Robert Paul Wolff
| Robert Paul Wolff | |
|---|---|
| Born |
27 December 1933 New York City, U.S. |
| Notable work | In Defense of Anarchism (1970) |
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Influences
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Robert Paul Wolff (born 1933) is an American political philosopher and professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Wolff has written widely on many topics in political philosophy such as Marxism, tolerance (he wrote against liberalism and in favor of anarchism), political justification and democracy. Wolff is also well known for his work on Immanuel Kant.
Robert Wolff graduated from Harvard University with a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1953, 1954 and 1957 respectively.
Wolff was an Instructor in Philosophy and General Education at Harvard University, 1958–1961; Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Chicago, 1961–64; Associate Professor and then Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University, 1964–71; Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1971–1992, Professor of Afro-American Studies, 1992–2008, and Professor Emeritus, 2008–Present.
After the enormous renewal of interest in normative political philosophy in the Anglo-American world after the publication of John Rawls's A Theory of Justice, Wolff made pointed criticisms of this work from a roughly Marxist perspective. In 1977, Wolff published Understanding Rawls: A Critique and Reconstruction of A Theory of Justice, which takes dead aim at the extent to which Rawls's theory is cued to existing practice, convention and status quo social science. Insofar as A Theory of Justice forecloses critiques of capitalist social relations, private property and the market economy, Wolff concludes that Rawls's project amounts to a form of apology for the status quo. According to Wolff, markets and capitalist social relations are founded on exploitation and injustice, and Rawls does not give arguments to defend his theory from these charges.
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