Capital as 'Bad Infinity': On the Hegelian Ancestry of a Key Marxian Theme.
Hegel's Marxian critics have traditionally rejected his characterization of the modern economy as a "system of needs", fuelled by the self‐interested interactions of particular market agents. This characterization is flawed, so the argument goes, for it fails to identify the true motivation behind t...
| Published in: | European Journal of Philosophy Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 1450 - 1466 |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
Dec2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=189713160&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 189713160 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 09668373 7PU jtl: European Journal of Philosophy issn: 09668373 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Dec2025 vid: 33 iid: 4 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 189713160 10.1111/ejop.13078 ppf: 1450 ppct: 16 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 1.4MB tig: atl: Capital as 'Bad Infinity': On the Hegelian Ancestry of a Key Marxian Theme. aug: au: Ferro, Bernardo affil: Institute for Philosophical Studies, University of Coimbra su: Marxist philosophy Hegelianism Capitalism Desire Need (Philosophy) sug: subj: Marxist philosophy Hegelianism Capitalism Desire Need (Philosophy) ab: Hegel's Marxian critics have traditionally rejected his characterization of the modern economy as a "system of needs", fuelled by the self‐interested interactions of particular market agents. This characterization is flawed, so the argument goes, for it fails to identify the true motivation behind the production and exchange of value under capitalism. Challenging this line of criticism, I argue that Hegel does not see the capitalist economic system as a mere addition to a pre‐existing substrate of individual needs and desires. On the contrary, he argues that the capitalist drive towards infinite growth tends to subvert the traditional relationship between human needs and the means employed to satisfy them, so that the former become mere vehicles for the self‐reproduction of the latter. And this subversion anticipates the drive for self‐valorization that lies at the core of the Marxian notion of capital. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of European Journal of Philosophy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: European Journal of Philosophy holder: Wiley-Blackwell dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|