The Living Religion of Capital Essay by BrainC
The Living Religion of Capital
A religious analysis of the theories of Karl Marx.
# 53495
| 1,452 words
| 4 sources
| MLA
| 2004
| 
Published
on Oct 30, 2004
in
Political Science
(Political Theory)
, Philosophy
(General)
, Economics
(General)
, Political Science
(Marx / Engels)
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Description:
This paper discusses how, in the very first chapter of "Capital", Karl Marx appropriates the idea of fetishes from the realm of religious anthropology and unceremoniously deposits it into the realm of economics. It examines how Marx speaks of commodities and of capitalism with blatantly religious terminology in addition to his standard scientific discussion of the situation. It attempts to find a religious explanation for his fetishism of commodities.
From the Paper:
"It would not be inappropriate to step back for a moment from the analysis of the religious aspect of fetishism to consider, as G.A. Cohen does in his defense of Marxism, that Marx may not have been proposing that economics were spiritualized, but rather merely using the spiritual as a metaphor for something abstract and yet rational. Cohen suggests that the basic doctrine of commodity fetishism is actually very straightforward. The amount of personal labor necessary to create a thing defines its exchange-value. Things hence have exchange-values. However, they do not have exchange value autonomously, but only in relationship to labor and to markets. Regardless, they seem seem to have autonomous exchange-value. This is an illusion. The illusion of exchange-value as an autonomous power of things makes these objects fetishes because they are assumed to own that power."Cite this Essay:
APA Format
The Living Religion of Capital (2004, October 30)
Retrieved May 20, 2013, from http://www.academon.com/essay/the-living-religion-of-capital-53495/
MLA Format
"The Living Religion of Capital" 30 October 2004.
Web. 20 May. 2013. <http://www.academon.com/essay/the-living-religion-of-capital-53495/>