Capital as the sacred – Capital as God. The aporetic potential of Bataille’s notion of expenditure for a critical analysis of capitalism
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2023-08-31
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en
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This essay aims to elucidate the potentialities of Bataillean materialism for addressing both the persistence of capitalist subjection and the possibility of producing an outside of capital. I first provide an articulation of Bataille’s dualist materialism, focusing on his notion of expenditure (dépense). On this basis, I explore Jean-Joseph Goux’s (1990) identification of present-day capitalism with Bataillean expenditure, arguing that Goux’s reading is both a reductive account of Bataillean conceptuality and a sacralisation of capital. An alternative interpretation of capitalism in terms of Bataille’s concept of God is proposed as a more satisfactory way of rendering Bataille’s thought useful for analysing current economic determinations while avoiding their fetishisation. Lastly, I reflect on the inner tensions of Bataille’s thought, presenting the aporetic character of his philosophy of excess as the source of both its fertility and its limitations for posing a critique to capitalism as a system.
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Faculteit der Filosofie, Theologie en Religiewetenschappen