Capital as Power: Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism (Video & Transcript)

As Marx tells us, the capitalist regime is inextricably bound up with its theories and ideologies. These theories and ideologies, first articulated by classical political economy, are much more than a passive attempt to explain, justify and critique the so-called "economic system." Instead, they constitute an entire cosmology: a system of thinking that is both active and totalizing.

In ancient Greek, kosmeo has an active connotation: it means "to order" and "to organize," and political economy does precisely that. It explains, justifies and critiques the world, but it also actively makes this world in the first place. And it pertains not to the narrow "economy" as such, but to the entire social order, as well as to the natural universe in which this social order is embedded.

The presentation outlines an alternative cosmology – the beginning of a totally different framework for understanding capitalism. It starts by spelling out the hallmarks of the present capitalist cosmology. It continues by enumerating the reasons why, over the past century, this cosmology gradually disintegrated to the point of being unable to understand and recreate its world. And it concludes by articulating key themes of our own approach to capitalism: the theory of "capital as power."

Duration of presentation: 57 minutes

Duration of Q&A: 13 minutes