Axiomatics : the apparatus of capitalism

Abstract

The thesis critically appropriates the collaborative philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari to argue that the general tendency of capitalism is towards the disintegration of high-level control structures (for instance, the nation-state). This disintegration does not entail a movement towards total chaos or anarchy. I argue that capital generates its own guidance mechanisms, but ones that act at a low-level, and respond flexibly to changing conditions (an instance of micro-politics). One of the difficulties of this project stems from the fact that the canon of philosophical discourse itself operates as a high-level control structure. In Marx, the development of capital is controlled by a secularized Hegelian dialectic that determines the outcome of capital in socialism. For Freud, the low level organization of the unconscious is subjected to high-level control through the universality of the Oedipus complex. By addressing the need for new philosophical instruments to understand capitalism, the thesis produces critiques of Marx and Freud, and advances a philosophy of economics by examining the function of axiomatics. Moreover, in critiquing presupposed structures (for example, the unconscious as a theatre of representation), the thesis argues for an immanent system (mulliplicity) of interaction within capitalism. The research undertaken to complete the thesis has consisted of contemporary experiments in complexity theory, and current socio/economic analyses of labour markets. Of particular interest has been the current deindustrialization that has taken place in the west coast of the United States. With the influx of a periphery into the core area of Los Angeles, the current role of urban politics and minor literatures (most notably Shakur's autobiography) unleash desire into the circuit of the city. I conclude with a re-examination of micro political/economic movements that have manifested themselves into the economy of Los Angeles. By decoding locally impoverished economic and cultural sectors, emergent properties have sprouted by realigning subversive activity onto the apex of capital (an immanence to capitalist processes)