Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
@thezachloeffler.bsky.social
I teach philosophy. Formerly a musicologist. Writing a book about Adorno’s musical theory of “life without fear.”
Ed board CTWG: https://ctwgwebsite.github.io
Work: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SKkjTjsrnEcNm6jQMCFT-ZnHoja0Fx94/view?usp=drivesdk
Ed board CTWG: https://ctwgwebsite.github.io
Work: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SKkjTjsrnEcNm6jQMCFT-ZnHoja0Fx94/view?usp=drivesdk
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
POD EP 5: A Conversation About Dialectical Biology, with Mac Parker and Anatarah Bin AlKaf—on Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins' "Dialectical Biologist"!
patreon.com/posts/episod...
patreon.com/posts/episod...
Episode 5: A Conversation About Dialectical Biology. | crittheoryworkgroup
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November 13, 2025 at 7:44 PM
POD EP 5: A Conversation About Dialectical Biology, with Mac Parker and Anatarah Bin AlKaf—on Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins' "Dialectical Biologist"!
patreon.com/posts/episod...
patreon.com/posts/episod...
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
I’m still getting better at podcasting, so apologies for the awkwardness, but Mac and I made time to blabber about dialectical biology! I definitely think you should read the book, and extend ideology critique to science proper. The book also helps you fight racists, so you should read it for that 2
POD EP 5: A Conversation About Dialectical Biology, with Mac Parker and Anatarah Bin AlKaf—on Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins' "Dialectical Biologist"!
patreon.com/posts/episod...
patreon.com/posts/episod...
Episode 5: A Conversation About Dialectical Biology. | crittheoryworkgroup
Get more from crittheoryworkgroup on Patreon
patreon.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:14 PM
I’m still getting better at podcasting, so apologies for the awkwardness, but Mac and I made time to blabber about dialectical biology! I definitely think you should read the book, and extend ideology critique to science proper. The book also helps you fight racists, so you should read it for that 2
“the chaotically regular flight reactions of lower animals,
the patterns of swarming crowds, the convulsive gestures of the tortured—all these express what wretched life can never control: the mimetic impulse. In the death throes of the creature,at the furthest extreme from freedom, freedom itself>
the patterns of swarming crowds, the convulsive gestures of the tortured—all these express what wretched life can never control: the mimetic impulse. In the death throes of the creature,at the furthest extreme from freedom, freedom itself>
October 16, 2025 at 1:27 AM
“the chaotically regular flight reactions of lower animals,
the patterns of swarming crowds, the convulsive gestures of the tortured—all these express what wretched life can never control: the mimetic impulse. In the death throes of the creature,at the furthest extreme from freedom, freedom itself>
the patterns of swarming crowds, the convulsive gestures of the tortured—all these express what wretched life can never control: the mimetic impulse. In the death throes of the creature,at the furthest extreme from freedom, freedom itself>
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
Reposting this here to spice up marxsky:
Real abstraction’ as a concept obfuscates the relations it purports to describe. It inhibits the posing of deeper questions;
Real abstraction’ as a concept obfuscates the relations it purports to describe. It inhibits the posing of deeper questions;
September 21, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
don’t remember if i posted here or not but here’s a snippet from Adorno’s letter to Horkheimer in the middle of their worst fight (1935) where A goes “By the way I LOVED Dämmerung if you even still care…” lol
September 3, 2025 at 7:47 AM
don’t remember if i posted here or not but here’s a snippet from Adorno’s letter to Horkheimer in the middle of their worst fight (1935) where A goes “By the way I LOVED Dämmerung if you even still care…” lol
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
New paper, “Adorno and Hegel on Subject and Object,” now out in the OUP Handbook of Adorno www.academia.edu/143573230/Ad...
Adorno and Hegel on Subject and Object (2025)
This chapter focuses on assessing the significance of Hegel's infuence on two key pillars of Adorno's thought: first, his critique of constitutive subjectivity; and second, his priority of the...
www.academia.edu
August 22, 2025 at 7:26 PM
New paper, “Adorno and Hegel on Subject and Object,” now out in the OUP Handbook of Adorno www.academia.edu/143573230/Ad...
Anyone hear about the federal appeals court ruling that the structure of the NLRB is unconstitutional?
August 21, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Anyone hear about the federal appeals court ruling that the structure of the NLRB is unconstitutional?
