This a strange time politically. It feels oddly unsettled, fractured,
uncertain. The report of a second
meeting with Don Jr., this one with representatives of countries other than
Russia, gives the feeling of an investigation that is metastasizing. Recent Democratic Party primaries suggest
that at the moment the party is moving to the left, which I welcome, despite the
risk it poses in the November elections.
Inasmuch as turnout is everything in the midterms, this may be a conjuncture
when the left can make real gains.
Meanwhile, as I prepare for my last Plato class, I am struck
again and again by how extraordinary it is that the Gorgias, one of the most topically current of Plato’s dialogues,
was written two thousand four hundred years ago.
As soon as the course is ended, I must prepare my Marx
lecture for Brussels [or actually Gent – the location has been moved.] Like Gorgias himself, I will travel to any
city state where there are a few gathered to hear me orate.
Professor Wolff:
ReplyDeleteAnother way of putting our present moment in economics talk, which you may dislike, is dynamic disequilibrium.
I'd care to hear, which point in American history, recent world history or world history in general, our age calls to mind, so that the best outcome may come to pass?
I've been reading Gore Vidal essays today from the '80s and '90s. I'm not sure these times are much stranger than then. To my mind, Trump is of course a buffoon, but I fear that we won't acknowledge that his most severe lapse is the fact that he embarrasses us more than past Presidents. (All of our Presidents embarrass us, or ought to.) So, is it really such a strange political time?
ReplyDeletetotally off topic (except perhaps for "strange times", depending on what the answer is) but do you know about either of these books: https://www.librarything.com/work/21408665
ReplyDeletehttps://www.librarything.com/work/21408672
(I use this "library thing" site to keep track of my books, [my library is here, for anyone interested: https://www.librarything.com/profile/MLister ] and happened to notice these "collected papers" volumes of yours, or maybe "yours" - I wondered if perhaps someone was making print on demand versions of your papers that are posted on-line, but can't tell for sure. I suppose there's not necessarily any harm - if it gets one's ideas more widely disseminated, it might even be good, assuming you're not missing out on owed royalties - but still, it's an odd thing, and I wanted to make sure you knew about it. I have no idea where "volume I" is, though.)
Matt, I did those four volumes some while ago. They are collections, arranged by topic, of my published and unpublished papers.
ReplyDeleteThanks - I wasn't sure if someone was "collecting" the works, since I couldn't find anything about them from the site. I'm glad to know they are authorized!
ReplyDeleteThis a strange time politically.
ReplyDelete