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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Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.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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Tuesday, November 11, 2014

NEW COMPETITION

OK.  Here is a new competition for college-level teachers:  What is the most egregious student failure to recognize a cultural reference in one of your classes?  We could offer an old "What me worry?"  Alfred E. Newman MAD Comics T-Shirt as a prize.  I think I may have one around [very worn.]

13 comments:

Brian W. Ogilvie said...

One of my acquaintances at Princeton showed a group of first-year students an iconic photo of Marx. Not a single one recognized him. I've just sent a friend request to you on Facebook so I can share it with you.

Brian W. Ogilvie said...

I should add: I meant, of course, Karl, not Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo, or Gummo.

Chris said...

I was demonstrating the ad hominem fallacy this semester and gave the example that people say Annie Hall and others films should not be revered because Woody Allen is a potential pedophile. At first I realized no one in the class had seen or heard of Annie Hall, but to my greater surprise all but one or two students (out of 60ish), knew who Woody Allen was! And he's still making movies, and in the press for accused perverted behavior! Not to mention Blue Jasmine was a huge success, and they were old enough to experience it.

David Auerbach said...

Well, some of my students knew who Yul Brenner was. Some (but not many) know of Dean Martin (why him? 'cause I use his theme song as an example of scope ambiguity in my baby logic class). John Coltrane, not so much.

On the rare occasions that I wear a tie, I sometimes wear one whose design includes the iconic images of Marx and Lenin. Even some faculty blank on that. Weird.

The Constable said...

During a module on constructed languages, I was very excited to show the students a clip from the Esperanto movie "Incubus," starring William Shatner (acting in Esperanto about as well as he acts in English). "This is going to blow their minds," I thought. Nope. Most didn't recognize him, and those that did said "That's the guy from the Priceline commercials."

Andrew Lionel Blais said...

I once observed that in my day, professors used to observe that students failed to recognize cultural references. To say the least, not a one had any idea about what I was saying.

Chris said...

I had a very pious christian student claim that without god all things are possible during the trolley problem. I then said "So you're a fan of Dostoevsky", and he replied "who?"

David Auerbach said...

Rihanna
Usher
Niecy Nash
"Call of Duty"
xkcd

Unknown said...

Taught Nozick in my Global Justice course last fall. Only one student in the class - a basketball player - knew who Wilt Chamberlain was.

Teaching it again tomorrow. No athletes in my class this year. We'll see how it goes...

Robert Paul Wolff said...

OK, Dostoyevsky I can see, but Wilt Chamberlain? Good grief, is there no justice?

Chris said...

Maybe I'm too presumptuous but I thought every Christian that's wrestled with morality has crossed paths with Fyodor!

Or at bare minimum had this name brought up in a high school class...

Chris said...

Also I must confess my sins, when I read the Wilt Chamberlain example recently, I thought he was some white CEO in England.... (I'm 28).

Magpie said...

Utterly off topic, but this might interest Prof. Wolff and his readers:

Income Distribution And A Simple Labor Theory Of Value, by Robert Vienneau
http://robertvienneau.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/income-distribution-and-simple-labor.html

And,

Links. Ricardo is right. Sinn used to be right. Trichet was wrong (check point 6 and the link included)

It's not exactly about Marx, but about Ricardo's land rent (note particularly the finding that "After World War II, the elasticity of house prices with respect to income growth was close to or even greater than 1").
By Merijn Knibbe
http://rwer.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/links-ricardo-is-right-sinn-used-to-be-right-trichet-was-wrong/