, with illustrations) and of A Good Look At Evil, Pulitzer-nominated.

Through her platform, Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column, Abigail engages her audience with thought-provoking blogs and podcasts, discussing among other things the fascinating intricacies of women’s lives and shedding light on contemporary experience. Her philosophical and other articles span a wide range of topics which can be found in academia. She is also the editor of The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes’s Secret; Spinoza’s Way by Henry M. Rosenthal, her late father.

Read Confessions of a Young Philosopher by Abigail L. Rosenthal:
https://a.co/d/1ypibqo

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 manipulation, isolation, and a dangerous loss of contact with reality. Jerry considers the strange power of such illusions and what becomes of a person who has surrendered her own judgment.

Abbie's recovery owed much to the extraordinary wisdom of her mother. She knew how to help without encouraging the fantasies that had brought her daughter to grief. Her love was grounded in an understanding of people as they actually are, with their weaknesses, capacities, and possibilities.

She offered Abbie the hope of a "saner happiness," one rooted in real relationships and the ordinary business of living.

The experience brought into sharper focus what Abbie calls "passionate history." A human life cannot be exchanged for some imagined, more perfect existence. It must be lived in its own time, with its disappointments, obligations, and unforeseen opportunities.

Political, religious, and philosophical illusions may promise escape from that difficulty. But what happens when the promised transcendence proves to be another way of refusing to face the truth?

Abbie came to believe that her ordeal had prepared her for something. Having experienced the consequences of one elaborate illusion, she could recognize similar promises taking hold in the wider culture. What had nearly destroyed her gave her a kind of knowledge she would later find herself called upon to use.

"The life you were given is your task in the world, and mending it or facing into it is part of the deal."

In this concluding conversation, Abbie and Jerry consider the demands of living honestly, the difference between genuine love and comforting illusion, and what painful experience may teach us about the life we have been given.

Get the book: https://a.co/d/1ypibqo

Explore Confessions of a Young Philosopher: https://dearabbie-nonadvice.com/confessions-of-a-young-philosopher-2/

Join the discussion and explore a life lived philosophically.

Dr. Abigail L. Rosenthal is a distinguished philosopher, educator and author of Confessions of a Young Philosopher, (following the tradition of Augustine and Rousseau, but from a woman’s perspective, with illustrations) and of A Good Look At Evil, Pulitzer-nominated.

Through her platform, Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column, Abigail engages her audience with thought-provoking blogs and podcasts, discussing among other things the fascinating intricacies of women’s lives and shedding light on contemporary experience. Her philosophical and other articles span a wide range of topics which can be found in academia. She is also the editor of The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes’s Secret; Spinoza’s Way by Henry M. Rosenthal, her late father.