Aguirre Rojas- Larga duración.doc

8/12/2019 Aguirre Rojas- Larga duracin.doc

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Presentacin

Dossier "La larga duracin a prueba.

Cinco ejercicios crticos sobre la historia, la modernidad y la civilizacin

capitalista"

Carlos Antonio Aguirre ojas

El clebre ensayo de Fernand Braudel, titulado La historia y las ciencias sociales. Lalarga duracin, que fue publicado originalmente en la reista Annales. Economies.Socits. Civilisations, a finales de !"#$, es sin duda alguna el mas importante ensayode metodolog%a histrica de todo el siglo &&. 'orque habiendo sido concebido,originalmente, como una especie de resumen decantado, en el plano de las lecciones demtodo, del imponente traba(o que se concret en la obra de El Mediterrneo y elmundo mediterrneo en la poca de Felipe II, este ensayo termin conirtindose, al

paso del tiempo, en la ersin mas lograda y en la formulacin mas acabada y e)plicitade todo un nuevoparadigma historiogrfico, paradigma que no solo condensaba entrminos epistemolgicos a lo que podr%amos llamar el n*cleo esencial de laarquitectura fundamental de toda la comple(a e innoadora concepcin braudeliana de lahistoria, sino que propon%a tambin todo un nuevo modo de concebir el eercicio y la

practica globalesdel rico y asto oficio del historiador. E incluso, y m+s all+, tambinuna nueva forma de abordar y de e!plicara todo el amplio con(unto de problemas,

fenmenos y procesos estudiados por las llamadas ciencias sociales contempor+neas.ueo modo de concebir los procesos histricos y sociales que, por lo dem+s, no fueinentado o inaugurado por Fernand Braudel, sino que se fue imponiendo, lenta y

progresiamente, dentro de las diersas corrientes y perspectiasgenuinamente cr"ticasde todaslas ciencias sociales, a partir de la segunda mitad del siglo &-& cronolgico, yhasta la actualidad.

'ues es el mismo Braudel quien reconoce que el primero que estableci modelos dee)plicacin globales, desde esta perspectia de la largaduraci#n, fue el propio arlos/ar). 0 despus de l, emos como se afirman, en todas las distintas disciplinas que

ersan sobre lo social1humano en la historia, diferentes enfoques que, para podere)plicar adecuadamente su diersos ob(etos de estudio, se en obligados a abrir el arcotemporal de sus an+lisis, recuperando de distintas maneras, y a eces de manera masconciente o mas inconsciente, esas mismas perspectias de largo aliento que son lase)plicaciones desde las estructuras de la larga duraci#n dentro de la historia.

'or eso, y desde un enfoque riguroso, es claro que podemos afirmar con certe2a que nosolo /ar) ha comprendido y aplicado esta perspectia de la larga duracin, sino quetambin lo han hecho, a su manera y en sus respectios dominios de inestigacin,autores como 3ilhelm 4eich, o /arc Bloch, o 5heodor 6dorno y /a) 7or8heimer, o

orbert Elias, o 3alter Ben(amin, pero incluso tambin a*n cuando de manera

contradictoria, laude Lei19trauss o :eorg 9immel, entre otros. ;e modo que lase)plicaciones y los enfoques construidos desde la larga duracin han e)istido avant la


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lettre, es decir, antes de que su propio concepto y su propia teor%a fuesen e)pl%citamenteelaborados. 0 si bien le corresponde sin duda a Braudel, el enorme mrito de haberlleado a cabo por e2 primera esa e!plicitaci#n orgnicay esaformulaci#n completadel contenido esencial y de las principales implicaciones de este paradigma de la largaduracin, resulta igualmente importante insistir en que el descubrimiento y construccin

de dicho paradigma, ha sido mas bien una con$uistacolectivade un mas asto con(untode pensadores cr"ticosde lo social1humano en la historia, hecho que por lo dem+s, hasido (ustamente se


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'or ello, este dossier intenta rescatar cinco e(ercicios recientes de aplicacin ydesarrollo de estepensamiento cr"tico contemporneo, e(ercicios que proiniendo de lasmas diersas filiaciones intelectuales, y empla2ados desde uniersos intelectualestambin diferentes, conergen sin embargo, tanto en esa e)pl%cita intencin de er los

problemas que abordan de manera fundamentalmente distanciada y cr"tica, como

igualmente desde marcos temporales amplios y abarcatios, asumidos adem+s en laespec%fica lgica del rescate y recuperacin de las coordenadas de larga duracin quepermiten entender y e)plicar a esos mismos problemas abordados.

;e este modo, se encuentran aqu% conocados, lo mismo la me(or tradicin deriada dela corriente de los 6nnales, es decir su matri2 blochiana y braudeliana, que lamicrohistoria italiana o la tradicin de la Escuela de Fran8furt, (unto a la perspectia delanalisis de los sistemas1mundo y a la emergente isin cr%tica desarrolladarecientemente por la historiograf%a y por las ciencias sociales latinoamericanas. 0 ello,

para abordar lo mismo los problemas centrales de la din+mica de las ciili2aciones, quelas claes de una concepcin cr%tica de la historia, pero tambin, los elementos centrales

de la caracteri2acin de la modernidad capitalista, los escenarios futuros de la actualcrisis estructural de este mismo sistema capitalista, o la e)plicacin del dignomoimiento ind%gena neo2apatista en el estado de hiapas, desde una isinconcientemente global e igualmente construida desde la larga duracin histrica.

5oca al lector de este dossier, (u2gar acerca de los cinco e(ercicios propuestos, los que,m+s all+ de su diersidad, testimonian claramente, en nuestra opinin, acerca de laenorme fecundidad y de la inmensa capacidad heur%stica, toda%a igente, de esa

perspectia metodolgica brillantemente e)plicitada, y luego afanosamente desarrolladay cultiada, por ese declarado abogado de la larga duracin histrica que ha sido el

propio Fernand Braudel

Modernity and Capitalism (15 Theses)=!>

!olivar cheverria?

5ranslated by harlotte Broad=@>? 'rofessor at Facultad de Filosofia y Letras 1 Aniersidad acional 6utnoma de /)ico. E1mail

boliareCseridor.unam.m)

%&or $u la cuerda' entonces' si el aire es tan sencillo(%&ara $u la cadena' si e!iste el hierro por s" solo(

sar Dalle(o =>

6 century ago, men still thought they ere masters of the situation they thought they=ho ere already undeniably modern> could do hateer they li8ed ith modernity,

either accept it =in hole, in parts or ith modifications> or re(ect it =by closing the dooron it or reerting its effects>. 5heir thought sprang from a orld in hich modernity,
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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though relentlessly pursuing its course, as still some ay from achieing planetaryreach and could not demonstrate to the collectie mind the totali2ing range of itsaspiration or the radicalism of the changes it as already introducing into human life.5he old or traditional, deeply ingrained in eery day life, carried still so much eightthat een the most all1embracing or daring of modern creations appeared barely to

scratch its surface, hich otherise remained unscathedG pre1modern forms ere sonatural that it as ell nigh impossible to contemplate that the claims made by theadocates of modernity might be orth ta8ing seriously.

-n these days, hoeer, the re(ection or approbation of modernity is apparently nolonger under discussionG the modern is no more an e)ternal entity that e loo8 upon asa terra incognita. 3e are modern, or, perhaps - should say, e are becoming

permanently modernG the ascendancy of modernity is a fait accompli. 6gainst thedreams of a postmodern condition, e are liing ithin modernity and are immersed ina unique, uniersal and continual process of moderni2ation. /oderni2ation is,moreoer, not a life pro(ect e hae chosen to adoptG it is more li8e some form of

fatality or unquestionable destiny e must submit ourseles to. H/odern life is goodGthe bad thing about it is that it ta8es too long to arrie and hen it does it is seldomcompleteH. 5his as the more or less open slogan for eery policy of eery nationalstate a century ago, and it might still be in our days. 6 hundred years hae gone by, butsocial life still seems to hae the same ob(ectie moderni2ation, that is to say, self1improement by ma8ing progress on the line of the production techniques, socialorgani2ation and political management that began to ta8e shape in Europe during thesi)teenth century.

onetheless, it is clear that hat is understood by HmodernH has changed considerablysince that time. 5his is not because hat might hae been perceied then as aninnoation is no considered traditional, but because the sense that triggers the meaningof the ord is no longer the same. 6 quest it had to embar8 upon greatly changed itsmeaning. 5his quest as implied in its assimilation of and subordination to the sense ofthe ord HreolutionH.

Een though modernity did not gie birth to the Hspirit of utopiaH, it did enable it toacquire an independent figure, its on earthly consistency. 5his spirit hauntedmoderni2ation from the start of the process, attracted by the implicit possibility thatmodern progress might free it from the categoricallity of the HnoH underlined in hisname, HutopiaH, and e)change it for a promising Hnot yetH.