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
A massive attack on several humanities units (Arabic Studies, Judaic Studies, Holocaust Studies, Classics, Religion, German & Scandinavian, Russian/East European/Eurasian Studies) *and* tenure now unfolding at the University of Oregon (a blue state!). Closure of units and faculty layoffs threatened.
August 18, 2025 at 6:42 PM
A massive attack on several humanities units (Arabic Studies, Judaic Studies, Holocaust Studies, Classics, Religion, German & Scandinavian, Russian/East European/Eurasian Studies) *and* tenure now unfolding at the University of Oregon (a blue state!). Closure of units and faculty layoffs threatened.
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
NEW: EP2: Politics of Early Critical Theory.
Join your hosts J.E. Morain & yours truly for an intro to the rogue's gallery of far left dissidents (communists, socialists, anarchists, etc) at the core of the 'Frankfurt School' from the early 1920s-late 40's!
www.patreon.com/posts/episod...
Join your hosts J.E. Morain & yours truly for an intro to the rogue's gallery of far left dissidents (communists, socialists, anarchists, etc) at the core of the 'Frankfurt School' from the early 1920s-late 40's!
www.patreon.com/posts/episod...
Episode 2: Politics of Early Critical Theory | crittheoryworkgroup
Get more from crittheoryworkgroup on Patreon
www.patreon.com
August 15, 2025 at 1:30 AM
NEW: EP2: Politics of Early Critical Theory.
Join your hosts J.E. Morain & yours truly for an intro to the rogue's gallery of far left dissidents (communists, socialists, anarchists, etc) at the core of the 'Frankfurt School' from the early 1920s-late 40's!
www.patreon.com/posts/episod...
Join your hosts J.E. Morain & yours truly for an intro to the rogue's gallery of far left dissidents (communists, socialists, anarchists, etc) at the core of the 'Frankfurt School' from the early 1920s-late 40's!
www.patreon.com/posts/episod...
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
we’ve been quiet because we’ve been working on this for a minute—see you in just over a week for the first session on Kanafani’s “On Zionist Literature”!
August 16, 2025 at 2:23 AM
we’ve been quiet because we’ve been working on this for a minute—see you in just over a week for the first session on Kanafani’s “On Zionist Literature”!
12 July 1957 lecture by Adorno to UChicago students on “the purpose of education” defending disciplinary specialization. “the shortest path to genuine universality is to be found precisely when we abandon the quest for the merely general.”
August 15, 2025 at 2:11 PM
12 July 1957 lecture by Adorno to UChicago students on “the purpose of education” defending disciplinary specialization. “the shortest path to genuine universality is to be found precisely when we abandon the quest for the merely general.”
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
U Chicago AAUP fights back docs.google.com/document/d/1...
AAUP AHD open letter
This is an open letter from members of the University of Chicago community to the university administration. It is sponsored by UChicago AAUP, but you do not need to be a member to sign (though we enc...
docs.google.com
August 14, 2025 at 8:19 PM
U Chicago AAUP fights back docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
translation from the minutes Pollock took during Horkheimer’s lecture on Marx (Summer 1931): on the the uniqueness of Marx’s dialectic & his double-distance from the absolute
August 14, 2025 at 7:39 AM
translation from the minutes Pollock took during Horkheimer’s lecture on Marx (Summer 1931): on the the uniqueness of Marx’s dialectic & his double-distance from the absolute
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
here’s a translation of the discussion protocols Horkheimer & Adorno held in October 1946 for the second planned installment of “Dialectic of Enlightenment”!
open.substack.com/pub/jamescra...
open.substack.com/pub/jamescra...
August 11, 2025 at 11:09 PM
here’s a translation of the discussion protocols Horkheimer & Adorno held in October 1946 for the second planned installment of “Dialectic of Enlightenment”!
open.substack.com/pub/jamescra...
open.substack.com/pub/jamescra...
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
in Feb 1947, Marcuse writes 33 Theses on the libertarian communist anti-program for postwar critical theory, which Horkheimer will use as a foundation for his own marginal reflections on class, revolution, & freedom for 2+ years. Translated for the 1st time here (🔗⬇️)
August 5, 2025 at 10:45 AM
in Feb 1947, Marcuse writes 33 Theses on the libertarian communist anti-program for postwar critical theory, which Horkheimer will use as a foundation for his own marginal reflections on class, revolution, & freedom for 2+ years. Translated for the 1st time here (🔗⬇️)
Can I add screenshotted by Adam Tooze to my CV?
