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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Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.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 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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Tuesday, March 22, 2016

VANITAS VANITATUM, OMNIA VANITAS

I just returned from having a test called a "stress echocardiogram." [Nothing wrong with me, I am happy to report.]  They wire you up, do a cardiogram, then have you walk on a treadmill until [for someone my age] your heart rate rises to 117.  Then they do another cardiogram.  The technician had to crank the speed and elevation of the treadmill way up make my heart rate hit 117, because, she said, I am in such good shape.  I preened.

It is to such petty triumphs as this that men my age sink!  In my youth I could press straightlegged into a handstand.  

Vanitas vanitatum, saith Ecclesiastes, omnia vanitas.

2 comments:

TheDudeDiogenes said...

Marvelous news - cheers Professor (I'm pouring myself another whiskey to toast your health)!

s. wallerstein said...

Congratulations on your fitness.

I, who used to jog up the subway stairs, now slowly labor up them with my hand on the bannister to avoid falling, with a mob of impatient young people pressing me to hurry up, barely concealing their desire to trample me, a useless obstacle to their energy. I reach the top of the stairs out of breath, but somehow pleasantly surprised that I'm still able to climb them.