5he temptation to Hchange the orldH =Hchange lifeH> as first actie in the politicaldomain. 6t the end of the eighteenth century, hen moderni2ation in the form of the-ndustrial 4eolution had only (ust started, its presence as a challenge to the ancienrgime as already indisputableG it as the historical moement of bourgeoisreolutions. 4eolution as understood as an actiity that had absolute political

progress as its goal the cancellation of the dreadful past and the founding of a future of(ustice, completely open to the imagination. 7oeer, the temptation utopia presentedas soon e)pelled from the political domain and had to see8 refuge in the other sphereof absolute progressism, hich as the actiity engaged in the potentiation of efficiencyin the productie life. -t as to be re(ected once again by the social haoc caused by

capitalist industriali2ation, but hile it as there it succeeded in giing a goal and ameaning to the purely technical figure of moderni2ation. 5oards the end of the


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nineteenth century, the Hspirit of utopiaH ould ma8e another 11finalI11 attempt tobecome embodied ithin the progressist trend of the moderni2ation processG e are stillsuffering the effects of its failure.

6t the beginning of the century, the elementary political constellation as composed

and recomposed around to modes of behaior approal or re(ect of moderni2ation asa means by hich social life might be reorgani2ed using the technical adances made inthe methods of production, circulation and consumption. /oderni2ation as accepted

by some as a HgattopardianH conseratie stratagem destined to presere tradition, byothers as the basis of the progressionistic rationality of their naie reformist politics.5he reactionary re(ection of modernity, hich argued that it undermined the immutableessence of /an and that it could be and had to be undone, as somehat similar thoughdiametrically opposed to its negation as a false alternatie to a pro(ect of reolutionarytransformation of the human. 6cute controersies arose ithin the left as ell as ithinthe right on the issue of accepting or re(ecting moderni2ation as a historical processgoerned by technical progress.

;espite the unquestionable practical ascendancy of the right ing and its decisie anddeastating political irruptions, it cannot be denied that political life in the tentiethcentury has been guided by the proposals made by a Hleft1ing cultureH=een if theyere disparate and een contradictory>.

5he essence of left1ing discourse has been inspired by its opposition to the technicisticdynamics of moderni2ationG hether it has ta8en moderni2ation as a basis for reform orrefuted it as an inadequate substitute for reolution, it has adopted HhumanismH,understood as the quest for Hsocial (usticeH, as its basic ethical proposition. -t is for thisreason that the reali2ation of a technical utopia reaches its fully significance only henutopia appears as a constitutie but subordinate element of hat the ord HsocialismHmeans the reali2ation =through reform or reolution> of the socio1political utopia ofabsolute progress, of pure innoatie substitution of the traditional figure in hich the

political has e)isted until no.

ontemporary history, shaped around the destiny of capitalist moderni2ation, appears tohae run head on into that dilemma of a Hsituation on the edgeH. -t can, on the one hand,

persist along the course pursued by moderni2ation, in hich case it ould cease to be amode =if contradictory> of affirming life to become a means of simple selectieacceptance of deathG on the other, it can abandon moderni2ation, in hich case it ould

deprie the current leel of ciili2ation of its traditional support, thus pointing social lifein the direction of barbarism. ;isillusioned by progressist HsocialismH, hich as put tothe test not only by the figure of the state despotism of the Hsocialist orld =empire>H butalso by the social corrected economic policies of the liberal institutions ithin theHestern orld =empire>H, this history seems to hae brought to a close precisely that

proposal of an earthly utopia ith hich it opened, of a orld hich ould radicallyimproe human life and ould actually be attainable. ontemporary history, its politicalcreatiity fro2en as if aaiting a catastrophe, oscillates erratically beteen policies ofsomehat simple1minded defensie pragmatism and those of desperate messianismcontaining a greater or lesser degree of irrationality.

5he thesesproposed in the folloing pages are an attempt to put forard a theory of apossible modernity that differs from that hich has been imposed up to the present day,


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a non1capitalist modernity. 5hey proceed, firstly, by the recognition of one fact theperennial open1endedness characteri2ing the significance of historical entities.9econdly, they play ith concepts hich attempt to dismantle this fact theoretically andhich, bearing in mind that Heerything that is real can also be thought of as only

possibleH =Leibni2>, distinguish beteen the configuration or form of the current

presence of a historical reality, a reality that follos from the adaptation of its necessarypresence to certain ad hoc11and thus alays replaceable11 conditions in order to becomea sufficient one, and the essence of that historical reality, its form of HpermanentH

presence, in hich its necessity e)ists in a pure state, li8e an ambialent poer thatneer ceases to be so throughout its state of consolidation, beneath the HdefinitieHappearance of its configured e)istence that mas8s all ambialence. -n accordance iththis supposition, modernity ould not be Han unfinished pro(ectH, as JKrgen 7abermassees itG instead, it ould be a set of possibilities, hich are e)plored and actuali2ed fromonly one side and in only one sense, and hich might be approached from another

perspectie and hae another light cast upon it.

Thesis 1. The Economic Key to Modernity

/odernity should be understood as the peculiar character of an historical form of theciili2ing totali2ation of human life. apitalism should be understood as a form or modeof reproduction of the economic life of humanity a ay of implementing that set ofactiities, hich directly and preferentially concerns the production, circulation, andconsumption of goods produced.

5he relation beteen modernity and capitalism are a8in to those beteen a hole andindependent totali2ation and one of its dependent parts, hich has thus far imposeditself on the totali2ing action of the hole.

-t is probably the predominance of the economic domain of life =ith its particularcapitalist mode> in the historical constitution of modernity that represents the last ma(orassertion of a 8ind of spontaneous Hhistorical materialismH hich had characteri2edsocial e)istence during the period of Hhistory based on scarcityH. 5he human being =Hananimal e)pelled from the paradise of animalityH> has been able to e)ercise hisdistinguishing faculty 11that of liing a physical life as a substratum of a Hmeta1

physicalH life, the primary goal of hich is to gie meaning and form to social life11 but

only on the condition that he respects productie or8 as the fundamental, possiblingand delimiting dimension of his actiity. 'roductie or8 has been at the heart of allpro(ects of human e)istence. :ien the trans1historical condition of the absolute scarcityof goods in demand, that is to say, of the HindifferenceH and een the HhostilityH of

ature, not one of them can be conceied =at least before the -ndustrial 4eolution> inany other ay than as a strategy designed to defend human e)istence itself in a domainalays alienG in other ords, they could not be conceied, een in the Hunproductiee)penditureH on the most laish e)traagances, as going beyond the hori2on ofimagination delimited by the reach of the basic necessities for surial.

5he critical theory of capitalism offers a priileged means of understanding modernity

for to complementary reasons. n the one hand, no historical reality is so faithfully


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and typically modern as the capitalist mode of reproduction of social ealthG on theother, no content typifying modern life is so essential to its definition as capitalism.

But the ie of modernity as to the problemati2ation of capitalism does not only renderit most isibleG it also 11and it might be said, aboe all11 aa8ens in the mind the most

pressing need to understand it. -t is the quagmires of the moderni2ation of the economy11the counterproductie effects of progress, hether quantitatie =e)tensie andintensie> or qualitatie =technical>, in the production, distribution and consumption ofgoods11 that most often, and ith the greatest iolence, ma8e /an a purely destructie

being a being ho destroys the ther, hen it does not fit into ature =defined as theHfond of resources for the human orderH>, and himself, hen he is a HnaturalH being =toomaterial, too spiritual> and does not fit into the scheme of hat has been humani2edthrough HproductieH or8.

5he intricate and unpredictable eb of multiple courses pursued by the concrete historyof modernity is interoen in a frequently imperceptible but decisie dialogue ith the

obscure process of planetary gestation, consolidation and e)pansion of capitalism as amode of reproduction of ealth. -t treats of a profound dynamic in hich history doesnot ta8e sides on the leel of con(unctural eentsG heedless of the incidents that perturbgenerations and impassion indiiduals, nonetheless, it stubbornly ma8es it its businessto indicate aenues, set tempos, and suggest general trends in eeryday life.

5here appear to be three constants in the history of capitalism, hich ought to hae beenHor8edH at by the history of modernity a> a cyclical reproduction of Habsolute artificialscarcityH of nature, on an eer1increasing scale =li8e a spiral> and satisfying eer1differing human needsG b> a progress of totalitarian reach, both e)tensie and intensie,=as planetari2ation and technification respectiely>, in the Mreal subsumptionN of the

productie forces under the accumulation of capitalG and c> a unstoppable slippage ofthe direction in hich the tribute that capitalist property 11and its mercantile and pacificinstitutionali2ation11 pays to monopoly 11and its e)tra1mercantile and iolentarbitrariness11 from feeding off the rent of the land1lords, it changes gradually tosupport the rent of the technology1lords.

Thesis 2. The Grounds Essence and !i"ure o# Modernity

/odernity, li8e eery other human reality, is also constituted by the game of realpresence at to different leels the possible or potential and the actual or effectie. =6distinction should be made beteen these to, although there is an epistemologicalimpediment in that the former appears to be annulled by the latter, inasmuch as thelatter, being the reali2ation of the former, ta8es its place.>

1 5here is, on the first leel, modernity as an ideal form of totali2ation of human life. 6ssuch, as the essence of modernity'artificially isolated by the theoretical discourse of theconfigurations that hae gien it an empirical e)istence, modernity may be regarded as areality hich concreteness is in suspense, as yet undefinedG as a substance at themoment in hich it is Hsee8ingH its form or is being HselectedH by it =an impossible

moment really, since both occur simultaneously>G as an HindecisieH yet polymorphouse)igency, a pure potency.


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1n the second leel, modernity may be regarded as an effectie historicalconfiguration. 6s such, modernity is no longer an ideal and imprecise realityG its

presence is plural trough a series of historical pro(ects and attempts to actuali2e itself,hich endo its concrete e)istence ith highly aried and particular forms, hich ta8ethe form of one succeeding the other or of one ying the other for ascendancy.

