Philosophy 454
Karl Marx's Critique of CapitalismSpring 2015
Instructor: Robert Paul Wolff
Wednesdays 1:00 - 3:30 p.m.
I. Brief
Course Description: An integrated
economic, historical, philosophical, sociological, and literary interpretation
of Volume One of Capital by Karl
Marx.
2. Required
Reading
a) Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I, translated by Aveling
and Moore, Dover Publications:
ISBN-10: 0486477487ISBN-13: 978-0486477480
[There are other translations, but I shall be referring repeatedly by page to this one, so I urge you to use it.]
ISBN-13: 978-0140150964
c) Robert Paul Wolff, Understanding Marx, Princeton University
Press
Kindle edition,
available from Amazon.com
d) Robert Paul Wolff, Moneybags Must Be So Lucky, University
of Massachusetts Press
Kindle edition,
available from Amazon.com
3. Suggested Reading
a) Robert Paul
Wolff "The Future of Socialism" available online, but also to be distributed.
b) Robert Paul Wolff "A Critique and Reconstruction of
Marx's Labor Theory of Value" available on line, but also to be distributed. As this essay contains some difficult
mathematics, it is not absolutely required reading.
Bring your copies of the assigned readings
to class, as I shall on occasion be referring to specific passages.
3. Required Written Work
a) A ten page paper, due
in class on Wednesday, March 4, 2015
b) A fifteen to twenty
page paper due in class on the day set by the university for the final
examination.
Papers must be submitted in hard copy [out of respect for the
Instructor's great age.] There may be
brief technical problem sets from time to time as seems appropriate. They will not affect a student's final grade
and may be completed cooperatively with other students [or anyone else, for
that matter.]
4. Contact Information
My e-mail address is rwolff@afroam.umass.edu. I also have a UNC e-mail address, but I never check it, so don't use it.
My blog is at www.robertpaulwolff.blogspot.com Accessible via the blog is my box.net archive where you will find the two essays cited above and much, much more. Feel free to visit and to comment.
As I am only teaching this one course, I shall not be holding regular office hours, but I would be delighted to meet with you at our mutual convenience for any purpose whatsoever. Just speak to me in class and set up a meeting or e-mail or call me.
5. General Class Information
Auditors are
welcome, and are invited to participate in the class, so long as registered
students have first crack at questions and comments. Do not be intimidated by my apparent
inability to stop talking. I welcome
questions, comments, arguments, and the like.
6. Important Notice
Everything having to do with Karl Marx is highly controversial in the world in which we live. As you might imagine, I have very strong views about Marx. Otherwise I would not have written two books and a number of articles about him.
BUT YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO LIKE MARX, TO
AGREE WITH HIM ABOUT ANYTHING, OR TO AGREE WITH ME ABOUT ANYTHING. YOU ARE ONLY REQUIRED TO DO THE READING, COME
TO CLASS, AND TAKE MARX SERIOUSLY ENOUGH TO COMMIT A SEMESTER TO FINDING OUT
WHAT HE HAD TO SAY.
Week by Week Schedule of Reading Assignments.
It is essential to the
success of the course that everyone complete the reading assigned BEFORE the
session indicated.
January 7: Introduction
to the course. No assigned reading,
obviously.
January 14: Kamenka,
pp. 131-146; pp. 203-241January 21: The same, continued. Begin reading Understanding Marx
January 28: Understanding Marx, pp. 3-88
February 4: The same, continued.
February 11: Capital, Chapter One, and Moneybags Must Be So Lucky
February 18: The same, continued.
February 25: Capital, pp. 84-176
March 4: Capital, pp. 177-304
March 18: Understanding Marx, pp. 89-178
March 25: Capital, pp. 179-335
April 1: Capital, pp. 336-507
April 8: Capital, pp. 508-648
April 15: Capital, pp. 649 -- 774
April 22: "Critique and Reconstruction of Marx's Labor Theory of Value."
6 comments:
I very much appreciate your sharing this with us, but (as I believe was noted once recently when you went to Paris) you may want to redact your home phone and re-post the syllabus.
To work, it needs the distraction of a long buildup. It’s something like this: Moishe notices, while walking around with his friend Pincus, that Pincus is getting a lot of greetings from practically everyone they pass. "How come?” he asks Pincus. Pincus replies, “ahh, everyone knows me.” Moishe doubts this, but suddenly notices that at shul the same thing happens. This all begins to grate on Moishe. So, one day he says to Pincus, let’s vacation in Europe together, we’ll go to London, Paris, Rome. Off they go, and to Moishe’s annoyance the pilot comes out to greet Pincus, the Parisian cabdriver fusses over him, etc. They get Rome and St. Peter’s Square and Moishe notices that Pincus is gone. As he looks up and sees the Pope and another person on the balcony, the Italian next to gives him a nudge and says “Say, who’s that on the balcony next to Pincus?"
You might want to redact the home phone number. Here's an idea (inspired by The Wire): get a "burner" phone.
Was that once meant as a joke about the pill?
Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Goodwin_Pincus
No.
Maybe Pincus, the tailor.... After meeting the pope, he's asked, "So, Pincus, what kind of a man is the Pope?" The reply, "About a 44 regular."
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