Michael Gillespie, the Duke University Professor whose invitation to speak at an April conference prompted me to write the 25,000 word essay I have just finished posting, has very graciously, and with great good humor, acceded to my curmudgeonly orneriness and relieved me of the necessity of summarizing my essay in a forty-five minute talk. Instead, I shall talk informally about in Defense of Anarchism and answer questions. Later on, I will come back for a conversation about my essay with anyone interested enough to plow through it. All in all, an ideal solution for me, for which I am very grateful.
All my life, each time I have finished a piece of writing, I have been afflicted with the fear that I would never write anything again [a fear that will seem neurotic, to say the least, to those familiar with my seeming incapacity to stop writing.] When I told Susie that I had finished writing and posting the essay, she said, "Now what are you going to do?" She knows me well. The answer is that I have not the foggiest idea.
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A Commentary on the Passing Scene by Robert Paul Wolff rwolff@afroam.umass.edu
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Coming Soon:
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Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.
Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.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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About Me
- Robert Paul Wolff
- As I observed in one of my books, in politics I am an anarchist, in religion I am an atheist, and in economics I am a Marxist. I am also, rather more importantly, a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a violist.
3 comments:
I would say, back to commenting on the passing scene.
I just finished reading a Salon interview with your old acquaintance, Newt Gingrich. I was struck that he can come across as a historical materialist, when he says that a cause of Republican overconfidence in November was "economic determinism". Of course the Republicans have been playing ideology for several decades, and they should know that people very often fail to vote their own exclusive self-interest (or the GOP would only get the votes of the top 5-10%).
Thoughts?
Given your revised Duke topic of talking about in Defense of Anarchism, have you looked at the recent James Scott book, Two Cheers for Anarchism? In an earlier post on Gillespie you mentioned that they'd read some of Scott's earlier work. Admittedly Scott is an anthropologist / political scientist, but going interdisciplinary can often raise philosophical issues. Plus he seems very influential across the social sciences and history.
I have not, I must confess. Sigh. Do you suppose I can get away with just being an old geezer telling stories of his youth?
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