5hegroundsof modernity are to be found in the unstoppable process of consolidation11hich began at a slo pace in the /iddle 6ges, accelerated in the si)teenth century,and reached an e)plosie speed from the time of the -ndustrial 4eolution to the presentday11 of a technological change hich affects the ery roots of the multiple Hmaterialciili2ationsH of the human being. -n both the means of production and the or8 force,the scale of instrumental operability has ta8en a Hqualitatie leapHG e)pansion has beensuch that it has moed to a higher order and, thus, to a hori2on of possibilities for giingand receiing forms, un8non during thousands of years of history. 5he productieforces are no longer beleaguered by and sub(ected to the unierse beyond the orldconquered by them =a unierse called HatureH>, but hae become if not more puissant

than it then more poerful in so far as their specific ob(ecties are concernedG theyappear to hae eentually appointed man to the promised hierarchy of Hlord and masterHof the Earth. 6s early as the Hinention of 6mericaH =E. O:orman>, hen the Earthfinally rounded its figure for /an and coneyed to him a means by hich to measurehis finiteness in the infinite Anierse, an incident of far1reaching and irreersible effectas set in motion in the deep history of slo times and eents of long duration. 6mutation in the ery structure of the Hnatural formH 11the elementary ciili2ationarysubstratum11 of the social reproduction process gradually began to undermine the baseson hich all traditional societies 11ithout e)ception11 throughout history had foundedtheir original code of life. 5his raised the age1old suspicion again, no on the strengthof much more trustorthy data if scarcity as not, in fact, the Hcurse sine $ua nonH ofhuman reality. 5helemosmodel, hich has inspired eery pro(ect of the historicale)istence of /an, by ma8ing it a ar strategy that conditions surial in terms of theannihilation or e)ploitation of the ther =of the human other, of ature>, is not the only

possibilityG one might, ithout it being an illusion, imagine a different one, in hich thether is called folloing the model of)ros.

5he essenceof modernity is constituted at a crucial moment in the history of 3esternciili2ation and consists of a challenge, hich it proo8ed and hich only it 11in itsEuropean concreteness11 as in a position to perceie and recogni2e as such. 5hischallenge poses the need to choose for itself and for ciili2ation as a hole an historical

course radically different from the traditional course, gien that it has the real possibilityto dispose of an Minstrumental fieldN that is so technically efficient that can ma8eabundance may replace scarcity as the origin and primary e)perience of the human raceon this earth. Just as hen a play has, for reasons beyond its control, to rerite its te)tin the middle of a performance because the motif of its dramatic tension hasunaccountably anished, so the discoery of the grounds of modernity placed 3esternciili2ation in a situation of internal conflict and rupture, and this earlier than otherciili2ations that ould only e)perience it much later and ith a lesser degree ofinteriori2ation. 5he European estern ciili2ation had une)pectedly to gie form =or toconert into its substance> to a ne state of things 11that the fantasy of the human racehas alays portrayed as the most desirable but the least feasible11 hich suddenly ent

in quite the opposite direction from that of the state of things on hich it, li8e all theother ciili2ations, as based.


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5he effectie historical configurations of modernity loo8 li8e the unfolding ofdistinctie re1formations of itself that the European 3est can HinentH 11some asisolated efforts and others coordinated in ambitious global pro(ects11, from the mostelementary leel of its on structure, for the purpose of responding to that absolutenoelty. 5hese different modernitiesof the modern age, hich ere partially if not

totally successful depending on the case, do not, by any means, He)haustH the essence ofmodernity and thus erase the critical moment of choice, decision and reali2ation that itimpliesG instead, they are continually alerting it to ne perspecties from hich it mayassert itself and are reitali2ing each critical moment in its on ay. 5he manymodernities are figures endoed ith concrete itality because they continue toconstitute themseles in conflict as attempts to form a matter, hich has still not lost itsrebellious spirit.

f all the effectie modernities throughout history, the modernity of mechani2edindustrial capitalism along orth European lines has been, up to no, the mostfunctional and the one hich appears to hae manifested its potentialities to the greatest

e)tent from the si)teenth century up to the present day, this form of modernity has beenfashioned around the radical moe of subordinating the productionPconsumption processto HcapitalismH, as a peculiar mode of accumulating mercantile ealth.

6ny discourse that aspires to say something interesting about contemporary life must becritical. riticism is brought into play at that moment of reflection hen it incises thecharacteristics of modernity as it Hreally isH and dis1coers its essenceG this is a decisiemoment of great significance in that modernity is caught unaares in its polymorphousstate of ambialence and lac8 of definition by some deice hich proposes to de1stroytheoretically its concrete capitalist configurations. 5he bac8 of historical continuityoffers an impeccable guide to the senses of touch and sight. 7oeer, it hides scars,stumps of mutilated organs and een bleeding ounds, hich only come to light hen ahand or an eye runs oer it Hagainst the grainH. For this reason, it is not orth respectingthe realG it is better to doubt the rationality that bos don before the orld as it HreallyisH, not only as the best =gien its reality> but also as the only possible orld, and totrust in another less HrealisticH and officious rationality that does not e)clude liberty. -nthis ay, it may be shon that hat is has no more Hright to beH than hat as not butcould hae beenG that underlying the established pro(ect of modernity there areopportunities for an alternatie pro(ect, hich 11more in line ith the possibilities for anall1encompassing assertion of life that it has in essence11 hae not yet been e)hausted.

-t is 8non that history cannot retrace its steps that each step ta8en runs trough the placeit stepped on. Een that hich is presented as an improement or correction of a gienfigure is really a ne ersion of the same in order that it may be consered andadopted, it has had, at the same time, to destroy and re(ect it. 5he grounds of modernityremains by no means untouched by the history of capitalist forms that, in a successionof en(ambments, hae conerted it in their substanceG the imprint is indelible11profound, decisie and definitie. -t ould, hoeer, do no harm to call into questionyet again that old coniction 11re(uenated no ith relief after the lesson of Mpost1Q$disenchantmentH11 that reduces the course of modernity to this imprint and ta8es it forgranted that modernity and capitalism are equialentG and, moreoer, to address yet

again the problem of hether the utopia of a post1capitalist modernity 11socialist,communist, anarchistI11 is still reali2able.


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Thesis $. Mar% and Modernity

/ar)Rs theoretical deconstruction of politico1economic discourse outlines numerous

conceptual bridges leading toards the problemati2ation of modernity. 5he main ones,hich emerge from the center of his critical pro(ect, may be found in the folloingmoments of his understanding of capitalism.

a> 5he hypothesis that attempts to e)plain the characteristics of modern economic lifeby means of a definition of its structure as a tofold and contradictory eentG as theresult of forced unification, een though historically necessary, by means of hich a

formalprocess of the production of surplus alue and accumulation of capital =that is tosay, the stratum of the abstract e)istence of economic life as Hforming S bildungT ofvalueH> subsumes or subordinates a realprocess of transformation of the nature andrestoration of the social body =that is to say, the stratum of concrete e)istence ofeconomic life as Hforming SbildungT of *ealthH>. 5his subsumption or subordinationould otherise present to different leels or states, according to the degree and typeof its form1giing effect. -n the first, a HformalH state, the capitalist mode, alreadyinternali2ed by society, only changes the property conditions of the process of

productionPconsumption and still e)erts an e)ternal influence on the traditionalqualitatie balance beteen the system of consumer needs and the system of productiecapacitiesG in the second, a HrealH or substantial state, the social internali2ation of thismode, upsets, by penetrating the technical structure of the productionPconsumption

process, the balance of the inner or8ings dialectics beteen needs and capacitiesithout offering any alternatie qualitatie proposal.

b> 5he description of the difference and complementarity beteen the structuring ofeconomic life in Msimple mercantileN terms =productionPconsumption and circulation ofthe elements of ob(ectie ealth> and its configuration deeloped along Mcapitalist1mercantileN lines. Li8eise, the understanding of the history of this complementarity,from the period in hich capitalism appears as the only sound guarantee of mercantileeconomic life to the period in hich mercantile life seres merely as a mas8 forcapitalism. 6 single process, but to opposite meanings. n the one hand, the capitalist

behaior of the mar8et is the instrument for the e)pansion and consolidation of themercantile structure as the fundamental and e)clusie ordering of all the circulation ofsocial ealth =at the cost of other traditional or HnaturalH orderings>. n the other hand,

the mercantile structure is the instrument for the e)pansion and consolidation of thecapitalist form of economic behaior as the dominant mode of production andconsumption of social ealth.

c> 5he deriation of the concept of reification and mercantile fetishism and of that ofalienation and capitalist fetishism 11as critical categories of modern ciili2ation ingeneral11 based on the theory that contrasts the simple merchandi2ation of the

productionPconsumption process of social ealth =as an e)ternal phenomenon hichdoes not dare to touch the human or8 force> ith its capitalist merchandi2ation =hich

penetrates it trough the subordination of the or8 force>. 5his deriation defines simplemercantile reification as the historical process in hich the capacity of self1constitution

=and of sociali2ation of indiiduals>, proper to eery society, can no longer beaccomplished in a direct and oluntary =HnecessaryH> manner but has to be reali2ed in


