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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Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.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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Friday, November 22, 2019

THE WAY THE MIND WORKS

Well, it took less than 24 hours for you folks to sort out my confusion.  It was Theda Skocpol.  So what happened to me?  Well, it is very complicated.  The story starts in 1958, when I had just come out of my 6 months of active duty in the Mass National Guard and was on fellowship while living in Cambridge.  I attended a seminar taught by  a Big Deal Harvard Government Department Professor who was a horse's ass:  William Yandall Elliott.  Also attending the seminar was a ferociously bright and sharp-edged young woman who was, as I recall, an Asst Prof in the Government Department.  One day she ripped Elliott apart.

Step One:  I confused her in my mind with Theda Skocpol.  

Step Two:  I had met and become very close to Barrington Moore, Jr. [he was the godfather of my younger son, Tobias Barrington Wolff.]

 Step Three:  Somewhere, I became acquainted with the work of Seyla Benhabib.

Step four;  Since I had Skocpol placed in the late 50s in my mind, I knew she could not be the person Todd had told me about, so I mis-remembered Benhabib as Skocpol [who was, in fact, Barry's student], and thought Benhabib was Barry's student [not possible, since she got her doctorate at Yale.]

A total clusterf--k attributable, alas, to a series of Senior Moments.

Now, about the time I had tea with John Stuart Mill ...

3 comments:

LFC said...

Which clears everything up, except: Who was the young (or relatively young) woman at that seminar you attended in the late '50s who "ripped apart" William Yandell Elliott?

My guess would be: (the late) Judith Shklar.

Robert Paul Wolff said...

Bravo!! Just after I remembered and posted it, I read your comment. Well done!!!

LFC said...

thanks