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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Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.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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Saturday, May 2, 2020

NOTED WITHOUT COMMENT


Some years ago I developed an extremely painful condition called polymyalgia rheumatica.  My doctor diagnosed it, prescribed 20 milligrams a day of a medication called prednisone, and in 48 hours I was pain free.  I then went on a very slow declining dosage, the process lasting more than a year, until I reached a point at which I was taking 2 milligrams a day, something I have been doing for years now.  This morning, out of idle curiosity, I went on line to see whether there are any bad side effects of prednisone.  Naturally I came up with a very long list, but one stood out from all the rest:

Inappropriate happiness.

14 comments:

jgkess@cfl.rr.com said...

When is sustainable happiness inappropriate? Now there's a philosopher's question.

Unknown said...

when Hume lectures starting?

Robert Paul Wolff said...

Term papers are still dribbling in. It will be several weeks.

Michael said...

"When is sustainable happiness inappropriate? Now there's a philosopher's question."

I read this comment quickly and almost failed to notice the "in-". I think that says something troubling about the literary company I keep. :)

jgkess@cfl.rr.com said...

Michael, Suppose a sustainable happiness appropriate, as, say, in the case of a terminal cancer patient on morphine. That you cannot conceive of a case of inappropriate sustainable happiness tells me almost as much about your lack of imagination as your lack of logic. By the way, my error if error it were, would have been grammatical not "literary". Ahhh, the company we keep.

Michael said...

I'll thank you to dial back the needless condescension, chief. Your grammar is fine. That was just a humor fail on my part, geez. What I meant to jokingly convey was the fact that I spend an excessive amount of time with pessimistic literature. My literary company (i.e., the authors of the books I read, not you; again, your grammar is fine) have accustomed me to expect the question as, "When is happiness appropriate?" (I.e., "When does happiness not rest on irrationality or illusion?") I was poking fun at the pessimists and at myself, because the suggestion that happiness is never appropriate strikes one as sad and almost comically eccentric.

Ira said...

Reading this made me inappropriately happy too! Stumbled across your lectures on Kant, I am 17 and reading Kant in German so your lectures have been an incredible assistance, both invigorating and informative. Greetings from Austria!

Robert Paul Wolff said...

Welcome Ira, and stay safe!

Christopher J. Mulvaney, Ph.D. said...

I suppose we would have to ask Suzie if you "suffered" from that side effect. Should we assume that sustainable happiness is, in fact, drug related?

LFC said...

Fwiw, I understood Michael's comment as he intended it the first time around. To me it was crystal clear that "the literary company I keep" was a reference to the (pessimistic) authors he reads.

Anonymous said...

I always thought that for a marxist, you were irrationally exuberant.

Christopher J. Mulvaney, Ph.D. said...

Anonymous,
"Exuberance is Beauty" William Blake

jgkess@cfl.rr.com said...

Michael, I think I get your point. This pandemic is driving me to all sorts of vices---intemperance being one of them. The others I don't so much mind.

Michael said...

Same here, my friend. (I've upgraded you from "chief," hehe.) No worries, I appreciate it. Stay safe.