Robert Paul Wolff
Robert Paul Wolff ( * December 27, 1933 in New York City ) is a political philosopher and individual anarchist.
Life
Robert Paul Wolff received his PhD in 1957 at Harvard University. He was then as a philosophy lecturer at Harvard, the University of Chicago, Columbia University and since 1971 at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts operates. Since 1992 he has been employed there in the Department of African American Studies.
Work
Wolff has written 21 books that deal with the history of philosophy in modernity and political, social and economic philosophy in which he deals with the issues of Marxism, tolerance, liberalism and reason.
With his book Defense of Anarchism ( Eng.: A defense of anarchism ) Wolff reached a large international readership. Quintessence of Scripture is that there is an irresolvable contradiction, can be legitimized between the government claim to power and the duty of the individual to make himself the author of his decisions, and thus no form of government except anarchy. Wolff's defense of individual anarchism also received praise that he was not welcome: from ranks of the political rights of libertarians and anarcho- capitalists.
In The Poverty of Liberalism (Eng.. Misery of Liberalism ), Wolff points to the widespread inconsistencies in the liberal and conservative thinking of the 20th century. Wolff takes in John Stuart Mill's On Liberty texts and Principles of Political Economy as a starting point.
Within the philosophy of Wolff is better known for his head - research, in particular his work on Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (Kant 's Theory of Mental Activity and The Autonomy of Reason ). Even with a commentary on Karl Marx's Capital ( Understanding Marx) and other studies of Marx's philosophy, in which he examined the methods used by Marx rhetorical and literary stylistic device, Wolff made a name.
2005 Wolff published his " Autobiography of a formerly white man " ( Autobiography of an Ex -White Man), he writes here about his experience as a member of the Department of Afro -American studies and what they had taught him about America.
Works (selection)
- Robert Paul Wolff, Kant 's Theory of Mental Activity. In 1962.
- Robert Paul Wolff: Beyond Tolerance. In: Robert Paul Wolff / Barrington Moore / Herbert Marcuse: Critique of Pure Tolerance. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt / M. 1966, pp. 7-59 (English orig. Critique of Pure Tolerance, 1965)
- Robert Paul Wolff: The Poverty of Liberalism. 1968th ( Eng.: The Poverty of Liberalism )
- Robert Paul Wolff: In Defense of Anarchism. Harper & Row, Inc., New York, 1970, ISBN 0-520-21573-7. ( Eng.: A defense of anarchism )
- Robert Paul Wolff, Barrington Moore, Herbert Marcuse: Critique of Pure Tolerance. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main, 1970. ISBN 3-518-10181-1.
- Robert Paul Wolff: The Autonomy of Reason. In 1974.
- Robert Paul Wolff: Understanding Marx. In 1985.
- Robert Paul Wolff: Autobiography of an Ex -White Man., 2005.