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obedience to ha2ard, that is to say, than8s to the inert unifying and generali2ing actionof the circulatory mechanism of commodities. ing to this, autar8y or soereignty isno longer crystalli2ed as an attribute of a personali2ed social sub(ect 11as in ancienthistory hen this crystalli2ation as perceied as a mechanism to protect the threatenedcollectie identity11 and remains as a mere possibility for the same. -ncluded in this

process, the hole of things 11no the Horld of commoditiesH11 is not only the series ofnatural circuits beteen production and consumption but becomes, at the same time, thesum of relations that HmiraculouslyH unite priate indiiduals, ho are defined precisely

by their independence from or lac8 of community. -t is no a 8ingdom of HfetishesHob(ects hich, going Mbehind the bac8sH of the producersPconsumers, and before eitherhas any concrete dealings ith the other, guarantee them the minimum of abstractsociality that their actiity requires. -n contrast to this simple mercantile reification,capitalist mercantile reification, or alienation, is made manifest as an historical processin hich a mechanism interferes ith, limits and distorts the actiity of ha2ard, theinstance that goerns basic mercantile sociali2ation. 5his mechanism, hich is arelation of e)ploitation mystified as an e)change of equi1alents =the e)change of salary

for or8> turns the inequality of onership in the means of production into a guaranteethat one social class ill rule oer another. onsequently, fetishism of capitalistmerchandise ould also differ from elementary mercantile fetishismG far from being animpartial medium 11both HsupernaturalH, beteen oner and oner, and then HnaturalH,

beteen producer and consumer11 the Horld of commoditiesH determined by capitalismimposes a structural tendency both on the confrontation of the supply and demand ofcommodities and on the poer game hich secures the netor8 of abstractsociali2ationG in accordance ith its dominant dynamic, of money that becomescommodity that becomes increased money S/11=/Um>T, it faors eery actiity andinstitution that crosses its path and is hostile to any other that attempts to counter it.

d> 5he differentiation of specifically capitalist productiism in relation to other forms ofproductiism throughout the economic history, deeloped in conditions of scarcity. -tsdefinition as the necessity of capitalist economic life Hto produce by and for

productionRs sa8eH and not for either sub(ectie purposes, such as meeting needs, orob(ectie purposes, such as increasing ealth =abstract or concrete>. -t is only as a resultof a production that is its on ob(ectie, that is to say, only in so far as it promptlyredirects the greatest possible part of the e)ploited surplus alue toards the productiesphere that the ealth constituted as capital can effectiely assert itself as such andcontinues to e)ist.

e> 5he discoery of destructieness hich, in essence, characteri2es the only channelthat the capitalist reproduction of social ealth can open to the inescapable adent ofthe modern technological reolution, to its adoption and operation in the process of

production and consume. 5he Hgeneral la of capitalist accumulationH 11deeloped as a8ey theoretical conclusion of /ar)Rs critical discourse on political economy from theelementary distinction beteen Mconstant capitalN and Mariable capitalN and thee)amination of the Morganic composition of capitalN11 ma8es manifest the ineitablegeneration and reproduction of an Hindustrial resere armyH, the condemnation of one

part of the social body to the statusof a surplus, dispensable and, thus, disposableentity. -t portrays economic life ruled by the reproduction of capital as that of anorganism possessed by the incurable folly of self1aggressie iolence.


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f> 5he locali2ation of the grounds of capitalist technological progressism in thenecessity =alien in itself to the logic of the pure capitalist form> of the multiplicity of

priate conglomerates of capital to compete ith each other for Hsupplementary profitH.Anli8e the rent on the land, this profit can only be yielded by a relatiely long1lastingmonopoly of technical innoation hich is capable both of increasing productiity in a

gien or8 center and of ma8ing the merchandise produced in it more competitie oerand aboe the mar8et norm.

g> 5he e)plication of capitalist industrialism 11the oerhelming tendency to diminishthe relatie importance of the non1manufactured =natural and rural> means of productionin faor of those means of production hose e)istence almost entirely depends onmanpoer =artificial or urban products>11 as the result of the rialry beteen the to

poles of monopoli2ed property to appropriate Msupplementary profitN, to hichcapitalist property oners hae to concede rights during the process of determining theMaerage profitN. Land property, hich has access to the resources and the most

productie dispositions of nature, defends its traditional right to conert the global fund

of supplementary profit into payment for this domain, into Mrent on the landN. 5he onlyproperty in a position to challenge this right, hich has consistently imposed its oncause throughout the tentieth entury, is the relatiely long1lasting dominion oertechnical innoation in the industrial means of production. -t is this property hichforces the conersion of a groing part of the supplementary profits into payment for itsdominion oer this other HterritoryH, into a Htechnological rentH.

Thesis &. The Characteristic !eatures o# Modern 'i#e

5he many features that facilitate the comprehension of modern life may be organi2edaccording to fie distinctie phenomena of the e)isting pro(ect of modernity, or better,to fie distinctie ambialences supposedly soled by each of them.

#umanism

7umanism consists of the tendency of human life not only to create an autonomousorld for itself =a cosmos>, relatie independent of the ther =chaos>, but to subordinatethe reality of the latter to that of the formerG its eagerness to constitute itself as Man, asan independent sub(ect or basis of+ature11of all the infra1 supra1 or e)tra1human11,

hich it conerts into pure ob(ect, a mere counterpart of itself. By means of thepermanent annihilation or e)pulsion of chaos, hich implies an eer1reneedelimination or coloni2ation of MbarbarismN, humanism affirms an order and imposes aciili2ation that originates in the presumably definitie triumph of rationali2edtechnique oer magical technique. 5his may be called Hthe death of the first half of:odH, and it consists of the abolition of the diine1numinous as a guarantee of theeffectieness of the instrumental medium of society. :od ceases to e)ist as thefoundation of the necessity for cosmic order, as authentic proof of the pact beteen thescarifying community and the consenting ther. -f productiity as formerly assigned

by ;estiny, an arbitrary superior attainable through offerings and incantation, it is nothe result of ha2ard, tamed by the poer of techno1mercantile reason.


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7umanist orld1construction implies a hybris, or a anthropomorphist e)cess 11hichforces the ther to behae li8e MatureN, that is, li8e all the reseres =HbestandH> at/anRs disposal11, the clue to hich is in the practical efficiency of both 8noledgee)ercised as Mor8 of appropriationN of that hich it has before it and the mathematical1quantitatie pattern of the reason employed as instrument. 5he economic success of his

strategy as a animal rationalein the ar against ature coninces /an of his positionas sub(ect, foundation or self1sufficient actiity, and encourages him to put himself asmaster, superior to all the elements =from the simple humani2ed nature, be it of theindiidual body or of common territory, to the most elaborate instruments and

behaiors>, superior to all the functions =from the most material, procreatie orproductie to the most spiritual, political or aesthetic> and superior to all the dimensions=from the most habitual and automatic to the most e)traordinary and creatie> of the

process of social reproduction.

/odern rationalism11that is the reduction, first, of the specificity of the human being toits faculty of thin8ing, and second, of these to the mode of its reali2ation in the techno1

mercantile pra)is11 is the clearest e)pression of the humanist delusion of capitalistmodernity.

$rogressism

7istoricity is an essential characteristic of social actiity. 7uman life is only suchbecause it is concerned ith the changes to hich it is sub(ected by the course of timeGits ineitability is assimilated and mechanisms are created to face it. 5o coincidental

but opposing processes alays constitutes historical transformation the process ofinnoation or substitution of the old by the ne and the process of renoation orrestoration of the old as ne. 'rogressism consists of the affirmation of a mode ofhistoricity in hich the first process preails oer, and dominates, the second. -n strictly

progressist terms, all the practical and discursie deices that ma8e possible and shapethe reproduction process of society 11from the technical procedures of production andconsumption through the uses of speech and the conceptual apparatuses, including eenthe patterns of taste and sociability, to the festie ceremonies11 are immersed in amoement of unaoidable change hich ill transpose them from the outmoded to theupdated, Hfrom the imperfect to the unsurpassableH.

'ure HmodernistH progressism enerates innoatie noelty as if it ere an absolutepositie alue. -t gies access to hat is alays better an increase in ealth, an

improement in the principles of freedom and (ustice, the refinement of ciili2ation. -ngeneral, time is e)perienced as a continuous, linear and qualitatiely ascendant flo,sub(ected to the irresistible attraction of the future as a site of e)cellenceG the present,alays surpassed and oid of content oing to the speed of time, has an instantaneous,eanescent reality, hile the past, lac8ing a reality of its on, is nothing more than thatresidue of a present that resisted the pull of the future.

%rbanicism

5his is the elemental form in hich humanism and progressism acquire spontaneousconcretion. 5he constitution of the orld of life, understood as the substitution of order

for chaos and of barbarism for ciili2ation, is channeled through the ery specialrequirements of the process by hich the :reat ity is constructed as the proper site of


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the human. 5he ciili2ing process implies a dialectics beteen city life and rural lifeunder a clear dominance of the formerG urbaniscism brea8s ith this dialectics, itstendency is to destroy rural life.

