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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Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.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, February 20, 2023

ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH

I am mostly better from the terrible headaches and eye infection that have afflicted me – it takes longer to recover when one is this old. Today I give the first of six two-hour non-credit lectures in the UNC philosophy department on the use and abuse of formal methods in political philosophy. I hope somebody shows up.


In preparation for these lectures, I did something I have not done in three years: I went to an actual hair salon and had an actual hair cut. Ever since the pandemic hit I have been using an attachment on my beard trimmer to give myself haircuts and although I have managed to avoid looking totally shambolic, they have not really been very good haircuts, but now I look about as good as I have ever will.


I have arranged for the lectures to be videotaped and put on YouTube so eventually anyone who wants to watch them will be able to.


Wish me luck.

10 comments:

Steve Gerrard said...

Break a leg (as they say). I bet you look good!

Marc Susselman said...

I did not have my hair cut professionally for some three years. I cut it myself using a mirror and barber shears. I thought it looked pretty good, but my wife thought I looked like a disheveled hippie panhandler. So, the day before my jury trial was to begin last Wednesday, as a Valentine’s Day gift to my wife, I had my hair cut professionally (plus my standard dozen roses). It made a world of difference, and my wife said she had her prince back. (Although I will never know if it had any effect on the jury, since given the judge’s evidentiary ruling pulling my rug out from under me, the jury never got to hear my opening statement.)

Good luck on your upcoming lectures. I am looking forward to watching them on you tube.

s. wallerstein said...

Happy to see that you've recovered.

It's nice to hear that your lectures will be posted on You Tube.

aaall said...

Good to hear from you, looking forward to the lectures! Been cutting my hair with barber scissors since the early 1980s. Last paid for a haircut in the mid 1970s.

Stephen Hemingway said...

I am another old guy who finally gave in to his wife and got a professional haircut after three years. I was perfectly happy with the homemade haircuts but I must admit that I do look better now. And I got a senior discount!

s. wallerstein said...

There were a few months at the beginning of the pandemic where all the haircut places were not allowed to open, although some did anyway.

After that period ended, I looked around at the places near me. The guy who usually cut my hair, a young cool rocker, had his mask slipping off his nose, but I noticed a woman nearby not only with a mask on, but also with a surgical gown and I went to her place. She was neurotically hygenic and that was exactly what I wanted.

I've gone to her since. I still wear a mask, although she doesn't anymore. She's very rightwing (as are most small business owners), but mask wearing isn't related to politics here in Chile. Conversing with her about politics is a welcome escape from my ideological bubble in any case.

Anonymous said...

A new haircut! Ok, you talked me into it haha. I'm very much looking forward to some more lectures. Your Kant lectures helped me immeasurably and set me on a path with passion I haven't felt since university.
I hope you are feeling even better now and please take care.

Nat.P

Jerry Fresia said...

Show them what a real professor can do - and - welcome back to the land of the healthy.

Jim said...

I think it was 1991 or 1992 when I bought a Wahl hair clipper from Leavitt & Peirce in Harvard Square for about $25. It came with 4 clipper attachments numbered 1 through 4. It also came with a small brush to clean the clipper after use and a tube of oil for the blades. I have used it ever since and have never been to a barber in all those years. In hindsight, one of the best investments I ever made.

-- Jim

Marc Susselman said...

And they claim to be doing it in the name of a religion which respects the values of a Supreme Being.

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/02/middleeast/iran-torture-jails-black-sites-mahsa-amini-protests-cmd-intl/