tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post4395143220537257741..comments2024-03-29T03:19:09.227-04:00Comments on The Philosopher's Stone: MEMOIR FIFTH INSTALLMENTRobert Paul Wolffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-74528576824430780582020-06-17T14:32:09.758-04:002020-06-17T14:32:09.758-04:00I was an undergraduate at the College of William a...I was an undergraduate at the College of William and Mary, and in Fall 1974 I took the Kant class from Frank McDonald. He had taken the Kant class from C.I. Lewis. I still have my reading summaries! (However, I have never had occasion to continue the tradition.)<br />BTW, I enjoyed your comparison of Cavell and Rogers Albritton, who was a beloved teacher when I was at UCLA.<br />Thanks!James C. Klaggehttp://jamesklagge.net/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-7139059680879243142010-04-10T08:57:20.598-04:002010-04-10T08:57:20.598-04:00Thank you very much Prof. Wolff!Thank you very much Prof. Wolff!David Pilavinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05936888349199350870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-41089272352198450842010-04-09T18:43:59.635-04:002010-04-09T18:43:59.635-04:00Dear David, the entire reconstructed argument, in ...Dear David, the entire reconstructed argument, in five stages, can be found in my 1963 book, KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, reprinted by Peter B. Smith publishers [originally by Harvard University Press]. feel free to use any or all of it in any way you wish!Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-83359266324837265662010-04-09T18:25:50.809-04:002010-04-09T18:25:50.809-04:00PS - I do not ask for any explanations - just the ...PS - I do not ask for any explanations - just the thesis and the argument (I assume it is not more than 10 stages long?)<br /><br />Thanks again!<br /><br />PPS (I am not doing to use it for any paper without your permission and without due credit)David Pilavinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05936888349199350870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-88813946738800031002010-04-09T18:10:13.403-04:002010-04-09T18:10:13.403-04:00Hi!
I read this post (and some other posts of you...Hi!<br /><br />I read this post (and some other posts of your memoirs) and was fascinated.<br /><br />I was especially interested in your account of the "inner structures" of great works of Philosophy.<br /><br />As a student of Philosophy, I now try to apply this account to works that I am familiar with and see how it works (or rather, see if I could reconstruct on my own the central thesis + the central argument that supports this thesis in those works).<br /><br />You say that there are 3,4 central ideas in Kant's philosphy and approximately the same amount of core arguments.<br /><br />I just wandered if you could please present them here - or, at least, the one argument you presented there, in class - when everybody clapped their hands?<br /><br />If you would do that, I would thank you cordially.<br /><br />Or is it a professional secret?<br /><br /> Yours,<br /><br />DavidDavid Pilavinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05936888349199350870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-66863815973147437752010-04-09T07:40:41.692-04:002010-04-09T07:40:41.692-04:00Beware of Satan quoting scripture!Beware of Satan quoting scripture!Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-23677311858469442692010-04-09T07:39:22.380-04:002010-04-09T07:39:22.380-04:00You said, "I knew I was doing the Lord's ...You said, "I knew I was doing the Lord's work." I thought, "That must be how religions get started---atheists reaching for metaphors!"Tom Cathcarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16136970056480275148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-23436517431095619822010-04-09T04:46:48.601-04:002010-04-09T04:46:48.601-04:00Hi, Tom. I am afraid I do not. But ask me what I...Hi, Tom. I am afraid I do not. But ask me what I did in 1948, and I can recall it vividly! What did I say?Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-58672168619446384022010-04-08T21:09:19.557-04:002010-04-08T21:09:19.557-04:00A few years ago, Bob, I wrote to you and said that...A few years ago, Bob, I wrote to you and said that at age 60-something I had had an epiphany about your use of the Kant summaries. I had remembered your telling us on the first day that anyone in that room could write an A exam criticizing the Critique without ever having understood it (or even read it), and that we were going to do something very different--we were going to learn what Kant actually said! What a radical idea! Well, like you, I found it the most challenging thing I did in my college career. My epiphany was that you had to READ twenty-something of them twice a week and read them closely enough to evaluate our efforts. I remember writing to you that I was too ignorant to thank you then, but that I wanted to thank you now. Do you remember how you responded?<br />Tom CathcartTom Cathcarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16136970056480275148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-75890241898063667022010-04-08T18:09:52.139-04:002010-04-08T18:09:52.139-04:00Thanks, Aaron. Wait 'til I get to my stories ...Thanks, Aaron. Wait 'til I get to my stories about BU!Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-76159274219671779222010-04-08T17:58:04.590-04:002010-04-08T17:58:04.590-04:00Fantastic stuff!Fantastic stuff!Aaron Garretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02351706799277217761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-50387304144607774792010-04-08T11:28:34.445-04:002010-04-08T11:28:34.445-04:00An interesting set of characters indeed, but I do ...An interesting set of characters indeed, but I do long for some dialogue! Department meetings are a rich source of blah-blah-blah, sometimes amazingly funny.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06338078632530539703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-5193511898423169492010-04-08T10:51:56.655-04:002010-04-08T10:51:56.655-04:00The previous chapters of the Memoir are full of re...The previous chapters of the Memoir are full of reminiscences. And countless more to come. <br /><br />Bryan: The Kant summary system, briefly, is this: For each forty to sixty page reading assignment, students are required to write a section by section, in some cases paragraph by paragraph summary of the text -- not commenting on it, or criticizing it, or comparing ot to what other philosophers have said, just summarizing it. Along the right hand margin one puts the pagination in the first [A] or second [B] edition of the Critique. The summary is to be six or seven pages long. Not longer, not shorter. This length is chosen with devilish precision. Shorter, and you can leave out too much. Longer, and you don't have to master the argument well enough to compress it successfully. Each summary took me perhaps twenty hours to do, and was far and away the hardest assignment I ever received in a philosophy course.Robert Paul Wolffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11970360952872431856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-79464842353839017132010-04-08T09:46:29.614-04:002010-04-08T09:46:29.614-04:00Followed the link from Leiter yesterday. Already,...Followed the link from Leiter yesterday. Already, I am addicted and have bookmarked your site. A treasure. May I ask: are there a lot of reminiscences in your posts of past years?Mohan Matthenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18412367867949250445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687347459208158501.post-21823431809461639302010-04-08T08:20:49.338-04:002010-04-08T08:20:49.338-04:00Wonderful post, thanks for this. What's the &q...Wonderful post, thanks for this. What's the "Kant summary system"?Bryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07379669532781325751noreply@blogger.com