Moses May-Hobbs

Spinoza wrote extensively about religion and theology. The key to understanding this work, however, lies in Spinoza’s ethics rather than in scripture.

Theodor Adorno’s Negative Dialectics proposes an alternative dialectical approach to Hegel’s, which seeks to overcome the limits of subjectivity through negation.

Baruch Spinoza’s political philosophy attempts to weld his overarching naturalism and determinism with prescriptions for good governance.

Lacan described three “orders” or “registers” of psychoanalytic experience. One of Lacan’s major revisions to Freud’s thought is his emphasis on the “symbolic” order and language.

Jacques Lacan’s conception of desire and fantasy are central to his thought. Lacan describes desire as a search for a satisfaction that is impossible.

Walter Benjamin’s ideas on language are deeply bound up with theology. He posits an ideal divine language, which we have strayed from and should return to.

Gottfried Leibniz’s Monadology theorizes about the smallest, indivisible parts that make up all things.

Herbert Marcuse’s One-Dimensional Man addresses political pessimism in the wake of fascism in Europe, and its devastating consequences for the possibility of progress.