Autonomy vs. Autocracy with Patrick Wolff and Steve Wasserman

In the classic philosophical text In Defense of Anarchism, author Robert Paul Wolff proposed that individual autonomy and state authority are mutually exclusive and, as individual autonomy is inalienable, the moral legitimacy of the state thus collapses. 55 years later, Patrick Wolff revisits his father’s argument, and its enduring legacy, in conversation with Heyday publisher Steve Wasserman. This program will feature a short presentation from Wolff on In Defense of Anarchism, followed by a discussion with Wasserman.

Robert Paul Wolff (1933-2025) was an American political philosopher and professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Among his books are About Philosophy (1998), The Ideal of the University (1992), The Autonomy of Reason (1990), Kant's Theory of Mental Activity (1990), and Moneybags Must Be So Lucky (1988). Many of his texts can be found in the Mechanics’ Institute library, along with a plaque commemorating his life’s work.

About the Speakers

Patrick Wolff is a two-time U.S. Chess Champion and chess grandmaster who has combined strategic insight from the chessboard with a career in business and finance. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, he began as a management consultant in Boston advising Fortune 500 companies before moving to Silicon Valley to work with startups. At Capital One, he led the launch of a home and auto insurance brokerage, gaining hands-on expertise in the insurance industry. He later became a Managing Director at a leading hedge fund and went on to found Grandmaster Capital Management. Today, Patrick is an independent investor and Managing Member of BPW Capital Holding, where he and his partner focus on private real estate investments.

Steve Wasserman is publisher of Heyday. A 1974 graduate of UC Berkeley, he holds a degree in criminology. His past positions include being deputy editor of the op-ed page and opinion section of the Los Angeles Times; editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review; editorial director of New Republic Books; publisher and editorial director of Hill and Wang at Farrar, Straus & Giroux and of the Noonday Press; editorial director of Times Books at Random House; and editor at large for Yale University Press. A former partner of the literacy agency Kneerim & Williams, he represented many authors, including Christopher Hitchens, Linda Ronstadt, Robert Scheer, and David Thomson. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Host or Publisher Mechanics' Institute