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The following books by Robert Paul Wolff are available on Amazon.com as e-books: KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, THE AUTONOMY OF REASON, UNDERSTANDING MARX, UNDERSTANDING RAWLS, THE POVERTY OF LIBERALISM, A LIFE IN THE ACADEMY, MONEYBAGS MUST BE SO LUCKY, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.
Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for "Robert Paul Wolff Kant." There they will be.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON THE THOUGHT OF KARL MARX. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for Robert Paul Wolff Marx."





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Thursday, April 8, 2010

TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE

My morning walk, which is roughly four miles long, takes me at one point on a mile long uphill grind to a street called "Country Club Road." [Chapel Hill didn't get its name for nothing.] As I was starting up the hill, a tall young man fell in behind me from an adjoining street. He was ambling along, a water bottle dangling from his right hand and a back pack perched on his shoulders. I charged ahead, doing my maximum four miles an hour, until I got to the top of the hill. As I turned around to begin the second half of the walk, there he was, still ambling along, still about fifteen feet behind me. "Good grief," I thought, "I have been giving it all I have, while he has been loafing along, and I haven't gained a foot on him." But then I consolled myself with the fact that he was probably fifty years younger than I am. I was reminded of some advice from my forty year old son, Tobias Barrington Wolff [who is in the best shape of any forty year old man I have ever seen]. I was bemoaning the fact that at the gym, I soldiered on, walking on the treadmill, while next to me there would be someone running at twice my speed. "Dad," he said, "you have to just do your personal best and not pay attention to what anyone else is doing." As usual, I do better when I listen to my sons.

2 comments:

ajrosa said...

If it's worth anything, I still envy your ability to swim 100 laps every morning. You have me beat by about 80 laps. The shame!!

Robert Paul Wolff said...

Alas, not 100, but keep at it, Andrew! When are you coming East to say hello?