Description
Book SynopsisA. Kiarina Kordela steps beyond extant commentaries on Marxâs theory of commodity fetishismâfrom A. Sohn-Rethel to L. Althusser, Ã. Balibar, Slavoj ÅiÅek, and othersâto show that in capitalism value is the manifestation of the homology between thought and being, while their other aspectâpowerâis foreclosed and becomes the object of biopower.
Using monistic Marxian/Lacanian structuralism as an alternative to dominant models from Plato and Kant to phenomenological accounts, deconstruction, and other contemporary approaches, Kordela expertly argues that Marxâs theory of commodity fetishism is a reformulation of the Spinozian thesis that thought (mind) and things (bodies or extension) are manifestations of one and the same being or substance. Kordelaâs link between Spinoza and Marx shows that being consists of two aspects, value and power, the former leading to structuralist thought, the latter becoming the object of contemporary biopower. Epistemontology in Spinoza-Marx-Freud
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'In Epistemology in Spinoza, Marx-Freud-Lacan, A. Kiarina Kordela gives us what has been sorely lacking in recent work on biopower: a reflection on how the commodification of self-actualization anchors the current moment of late capitalism. Through a series of joyful readings of Spinoza, Marx, Freud, and Lacan, Kordela opens a perspective not just on biopower, but on our own singular essence irreducible to capitalism's incessant repetition of the same old same old. This is a work to be reckoned with, to be thought about, and above all to be enjoyed.' - Timothy Campbell, Professor of Italian, Department of Romance Studies, Cornell University
'At a moment when philosophy appears blocked in pointless antinomies, between either constructivism, or new materialism and speculative realism, A. Kiarina Kordela breaks with these antinomies and reveals those seemingly radical opponents as tacit accomplices - or "couples" in Bachelardian sense. Kordela's courageous advance aims for what philosophy can do best: it takes a position, it draws clear lines of demarcation, and it gives a superb overview of the current situation on philosophy's battleground.' - Robert Pfaller, University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Words and Things in the Era of Value, Power, and Biopower 2. Materialist Epistemontology: Marx and Sohn-Rethel with Spinoza and Psychoanalysis 3. Psychoanalysis and Structuralism 4. Dialectics, or Valences of Structuralism 5. Value: The Aesthetic Itinerary from Content to Structure 6. Marx and Psychoanalysis 7. The Other Side of Value: Substance, Labor & Enjoyment, or, Biopolitics According to Spinoza, Marx & Lacan
