While I was agitating myself about what I should blog about today, I happened in Brian Leiter's blog on a link to "The Harshest Philosopher-on-Philosopher Insults in History". In these terrible times, each of us deserves a few moments of what the Mikado called innocent merriment. I shan't ruin the fun by quoting Harshest Insult Number 1 [in the usual fashion, the thirty insults are listed in reverse order of harshness.] But here is:
12. Karl Popper on Ludwig Wittgenstein“Not to threaten visiting lecturers with pokers.” (On being challenged by a poker-wielding Wittgenstein to produce an example of a moral rule; the discussion degenerated quickly from there.)
I will tell you right now that my favorite, as indeed it should be, is Number 1.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A Commentary on the Passing Scene by Robert Paul Wolff rwolff@afroam.umass.edu
My Stuff
https://umass-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/rwolff_umass_edu/EkxJV79tnlBDol82i7bXs7gBAUHadkylrmLgWbXv2nYq_A?e=UcbbW0
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Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.
Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.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."
Total Pageviews
Search This Blog
Philosopher's Stone
Blog Archive
-
▼
2014
(420)
-
▼
September
(37)
- THREE CHEERS FOR JEREMY BENTHAM
- AN ASTOUNDING DISCOVERY
- MORNING MAUNDERINGS
- NEVER A DULL MOMENT
- WHAT I DO
- ANALYTICAL MARXISM
- MORE ON LANGUAGE AND SOCIAL REALITY
- ONE MORE ATTEMPT
- A REPLY TO DEREK
- REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION
- MY GRANDDAUGHTER
- OFF TO SF
- BRIEF THOUGHTS ON A SLOW DAY
- RESPONSES TO SOME INTERESTING COMMENTS
- HOW DO I TEACH? A REPLY TO LUDWIG RICHTER
- MARX AND JUSTICE -- A REPLY TO CHRIS
- A DECISION
- ECHOES OF THE DISTANT PAST
- GUEST POST BY TONY COUTURE
- CULINARY REFLECTIONS
- THE FURTHER WONDERS OF GOOGLE
- A SHAMELESS PLEA FOR SYMPATHY
- SOME THOUGHTS ON 9/11
- A RESPONSE TO TONY COUTURE
- THANK YOU ALL
- HUM A FEW BARS AND I'LL FAKE IT
- SHEER FUN
- THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS
- THIS ISTHMUS OF A MIDDLE STATE
- MOOCs
- A RESPONSE TO JAMES
- MOOCS
- MYSELF IN FULL MR TOAD MODE, IN RESPONSE TO JAMES
- FASCINATING
- WHAT'S IN A NAME?
- WHO KNEW?
- CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
-
▼
September
(37)
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.
6 comments:
The cat videos were better.
They were certainly great, that's for sure.
Hey, change of subject, what is your take on how to understand Wertgegenständlichkeit?
Good God, Andrew, what on earth is that? It appears to translate as value objectivity, yes? If so, then I'm agin it.
In Capital, volume 1, chapter 1, section 3, it reads "...ihre Wertgegenständlichkeit also rein gesellschaftlich ist...." M&A translates this as "...the value of commodities has a purely social reality...." (p.54) If this is what Marx had in mind, why didn't he just say "Wert"? Fowkes gives "...their objective character as values is therefore purely social." (pp. 138-139) This seems better, since it attempts to figure in both "Wert" and "gegenständlichkeit", but it still leaves me somewhat unclear about what is being said. So, while we were on the subject of snarky metaphysical ripostes and cat videos, not in that order, of course, I figured that it was natural to bring up a question of Marx interpretation. It's always time for Marx, right? So, given that you're about to about to teach Marx again, and you've given a ton of thought to the ontology of the social, I figured that you might have some light to cast on this passage. Is this part of the literary style that Marx needs to forge in order to capture to the unique structure of his object?
Andrew, I actually have a complete and adequate answer to your question, and have spent the better part of two books setting it out, but I do not think I can recap it briefly enough for a blog comment. in this case, Marx is not being ironic. But it is a long story.
Post a Comment