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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Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.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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Monday, December 7, 2015

SAD CORRECTION

Several folks have commented that I wildly underestimated the number of gun-related deaths in the  United States.  A quick check at several sites, such as this one, indicates that they are right.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

“How ought we to evaluate the relative importance of social phenomena whose magnitudes vary greatly?” A good question. It often doesn’t really make much sense. There is a very funny segment of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” that illustrates this. Larry is talking to a rabbi in the rabbi’s office and notices a picture on his desk. The rabbi says, “That’s so-and-so [I forget the name], he died on 9/11.” Larry says, in shock, “Oh, that’s so awful…he was in one of the buildings?” The rabbi replies, “No, no, it was a bicycle courier. Hit by a courier on 57th street. On 9/11.” Larry says, “A courier? Uptown? Oh, so he wasn’t really…you know…I mean…he wasn’t actually killed by the terrorists…” The conversation degenerates from there as the rabbi insists, ever more emotionally, on the tragedy of his friend’s death, and Larry, in his literal way, won’t let go of the fact that the rabbi's friend did not REALLY die in the Twin Towers. The rabbi actually has a point. But the situation is funny because it runs counter to our conventional thinking. For, although none of us would dispute the idea that every life matters, a kind of “terrible beauty is born,” that we respect, when large numbers of people die at once, due to a single catastrophe. And when it is intentional, as in the case of the act of a deranged person or a politically motivated terrorist, the ante is raised. Ditto when the victims are “white” and the perpetrators are “dark,” or when it happens in a place where white people live, like France or the US. Large numbers of people like us, killed in our midst, by people not like us: now there’s a recipe for memorials and a strong reaction.

December 7, 2015 at 9:44 PM
Robert Paul Wolff said...

I think this is an accurate and suggestive descriptionm of how we actually think. I am interested in whether it makes any sense to think that way.

December 8, 2015 at 11:21 AM

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