Retranslating Marx’s Capital
The translators and coeditors of a new edition of Karl Marx’s Capital spoke to the political theorist Wendy Brown about the significance of their undertaking and what this historic text has to offer in the 21st century.
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DNA: A Parasite that Builds Its Own Host?
Dawkins, the mechanistic world, and the "war on the beautiful"
The Age of Regression
Born in the seventeenth century, our faith in progress is now at death’s door. Sociologist Göran Therborn traces the idea’s history — and argues that it must be revived.
Leo Strauss Was a Theorist of Counterrevolution
Born 125 years ago this year, political philosopher Leo Strauss became a patron saint of US conservatism. Strauss was one of the sharpest enemies of equality — and his work is an education in the antidemocratic spirit of the Right.
“Western Marxism” Is Not a Monolith
In Western Marxism, Domenico Losurdo takes 20th-century European and American Marxists to task for unfairly dismissing anti-colonial socialist movements. But his broad-brush condemnation fails to do justice to the rich and varied intellectual tradition he attacks.
Jordan Peterson’s Take on the Bible Is as Bad as You’d Think
In his latest book, right-wing provocateur Jordan Peterson looks to extract existential and political lessons from the Old Testament. Far from probing deep truths, it’s a shallow, self-serving exercise in culture war.
Welfare State Modernism’s Lost Future
Central European designers and architects who fled fascism brought modernist ideals to Britain, reshaping its urban fabric. Today their work is being demolished, abandoned, or privatized.
Alain Badiou Is the World’s Leading Philosopher of Communism
While many radicals of the 1968 generation shifted to the right, French philosopher Alain Badiou maintained fidelity to the revolutionary communist project.
Edward Said Showed Intellectuals How to Bring Politics to Their Work
The Palestinian writer Edward Said wasn’t merely an intellectual who took brave political stands. Said’s whole approach to his work should be a model for politically engaged scholarship that doesn’t get bogged down in the thickets of academic culture.
Fuccbois Need Love, Too
Fuccboi is a novel about the lengths we go to avoid thinking about our own suffering — and the harm we do to others along the way.
No, Karl Marx Was Not Eurocentric
Critics of Marx have accused him of imposing a European model of historical development on the rest of the world. But the real Marx rejected Eurocentric thinking and developed a sophisticated view of world history in all its diversity and complexity.
In Defense of Grand Narratives
Restoring big ideas.
Ludwig von Mises Was a Free-Market Ideologue, Not a Hardheaded Thinker
Ludwig von Mises, the influential right-wing economist, thought of himself as a sober, scientific critic of socialism. In reality, he was a free-market ideologue, using dressed-up dogma to prove why workers should bow before their capitalist masters.
Walter Benjamin Warned Us Against the Illusions of Capitalist Progress
Walter Benjamin was one of the most influential cultural theorists of the last century. There have been many attempts to defang and deradicalize Benjamin’s work, but his Marxist commitments run right through his dazzling intellectual legacy.
This Christmas, Radical Christianity and Marxism Can Inspire Us to Build a Better World
The conventional understanding of Marxism as doggedly anti-religious is wrong. In fact, as the philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre argued, Christianity and Marxism have at times inspired in humanity a radical sense of hope to build a more just world.
Oscar Wilde Wasn’t Just a Satirist. He Was a Socialist.
Much more than just the wit and satirist of his posthumous reputation, Oscar Wilde was a radical thinker who posed a fundamental challenge to the conservative mores of late Victorian England. His thinking on liberation led him to imagine a socialist future in which creativity can flourish across all of society.
The Elite Roots of Richard Spencer’s Racism
Alt-right racist Richard Spencer personifies a common, if overlooked, phenomenon: the well-educated and well-off bigot.
The Fool and the Madman
Last night, Jordan Peterson spouted nonsense about Marxism. And Slavoj Žižek reminded us of how deep into liberal pessimism he's fallen.
The Left Should Reclaim John Rawls’s Theory of Justice
Despite his towering academic reputation, John Rawls’s ideas have had little impact outside the university. That’s a shame: as the failures of neoliberalism have become increasingly stark, Rawls’s egalitarian theory of justice has much to recommend it.
The Right Says to Hell With Equality
The political right is a diverse intellectual tradition and world-making project. But there’s one thing that unites every variant of right-wing ideology: the belief that society will improve if we give up on the dream of a world where people are equal.