[ARTICLES] Marx the Cynic

Abstract

As economic globalization progressed, Kojin Karatani began to set his sights on capital itself, and after Transcritique (2000), he began to speak openly about the idea of alternative modes of exchange. However, as long as capital takes “the cosmopolitanism of the commodity owners” as “the faith of practical reason” (Marx), in order to realize a true cosmopolitanism that enables the symbiosis of different species, it is necessary to differentiate it from the governing techniques of capital by giving a concrete image to a new view of humanity, a new mode of exchange, and a new governing technique rooted in the symbiosis with deviant nature. In this sense, this paper is an attempt to respond effectively to the above issues by likening today's Karatani to Diogenes the Cynic (a world citizen as well as a counterfeiter) that Foucault emphasized in his last years. In doing so, the main stage of discussion will be set in Marx's theory of value-form. Marx pursued “exchange justice” based on homogeneity, while Aristotle's “distributive justice” was based on the principle of “proportionality” which does not depend on homogeneity. However, underlying this proportionality was an anthropocentrism and hierarchical order that presupposed the exclusion of different species. Diogenes' attempt to push Aristotle's principle of “self-sufficiency” to the extreme was aimed at reversing it and disclosing “an other life.” However, his real aim was to go beyond such a cynical attitude and to bring about “an other world” in this world based on “primitive resemblance” (symbiosis between humans and animals). These attempts are not only cynical about existing money and the state, but are also linked to Diogenes' own “counterfeit” (Parakharattein to nomisma) in an attempt to establish a new mode of exchange. Diogenes' goal of pure gift-giving, which consists of begging and charity, is also in line with Karatani's mode of exchange D, which recovers mode of exchange A (reciprocity of gift and return) on the one hand and denies it on the other hand. These are the principles of what Marx called “From each according to his ability to each according to his needs.”