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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Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.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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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

FURTHER COMMENT ON THE PUZZLE

The real mathematical answer, of course, is that every answer is correct!  Any finite string of integers is compatible with an infinite number of next integers, each one according to some formula or other.  That is the thing about these questions on intelligence exams that always bugged me, sixty-five years ago when I was still taking them.  IQ tests were all the rage when I was in grade school.  Natie Gold scored 169, which was supposed to mean that he was a genius.  The cleverest thing I ever saw him do was rig a cigarette lighter on the end of a water pistol and fill the water pistol with lighter fluid, making the whole contraption a quite acceptable handheld flame thrower.  He was a chubby little kid.  I wonder what ever happened to him.  P. S. 117, back in the middle '40s.  I don't suppose anyone reading this knows.

1 comment:

Marinus said...

That's right, of course, but nobody seems to appreciate it when I give them answers like that. Reminds me of Donald Davidson saying that 'every simile is true'. That seems correct, even profound, though distinctly unhelpful.