Arbanicism is the characteristic of a process that tends to concentrate the four different

graitational poles of specifically modern social actiity on the geographical plane a>the industriali2ation of productie or8G b> the commercial and financial potentiation ofmercantile circulationG c> the refunctionali2ation of the crisis of traditional identities,and d> the nationali2ation of political actiity. 5his is progressism transmuted into thespatial dimensionG the tendency to construct and reconstruct human territory as theincessant materiali2ation of the time of progress. utside lies rural space, a strongholdof the past, dependent, dominated and separated from the natural periphery by anunstable boundaryG this mosaic of remnants forgotten or established by a eb of urbanconnections is the place of agoni2ing time hardly een itali2ed by contagion. 6t thecenter lies the city or donton area, the site of indefatigable actiity and creatierestlessness, the Habyss from hich the present is hurledH or the place here the future

emerges or comes into e)istence. 6nd, inside, fanning out beteen the periphery andthe nucleus, lies the constellation of urban conglomerates of ery different magnitude,function and importance urban space, the site of liing time that, in its repeatedspiraling centripetal a8e of futuristic acceleration, topographically spreads thehierarchy of independence and domination.

&ndividualism

-s a certain tendency in the sociali2ation of indiiduals, in their recognition andinclusion as potentially functional members of the human raceG a tendency to priilegethat constitution of personal identity hich originates in an abstract nucleus theire)istence as priate oners =producersPconsumers> of commodities, that is, asspecimens of an anonymous mass, integrated from the outside into it and its qualitatieundifferentiation. -t treats of the constitution of a person imposed through and yetagainst all that sources of concrete sociali2ation of the indiidual 11traditional as ell asne11, hich are aa8ing in him from the inside qualitatie comple) communalidentities.

5his constitution firstly diides the social1natural e)istence of man in such a ay thatthe indiidual, as asovereign po*erto dispose of things =as a soul untainted by use1alue>, confronts himself li8e an obectlocated among his possessions =li8e a body that

can Mbe onN, li8e an e)ternal apparatus made out of dries and desires>. -t turns,secondly, the oppositionbeteen the intimate and the collectie eeryday life of theindiidual into the contradictionbeteen its priate and its public interestsG the need tospare energy for himself and the compulsion to alidate himself in the mar8etplacecollide. reated from the death of Hthe other half of :odH 11the death of diinityconceied as a cohesie factor of the community11 that is, from the failure of thereligious metamorphosis of the political, indiidualism stries to replace the diineabsence and rectify the deiation of the political by artificially re1synthesi2ing the socialsubstance in the figure of ation. 6s an entity ith a purely functional consistency,dependent on state enterprise, the modern ation is based on the coniction that theconcrete identity required ill emerge spontaneously from the remnants of the Hnatural

nationH hich it denies and ignores, that is, from the mere agglomeration or


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massification of perfectly free or abstract =that is, detached> indiiduals as compatriotsor countrymen =Hvol,sgenosseH>.

ultural relatiism 11Neach ersion of the human is irreducible and all of them areequialentN11, the result of the dissolution of the diine guarantee that assimilates

human essence to one particular figure, and ethical nihilism 11Neery norm of behaioris arbitrary and so incapable of supporting any concrete engagementN11, the outcome ofthe subsequent emancipation from eeryday life ith respect to the archaic norms of thecode of social conduct, characteri2e the starting point for the modern construction of thesocial orld. apitalist indiidualism ta8es up the cause of both and stages their defensein such a ay that their meaning is une)pectedly inerted relatiism becomes theabsolute condition for national culture 11NapartheidN, tolerance that represses the cultureof identitary differences11 and nihilism 11repression of political commitment11 is seen asthe conditiosine $ua nonof ciili2ed life.

conomicism

Economicismrefers to the decisie ascendancy gained by the civildimension of sociallife, in hich indiiduals are constituted as bourgeois or priate entrepreneurs, oer its

politicaldimension, hich positions indiiduals as citi2ens or members of the republic.5his ascendancy e)acts the subordination of all political decisions and proisions tothose that specifically correspond to political economy. 5he ma(ority of the national

population is thus inoled in the 9tate, an historic enterprise hose essential content isHthe promotion of the enrichment of allH, understood as an abstract increase in the sumof priate fortunes.

6lthough economicism has its origins in the possibility 11only opened by modernity11 ofobtaining equality and brea8ing ith the traditionally ineitable transcription ofqualitatie inter1indiidual differences as grades in the hierarchy of poer, itsystematically reproduces inequality and submission. H0ou are hat you onH the

pertinence of this abstract and impartial formula, by means of hich economicismclaims possession of the secrets to equality, is based on the alidity of the Hla of aluegrounded on or8H as a deice that can guarantee Hdistributie (usticeH, the equal

partition of ealth. 7oeer, if the Hla of alueH is to be imposed, it must be iolatedby economicism itselfG oer and aboe this la, economicism must accept that thepossession of things cannot be reduced to hat is generated by indiidual or8. 5hela must be applied 11if needed by coercion11 merely as a principle of coherence that is

neither all1embracing nor all1poerfulG although its sphere of action is central andindispensable for modern economic life, it e)ists precisely to be oerruled and abusedby the other poers e)erted oer ealth hich are unrelated to the sphere of action thatproceeds from the creation of alue trough or8 the poers related to property basedon iolence of money, of land, of technology.

Thesis 5. Capitalism and the mi*alence o# Modernity

5he presence of capitalist modernity is in itself ambialent. either its glorification nor

its disparagement can be pure precisely in that hich motiates its glorification reststhe reason for its condemnation. 5he ambialence of capitalist modernity stems from


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the folloing parado)ically, the most radical attempt to interiori2e the grounds ofmodernity registered by history 11the conquest of abundance embar8ed upon byEuropean 3estern ciili2ation11 could be brought about only by means of theorgani2ation of economic life based precisely upon the denial of those grounds. -n orderto assert itself and remain as it is, the capitalist mode of production of social ealth

requires an eer1reneed infra1satisfaction of the corpus of social needs established ineach case.

/ar)Rs Hgeneral la of capitalist accumulationH, the culmination of his theoreticaldeconstruction of political economy 11the modern scientific discourse par e!cellenceconcerning human reality11 states this clearly =after demonstrating ho the Horganiccomposition of capitalH tends to gro, after shoing the propensity of capital to inestitself increasingly in the means of production and not in the or8 force>

M5he la in accordance ith hich a continually increasing quantity of the means ofproduction can, than8s to the adance in the productiity of social labor, be set in

motion by a progressiely diminishing e)penditure of human energy 1 this la in acapitalist society =here the or8er does not ma8e use of the means of production, buthere the means of production ma8es use of the or8er>, undergoes a completeinersion, and is e)pressed as follos the higher productiity of labor, the greater is the

pressure of the or8ers on the means of employmentG and the more precarious,therefore, becomes their condition for e)istence, namely the sale of their on labor

poer for the increasing of anotherRs ealth, or to promote the self1e)pansion of capital.Ander capitalism, li8eise, the fact that the means of production and the

productiity of labor go more rapidly than does the productie population,secures e)pression in an inerse ay, namely that the or8ing population alays goesmore quic8ly than capitalRs need for self1e)pansion.N=V>.

3ithout surplus population, the capitalist mode loses its deiating but possibiliting roleas mediator ithin the process of productionPconsumption of social ealth. 5herefore,the first tas8 of the capitalist economy is to reproduce the conditions of e)istence of itson form the incessant construction and reconstruction of an artificial scarcity, and this

precisely from the reneed possibilities of abundance. European ciili2ation embar8edupon its enture to conquer and assimilate the Mne orldN promised by the material re1grounding of historical e)istenceG the eapon ielded as capitalist economy. But the

behaior of this economy, although effectie, as double. 5his duplicity is repeated in aparticulari2ed manner in each and eery one of the icissitudes of the enture

capitalism instigated European ciili2ation to design a schematic ay to lie human lifethat is not only desirable but actually possible. -t as a pro(ect directed toards thepotentiation of the possibilities for freedom in human lifeG but this as done only tocompel this design to become, at one fell soop, a ridiculous composition, a moc8ery ofitself.

5he fascinating and yet intolerable facts and things of dominant modernity manifest thathich constitutes the unity of capitalist economy under the guise of ambialence theirreconcilable contradiction beteen the concrete sense of the process ofor8Pen(oyment =a Hsocial1naturalH sense>, on the one hand, and the abstract sense ofthe process of alori2ationPaccumulation =a Hsocial1alienatedH sense>, on the other.


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/ar)Rs description, e)planation and criticism of capital 11the Health of nationsH in itshistorical capitalist form11 allo for the theoretical deconstruction and theunderstanding of the ambialence made apparent in the eeryday e)perience of thedistinctie phenomena characteri2ing dominant modernity.

6ccording to /ar), the capitalist form or mode of social ealth 11its production,circulation and consumption11 is the ineitable mediation, the only path found byhistorical circumstance hich turned the possibility of modern ealth into an effectierealityG hoeer, it is a path that deploys its necessity as an imposition and its serice asan oppression by e)cluding eer1increasing possibilities among those hich it is calledupon to direct. 6s a donator of form, capitalist mediation implies a denial of thesubstance that is shaped by itG but it is a ea8 denial. -nstead of or8ing toards theresolution or Hdialectic transcendingH of its contradiction ith the possibilities ofmodern ealth, capitalist mediation only manages to neutrali2e it ithin the figures thatresole it either falsely or rongly and hich presere it as it is in an increasinglyintricate manner.