August 7, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Can I add screenshotted by Adam Tooze to my CV?
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
Finally getting around to reading Adorno's lectures Volume 2: Social Theory and Politics and the end of the lecture on The Relationship Between Individual and Society is fucking great
July 29, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Finally getting around to reading Adorno's lectures Volume 2: Social Theory and Politics and the end of the lecture on The Relationship Between Individual and Society is fucking great
From 1939 lecture Adorno gave at the Rockefeller-funded Princeton radio Research Project explaining his approach wouldn't be like the usual ones where “the guiding interest…is basically one of...how to manipulate the masses” but “a social critique of radio” based on the following axioms:
July 30, 2025 at 2:38 PM
From 1939 lecture Adorno gave at the Rockefeller-funded Princeton radio Research Project explaining his approach wouldn't be like the usual ones where “the guiding interest…is basically one of...how to manipulate the masses” but “a social critique of radio” based on the following axioms:
Adorno:“Dialectical thought is not merely intellectualist in character, since it is precisely thought’s attempt to recognize its limitations by recourse to the matter [die Sache] itself. How does thought succeed w/in its own thought-determinations in doing justice to the matter?”
July 25, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Adorno:“Dialectical thought is not merely intellectualist in character, since it is precisely thought’s attempt to recognize its limitations by recourse to the matter [die Sache] itself. How does thought succeed w/in its own thought-determinations in doing justice to the matter?”
My article on the antinomy of encore-loving and -hating is an attempt at a music-oriented critical theory inspired by Adorno. It’s been in the works for a long time + is the closest I’ve come to saying something. Thanks to @crittheoryworkgrp.bsky.social for notes. online.ucpress.edu/ncm/article-...
July 25, 2025 at 1:06 AM
My article on the antinomy of encore-loving and -hating is an attempt at a music-oriented critical theory inspired by Adorno. It’s been in the works for a long time + is the closest I’ve come to saying something. Thanks to @crittheoryworkgrp.bsky.social for notes. online.ucpress.edu/ncm/article-...
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
check out Zach’s ( @thezachloeffler.bsky.social ) new piece—a critical theory of the encore on the model of Adorno’s writings on music! a lot of us (myself included) talk the Adorno talk but Zach walks the walk! one of my favorite pieces of writing in years
online.ucpress.edu/ncm/article/...
online.ucpress.edu/ncm/article/...
July 25, 2025 at 12:23 AM
check out Zach’s ( @thezachloeffler.bsky.social ) new piece—a critical theory of the encore on the model of Adorno’s writings on music! a lot of us (myself included) talk the Adorno talk but Zach walks the walk! one of my favorite pieces of writing in years
online.ucpress.edu/ncm/article/...
online.ucpress.edu/ncm/article/...
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
Not entirely sure what’s happening at Chicago yet, but it’s happening fast and largely in secret—I’ve heard the provost has ordered the dean to consolidate depts in the humanities div with fewer than 15 TT faculty. Could be the end of some very important depts and PhD programs.
July 17, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Not entirely sure what’s happening at Chicago yet, but it’s happening fast and largely in secret—I’ve heard the provost has ordered the dean to consolidate depts in the humanities div with fewer than 15 TT faculty. Could be the end of some very important depts and PhD programs.
Reposted by Dialectical Zach Zack Loeffler
have to admit though that my favorite of Horkheimer’s critical recoveries of Nietzsche is from Dämmerung (1934), “Nietzsche & the Proletariat”!
July 13, 2025 at 10:46 PM
have to admit though that my favorite of Horkheimer’s critical recoveries of Nietzsche is from Dämmerung (1934), “Nietzsche & the Proletariat”!
To combat “indoctrination,” everyone has to take a year-long seminar called how positivism became philosophy by negating philosophy:the problem of truth amid the irreconcilability of universal+ particular and the incoherence of an objectively binding factuality unmediated by subjectivity
July 12, 2025 at 2:23 PM
To combat “indoctrination,” everyone has to take a year-long seminar called how positivism became philosophy by negating philosophy:the problem of truth amid the irreconcilability of universal+ particular and the incoherence of an objectively binding factuality unmediated by subjectivity