-ndispensable as it is to the concrete e)istence of modern social ealth, capitalistmediation cannot assert itself as an essential condition for its e)istence, nor can itsynthesi2e a genuinely ne figure for it. 5he totality shaped by it, een hen it reallydoes penetrate the process of reproduction and is e)panded as one of the technicalconditions of this process, is the result of a forced totali2ation. -t maintains acontradictory polarity is constituted by the relations of integration or subordination ofHnatural ealthH under a form imposed on it.

5he labor process in itself or the production of ob(ects ith use1alue generates nequalitatie principles of complementation beteen the or8 force and the means of

productionG proposals of ad(ustment hich, running contrary to their traditionalcompulsoriness and utilitarianism, tend to arouse the ludic and gratuitous dimensionrepressed by the netor8 of technical connections that unite them. 7oeer, thisactiity cannot be reali2ed unless it obeys a principle of complementation of a differentorder, hich deries from the production =e)ploitation> of surplus alue. 6ccording tothis principle, productie actiity 11the con(unction of the to factors of the labor

process11 is none other than an inestment of capital, hich e)ists only to gie MariablecapitalN =representing, in terms of alue, the or8force of the or8er> the opportunity toincrease the Mconstant capitalN =representing, in terms of alue, the capitalist means of

production> hen it is reproduced.

-n this respect, there is a contradiction in the unitary principle of complementation,hich rules the con(unction of the labor force and the means of production and hichdetermines the selection of the productie techniques in capitalist economy. -t cannotta8e adantage of the ne possibilities of this productie ad(ustment ithout reducing

both protagonists to mere deices of the alori2ation of alue. either can it sustain thiscon(unction as a coincidence of the factors of capital, hich is destined to thee)ploitation of surplus alue, ithout e)posing it to the dangers of the qualitatieresistance that arouse from the ne technical relations beteen the sub(ect and theob(ect of production.

Li8eise, the process of consumption of produced goods in itself creates ne principlesof satisfaction, hich tend to conert the technical relation beteen need and means of


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satisfaction into a game of correspondences. eertheless, modern consumption occursonly if guided by a completely opposite principle of satisfaction that of HproductieconsumptionH hich transforms Msurplus alueN into Msurplus capitalN. 6ccording to this

principle, the appropriation of both salary and profit has the sole function of giing thealue produced the opportunity, hen reali2ed in the acquisition of merchandise, to

bring about the reproduction of capital =hich is forced to e)pand its scale>. 5hecapitalist principle of satisfaction of needs is therefore also intrinsically contradictoryto ta8e adantage of the diersification of the technical relation beteen needs andsatisfiers, it must iolate its play of qualitatie balances and sub(ect it to the time limitsand priorities of the accumulation of capitalG in turn, to e)tend and accelerate thisaccumulation, it must incite the Hchaotic and uncontrollableH efferescence of thisdiersifying process. 5o produce anything, be it small or large, simple or comple),material or spiritual, capitalist economy only requires that its production function as aehicle for the production of surplus alue. Li8eise, for something to be consumed, beit useable or utili2able, familiar or e)otic, essential or a lu)ury, the only requirement isthat the satisfaction it offers be integrated as a part of the accumulation of capital. -n

both cases, for the technical process to ta8e place it is necessary to ma8e a feasibletransformation or HtranslationH of its principle of Hsocial1naturalH reali2ation into a

principle of a different Hsocial1alienatedH order, that of the principle of the alori2ingactiity of alue hich is essentially incompatible ith it, since it necessarily restricts ore)aggerates it.

By adding production and consumption to circulation, the complete cycle of thereproduction of modern social ealth is constituted as a totali2ation that forcibly unifiesthe process of reproduction of HnaturalH social ealth ith the =e)tended> process ofreproduction of capital as one operation =simultaneously and in the same place>.

6ccording to the aboe, the profound dynamic that the capitalist process of thereproduction of social ealth contributes to the course of modern history comes fromthe itinerary of intermittent repolari2ation and recomposition, hich is the outcome ofits inherent contradiction the e)clusion or reciprocal antagonism beteen its trans1historical substance, that is, the primary or HnaturalH form in hich it is reali2ed ore)ecuted, and an artificial but necessary secondary form according to hich it ise)ecuted only as a process of Hself1alori2ation of alueH.

Thesis +. Modern ,istory and the -ealiations o# Capitalism

5he different modernities or distinct models of modernity that competed before theestablishment of capitalist modernity, together ith those models that compete no asariations of it, compose their actual concretion in relation to the great ariety of

possibilities in hich the real fact capitalismbecomes present.

n the synchronic a)is, there seem to be at least three sources of diersification of thisreality, hich must be distinguished

1-ts amplitude the relatie e)tension in hich the sector sub(ected to the reproduction

of capital interenes in the global economic life of a societyG the e)clusie, dominant orsimply participatory character of this sector in the reproduction of social ealth.


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6ccording to this criterion, the economic life of a socio1political and historical entitymay be integrated in differing degrees into the dominant economic life of the planet,globali2ed by capitalist accumulationG spheres dominated by other forms of economy11not only of production11 may coe)ist ith the capitalist sphereG they can eendominate it, although the capitalist density or HqualityH may be ery high.

1-ts density the relatie intensity ith hich the capitalist form or mode subsumes theprocess of reproduction of social ealth.

6ccording to this criterion, capitalism may gie shape or modify the HeconomyH of thesociety as either a factor e)clusie to the sphere of the circulation of the goods producedor as a factor that also deranges the sphere of productionPconsumption of these goods. -nthe second of these cases, the effect of capitalism is different depending on hether it isonly a HformalH capitalism, or a substantial =HrealH> capitalism, proper to the technicalstructure of this process of productionPconsumption.

1-ts differential function the relatie location of the economy of a society ithin thepolari2ed geography of the orld economy.

3hether core or peripheral, the differential tas8s of the multiple specific economiesithin the capitalist scheme of technical speciali2ation or Hinternational diision oflaborH modify the effectieness of the las of accumulation of capital, that is to say, thecapitalist model HunfoldsH into different complementary ersions of itself.

n the diachronic a)is, the source of diersification of capitalistreality seems to arisefrom the correlatie changes in the graitation of the to main poles of monopolisticdistortion of the sphere of mercantile circulation through the passage of time theonership of natural resources =HlandH> and the onership of technological secrecy.6lthough not (ustified by or8 but imposed by force, the possession of these Mmeans of

production, hich are not producedN, or of ob(ects Mithout alue but ith a priceN, hasa decisie influence on the conversionof the sum of valuesof e)isting social ealth inits form asproductinto the sum ofpricesof the e)isting social ealth in its form as a

good.

3hether e)tensie or restricted, dense or sparse, core or peripheral, the reality ofcapitalism has hung oer the modern history of the last hundred years under the guise ofan unequal battle beteen these to poles of distortion of the las of the mar8et.

'henomena li8e the deastation of the actual configuration of nature during this centuryindicate that the irreersible tendency of the history of capitalist economy is that theonership of technology ta8es precedence, in no uncertain terms, oer the onership ofland as basis of the right to Me)traordinary profitN.

Thesis /. The 0uadruple ethos o# Capitalist Modernity

5he ob(ectie form of the modern orld hich must be ineitably assimilated inpractice by all those ho agree to lie by its terms is dominated by the presence of

capitalist reality, by the fact of capitalismG that is, in the final instance, by a permanentconflict beteen the dynamic of the Hsocial1natural formH of social e)istence and the


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dynamic of the reproduction of its ealth as Halori2ation of alueH 11a conflict in hichthe former must be subsumed to and sacrificed to the latter incessantly. 5he assimilationof the fact of capitalism, the neutrali2ation of its contradiction as a necessary conditionfor the practical e)istence of the Morld of lifeN entails deeloping an ethos orspontaneous behaior capable of integrating and accepting it as the basis for the familiar

and secure HharmonyH of eeryday life.

5here are four pure or elementary ethethat construct the dierse comple) spontaneities,hich human beings deelop in their eeryday e)perience of life made possible bymodern capitalism.

1 5he first ay to accept the capitalist fact as HnaturalH is by assuming an attitude ofaffirmatie and militant identification ith the claim that the accumulation of capital notonly represents the interests of the Hsocial1naturalH process of reproduction faithfully,hen in truth it represses or deforms them, but is also at the serice of its potentiation.5his spontaneity ould MdenegateN the contradiction and ma8e of the alori2ation of

alue and the concrete deelopment of the productie forces not only to coincidentaldynamics but a sole, unitary dynamic. 5his elementary ethosmay be called realistdueto its affirmation of the unsurpassable efficacy and beneolence of the established orHreally e)istingH orld, and of the impossibilityof an alternatie orld.

1 5he second ay of naturali2ing capitalism, hich is (ust as militant as the preiousone, implies the identification of the same to terms, the denegation of its contradiction,

but it does it as an affirmation of the opposite not of alue but of use1alue. -n thiscase, Halori2ationH seems to be entirely reducible to the Hnatural formH. 6n issue of theHspirit of enterpriseH, it ould be no other than a ariation of this form, since this spiritould, in turn, be one of the figures or sub(ects that conert history into a permanentadenture, both for human beings and life in general. 6lthough probably pererse, li8ethe metamorphosis of the fallen 6ngel into 9atan, this metamorphosis of the HgoodorldH or the Hnatural formH into the capitalist HhellH ould not cease to be a HmomentHof the HmiracleH of reation. 5his peculiar ay of liing ith capitalism, hich isaffirmed to the e)tent that it transfigures capitalism into its counterpart, is characteristicof to the romantic ethos.

1 6 third ay, hich may be called classical, of spontaneously assimilating theintegration of the process of social e)istence into the history of the Malori2ation ofalueN ould consist of liing it as a transcendent necessity, that is, as a fact reaching

beyond the sphere of action hich corresponds to hat is human. 6 blessing on the onehand =as the offspring of harmony> and a curse on the other =as the offspring ofconflict>, the combination of the natural and the capitalist is seen as a metaphysicaleent, distanced or presupposed as a closed destiny, the closure of hich opens the

possibility of a orld suitable for the human condition. For this ethos, hateer attitudeadopted for or against hat is established, hich is militant either for its enthusiasm orits protest and claims to be effectie 11instead of recogni2ing its limits ithin thedimension of understanding =ith equanimity and distance of stoic rationalism>11appears naie and superfluous.

1 6 fourth ay of integrating capitalism into the spontaneity of eeryday life ould

complete the quadruple elementary system of the preailing ethos of establishedmodernity.-aro$ueart may lend its name to modernity because, li8e him, it is too an


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Haffirmation of life ithin deathH =:. Bataille> 1in its theatrical use of the indisputableformal canon, baroque art found the opportunity to animate all its petrified gestures andto reitali2e the situation in hich it as constituted as a negation and sacrifice of thether. 5his is a strategy of fidelity to the Hnatural formH hich parado)ically originatesin the e)perience of this form as sacrificed. Hbeying ithout fulfillingH the

consequences of its sacrifice, turning the HeilH progress of history into HgoodH, baroqueethos claims to reconstruct the concreteness of the orld of life from the remains ofdeastating abstraction and to re1inent its qualities posing them as Hsecond gradeH,theatrical qualities, surreptitiously insufflating an indirect breath into the resistance thator8 and en(oyment of the Huse1aluesH offer to the predominance of the process ofalori2ation.

eedless to say, none of these four ethethat ma8e up the pure system of Hhabits andcustomsH or the elementary ciili2ational Hrefuge and coerH of capitalist modernityeer e)ist independentlyG in the actual life of the different modern Hconstructions of theorldH, each one is alays found in combination ith the others in different ays

according to the circumstances. 7oeer, one or other may play a leading role in thiscomposition, organi2e ho it combines ith the others and force them to translatethemseles into it so as to ma8e themseles manifest. nly in this relatie sense mayone spea8, for e)ample, of a HclassicalH as opposed to a HromanticH modernity, aHbaroqueH as opposed to a Hrealist mentalityH.

riginating in different periods of modernity, that is, in relation to distinct successieimpulses of capitalism 11the /editerranean, orthern, 3estern or entral European11the different modern ethe configure contemporary social e)istence from differentHarchaeologicalH strata or historical residues. Each one has thus acted upon society in itson ay and gien preference to one dimension of society here it has e)panded itsaction. For e)ample, Hthe baroqueH as probably the first decisie and generali2edatershed in the tendency of modern ciili2ation to reitali2e the traditional 3esterncode after each ne destructie ae arising from capitalist deelopment. 5he lastatershed, the HromanticH, ould hae a similar effect on the tendency of modern

politics to treat the legitimacy of the economic process as malleable material in thehands of great vl,eror great men. 5his lac8 of simultaneity in the constitution andcombination of the different etheis also the reason for hich they are systematicallydistributed unequally, in a complicated play of affinities and aersions throughout thegeography of the planet moderni2ed by the European or capitalist 3est

Thesis . European est and Capitalist Modernity

6 transposition of hat /ar) said in a nutshell about gold and the function of moneyEurope is not Hby natureH modern, but modernity is Hby natureH European.

;uring the /iddle 6ges, the fact that at least three great historical realities coincidedand interacted 11the construction of a ciili2ed orld of European measure, thesubordination of ealth to the mercantile form and the atholic consolidation of thehristian cultural pro(ect11 notably predisposed Europe to accept the challenge that as

included in an eent hich had matured ith the course of history the inersion of thepoer distribution beteen the human being and the non1human conditions of is life. -n


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retrospect, Europe appeared constructiely proto1modern, predestined for modernity.-ndeed, hen it became necessary, Europe, her territories and peoples found they ere

particularly ell prepared to gie the grounds of modernity a chance to eoleG unli8ethe East, here it as diffused and submitted to traditional social syntheti2ation,circumstances in Europe ere such that it could readily be adopted and interiori2ed as a

principle for restructuring human life as a hole.

First.5he degree of comple)ity ruling the dialectic beteen scarcity and productiismin the Heconomy1orldH hich had been deeloped in Europe as in the eleenthcentury undoubtedly the most pronounced in 8non historical circumstances. 5hereere seeral Htemperate 2onesH on the planet in hich a Me)aggeratedN high degree ofcomple)ity of the system that (oins production capacities ith consumer necessities inthe social metabolism as not an unusual e)cess but a generali2ed condition ofe)istenceG in other ords, there ere in the planet plenty of regions in hich Mthedeelopment of man had become a necessity for ature itselfN=#>. f all these, hoeer,only the Hsmall continentH of Europe found itself in the midst of its Hciili2ational

reolutionH and inoled in the process of constructing itself as a concrete totality ofproductie forces. 6t the time, it as the only region that had the appropriateenironment for the acceptance and cultiation of an eent hich consisted primarily of

potentiating the productiity of human labor and thus of e)tending the scale of humanMmetabolismN ith ature. 6boe all, as an economic orld hich as in a position todiide or8 regionally hile maintaining technological coherence ithin its imprecise

but undeniable geographical frontiers, the European continent had the HoptimalmeasureH to be the scenario of such an eent.

Second. ;uring the emergence of Europe, the merchandi2ation of the process of thecirculation of ealth 11accompanied by its fundamental tool, alue, and its 8eyoperation, e)change by equi1alence11 ent beyond the limits of this sphere and

penetrated the ery structure of production and consumption. /oreoer, it becamegenerali2ed as the real subordination of concrete or8 and en(oyment to only one oftheir real dimensions, that in hich they e)isted, in abstract terms, as simple acts ofcrystalli2ing and de1crystalli2ing alue. 5he e)change of equi1alents as no longer (ustone of the modes of transaction hich coe)isted, helped and hindered each other on amar8et that had limited itself to being the means by hich goods could Hchange handsH,once they had been produced, and ealth, hich as, in the strict sense, surplus, could

be circulated. 5he period during hich it could do no more than e)ert a re1forming orHe)terior influenceH on the metabolism of the social body as no in the past. -t no

tended to monopoli2e the bul8 of this Hchanging of handsH of commodities, to promoteand priilege the mar8et of stoc8 still not produced =functioning as a credit mechanism>,thus becoming a technical intermediaryessential to the reproduction of social ealth.

5he merchandi2ation of the economic life in Europe reified the mechanism of thecirculation of ealth as the Msub(ectN, the Mhidden handN that distributed ealth. 5hus,gradually reduced the traditional poer of communities and landlords, as archaic

political sub(ects, to interfere in the distribution of goods and in theirproductionPconsumption. -t also freed or emancipated the indiidual or8er from hisregional obligations by inserting him, if only as a principle, in the uniersalism of thenascent orld mar8et.


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/hird. 5he hristian transformation of the Jeish identity, hich could only beaccomplished by re1functionali2ing :reco14oman identity and could only beconsolidated by coloni2ing the :ermanic identities, had prepared the mythical structureof practice and discourse of the European peoples 11in a counterpoint dialogue ith themerchandi2ation of eeryday life 11 to accompany and boost the floering of modernity.

7uman beings ere no e)periencing in their on lies a conflictie behaior that hada schi2oid structure. 3hile they might hae a soul, their person as only interested inalueG hile they might hae a body, they only had eyes for its use1alue. 6boe all, as

belieers in :od, as members of the ecclesiaand equal in the eyes of :od, they reali2edthey had become inoled in an historical enterprise that depended on intimacy in orderto be collectie and depended on the collectiity in order to be intimate. 5his as noneother than the enterprise of the salation of the human race 11a uniersal endeaor onthe part of that old Hpeople of :odH of Jeish religion, once it had been enlarged anduniersali2ed11 hich could integrate all the indiidual destinies of autochthonouscommunities and propose Hone sole sense and purposeH and one sole rationality =if notone sole language> common to all.

3ithout this precedent of the spontaneous cultural proto1modernity of MeuropeadN3estern ciili2ation, capitalism, that old /editerranean mode of behaior determiningthe circulation of mercantile ealth, could neer hae become the dominant mode ofreproducing social ealth. 5he opposite is also true ithout capitalism, the grounds ofmodernity ould neer hae succeeded in conerting hat ere only modern

prefigurations and tendencies of European 3est into a deeloped form including eeryaspect of social e)istence, into an effectie modernity.

apitalism needed the European concreteness in order to become a mode ofreproduction of social ealthG once it had been constituted as such =and the Europeancontinent had been moderni2ed>, it could dispense ith this Hcuili2ationary humusHand e)tend all oer the planet, improising ad hocencounters and coincidences ithciili2ations that ere potentially alien or een hostile to the grounds of modernity.

-n order to become an effectie reality, the essence of modernity had to be Hor8ed outHin accordance ith the Helectie affinitiesH beteen the proto1modernity of Europeanlife and the capitalist form of the circulation of goods. -n order that modernity mightadopt ne effectie forms and deelop in other directions, it ould be necessary thatother affinities beteen ciili2ationary and economic forms interene to change the

purpose of this Hor8H.

-t too8 capitalism, originally a circulatory phenomenon, an entire epoch to penetrate thesphere of production and consumptionG once precious metals from the 6mericas hadforced a re1ealuation of European manufactured articles, it as discoered that the realgrounds of the potential of capitalism lay not in the ephemeral play ith the terms offoreign e)change but in e)ploiting the or8 forceG in other ords, that the real -ndiesere ithin the countryRs on economy =Horrect your maps, ecastle is 'eruWH>.;uring this period, the European economic sphere e)panded and contracted until itfinally established its definitie boundariesG its nucleus (umped from 9outh to orth,from East to 3est, from city to city, concentrating and assigning functions. For thisreason, it is 8non as the time hen the competition concerning the different possible

pro(ects of modernity as eentually resoled, if ith difficulty, in faor of the one thatdemonstrated the greatest firmness in the handling of capitalism as a mode of


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production. 5he pro(ect decided upon as that hich offered, first and foremost, asolution to the problem of the resistance of the indiidual and communal body tosacrifice its pillions and hich guaranteed an obsessiely thrifty and productiisticeconomic behaiorG that pro(ect hich had the ability to accomplish this because thehristian identity, hich acted as its support, as freed from the concrete consistency

=/editerranean and Jeish> of its religious ecclesia11perceptible for all in a corporaland e)terior manner11 and receied a different, purely abstract and indiidual religiosity=improised after the destruction of the :ermanic communities>, that became animperceptible question for others, a purely inner eent in hich moral diligence, ta8ingthe form of self1fulfillment, coincided ith the moral norm, ta8ing the form of ademand made upon one self.

Thesis 3. The Political in Modernity4 o*erei"nty and lienation

-f hat determines the life of human being is his political character 11the fact thatconfiguring and re1configuring his sociality is more important to him than the basicactiity that reproduces his animality11 /ar)Rs theory concerning alienation andfetishism is undoubtedly the most decisie conceptual starting1point for a discussion ofthe recogni2able lin8s beteen modernity and capitalism.

-n order to surie, human liberty has, parado)ically, had to deny itself as politicalliberty, soereignty or the e)ercise of autar8y in eeryday social life. -t might be saidthat the association of concrete indiiduals 11that original Hgroup in fusionH hich must

be ta8en as the premise11 refuses to goern itself, since it is terrified by the magnitude of

the enterpriseG or that, on the contrary, it is by nature incompatible ith any sense ofpermanence and does not possess the ability to accept and assert itself as an institution.-t is true that human beings hae been aare of the e)istence of their political liberty,soereignty and poer of self1goernment throughout their history, but only as alegendary idea that is e)terior and alien to them and could neer be put into practice intheir eeryday liesG li8e the motif of a narratie to hose real effects they may onlysing the praises or mutter curses.

3ithout ta8ing into account those moments of singular historical tension, hich fallithin the brief time span of a unique heroic deed, or those parts of regional history,hich are proisionally protected against the larger historical frameor8 =and to this

e)tent de1reali2ed>, one cannot deny that the concrete human indiidual, as anassociation of indiiduals or an indiidual person, has had been practically noopportunities to e)ercise his freedom by him self in the form of self1goernment and todo it positiely, that is, by en(oying the physical life that enables him to be self1goerning. 3hether directly or indirectly, the e)ercise of the political faculty 11as a notgranted, delegated, transmitted or reflected e)ercise11 has alays had to beaccomplished on negatie terms =by sacrificing physical life>, as a transgression or achallenge, as a form of rebellion against e)tra1political conglomerates of established

poer =economic, religious, etc.>. 'arasites in concrete social life but necessary to itsreproduction, the conglomerates of poer hae concentrated and monopoli2ed forthemseles the ability to reproduce the form social life ta8es, to cultiate a concrete

identity of the community =polis> and to decide among the alternaties of e)istence thathistory places before it.


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-n his theory of alienation /ar) deconstructs the political culture of modernityG he startsby sharing this undoubtedly accurate narratie of the history of political life 11from itsperformance in the despotic and theocratic dispositions to his reali2ation in the state1democratic goernment11 as the implacable history of a ocation destined to betharted. 6ccording to /ar), the modern e)tra1political conglomerate of poer, hich

arrogates and ields the right to monitor societyRs e)ercise of soereignty, as ell as tointerene in its basic organi2ation, is the result of the Dalue of capitalist merchandise asan Hautomatic sub(ectH. -t is a poer ielded against the community as a possibleassociation of free indiiduals, but utili2ing its collectie nature hich can only

perceie the rec8less aspect of a pro(ect of its onG renouncing its liberty, it becomesinstalled in the pragmatism of the realpoliti, and offers its obedience to hateerinstance or caudillo ho can assure its surial in the short term.

-n accordance ith /ar)Rs discoery, the alue that acts on the capitalist circulation ofsocial ealth is different from that hich is in play in the merely mercantile circulationof the same in the latter case, it is no more than a third person in the e)change of

commodities, hile in the former it is the Hinstigating sub(ectH of the same. 5o be aluehere is to be capital, because, as /ar) rites

M4eally and truly ... alue is here the actie factor in a process in hich, hilecontinually assuming by turns the form of money and the form of commodities, it at thesame time changes in magnitude, gies birth to surplus alue, so that the original aluespontaneously e)pands. For the moement in hich it adds to itself a surplus alue is itson moement, its e)pansion, its self1e)pansion. -t has acquired the occult quality of

being able to add alue to itself ... -n simple circulation, the alue of commoditiesacquires nothing more than the independent form of money as confronting their use1aluesG but no ... in the circulation of capital, this same alue suddenly presents itselfas substance endoed ith an independent motion of its on, a substance of hichcommodities and money are themseles merely forms. ay more. -nstead ofrepresenting relations of commodities, it enters, so to say, into a priate relation toitself...N=Q>.

-nstalled in the sphere of mercantile circulation, the Dalue of capitalist merchandise hasnot only directly usurped =0bergrifen> from the human community the location in hichit ta8es decisions concerning the correspondence beteen its system of consumerdemand and its system of production supply but has indirectly usurped the fundamental

political location in hich it decides upon its on identity, that is the particular form of

its sociality or the concrete figure of the social interrelationships preailing in it.5he deferral of autar8y or the HalienationH of the political faculty of the social sub(ect,hich is the essence of the Hphenomenon of reificationH, has been seldom radicallydenounced by /ar)ist reolutionary policy. 6nd anyay, the act of denouncing has had

practically 2ero effect on the eeryday pra)is of this policy. 5he Halienation theoryH hasnot sered /ar)ists as a guide because their concept of reolution has remained

bounded to the politicist myth of reolution, hich reduces the autar8y of the socialsub(ect to the mere soereignty of the Mpolitical societyN and its state. 6lthough the/ar)ist tradition has deeloped a number of essential elements, a theory of reolution

based on the /ar)ian concept of alienation is still missing.


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5he alienation theory as a political theory should be based on the recognition of onething the usurpation of social soereignty by the Hrepublic of the merchandiseH and itscapitalist HdictatorshipH cannot be thought of as the consequence of an act ofe)propriation on a gien date of an ob(ect or a quality belonging to a sub(ect, and thusas a state of paralysis or annulment of the political faculty of society =so long as the

messianic hour of the reolution does not chime>. 5his usurpation is a permanent eentof capitalist societyG it is a constant process in hich the mystification of political illcan only ta8e place parasitically and at the same time, as this ill is being formed.apital is an entity hich is in itself alien to the particular sphere of political concernsGfar from e)ercising its political HmanagementH as something imposed on an established

political orld by an economic e)terior, it relies on the construction of a politicalinteriority itself, on the installation of a peculiar sphere of political life indispensable tosociety precisely that of party politics to in the right to goern public affairs ithinthe national democratic state.

5he itality of modern political cultureis based on the ongoing conflict beteen the

pulsations that restore and reconstitute the HnaturalH political faculty of the socialsub(ect and the dispositions that the reproduction of capital has sei2ed for theorgani2ation of social life.

6lthough there are differences beteen the to, the question of autar8y and thequestion of democracy are inseparable. -n a reolutionary sense, the former attempts tofocus its debate on the possibilities society has of freeing the political actiities of thehuman indiiduals, starting ith societyRs ability to reconquer its soereignty or politicalfaculty, hich is infested by the destructie =anti1social, anti1NnaturalN> functioning ofthe accumulation of capital. -n a reformist sense, the latter attempts, on the contrary, tofocus its debate ithin the terms of the Hreally e)istingH soereignty on hat

possibilities the democratic game of the modern state has to increase popularparticipation so as to nullify the negatie effects of economic structural inequality onsocial life. eertheless the arguments produced by the reolutionary and the reformistlines of mutual attac8 coincide on one point the idea that the Hmode of productionHcannot be replaced if society does not become democratic at the same time and the ideathat democracy cannot be perfected if the Hmode of productionH is not radicallytransformed at the same time.

-f the political theory based on the concept of reification accepts that political action ispossible *ithin reification, that een though society is depried of its possible

soereignty, it is not politically immobili2ed or paraly2ed or condemned to aait themessianic hour hen its political liberty ill be returned to it, then the problem is one ofestablish

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