Capitalism's transcendental time machine

Preview

PDF WRAP_THESIS_Greenspan_2000.pdf - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (10MB)

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

This thesis seeks to establish a connection between abstract thought
and material practice. It does so by focusing on the relation between the
transcendental philosophy of time and the socio-technics of time-keeping
practices.
The thesis begins with a discussion of Kant's philosophy of time as
outlined in the Critique of Pure Reason. It argues that Kant's discovery of the
transcendental coincides with the development of an entirely new conception
of time. This new conception overturns classical thought by making a
distinction between the abstract form of time and the empirical phenomena of
movement and change.
The second chapter maps the transcendental philosophy of time on to
the history of capitalist time-keeping. This history includes: the invention and
development of the mechanical clock, temporal standardization and the
increasing importance of the equation 'time = money. The aim in bringing
these two spheres together is to show, both that Kant's philosophy of time
owes much to his empirical surroundings, and also that capitalist time can
only be understood through the temporal abstraction of transcendental
thought. This link between Kant and capitalism is blocked, however, by a
dividing line which separates the philosophical nature of time from the
empirical changes of history.
In order to surpass this problem the thesis turns to the work of Deleuze
and Guattari whose 'transcendental materialism' connects the abstract
production of time with empirical innovations. This is accomplished by
replacing the classical conception of a transcendent eternity with the
immanent materiality of an exterior plane. This plane - which they call Aeonis
composed of thresholds, or singular events which make no distinction
between time and that which occurs in time. The final chapter explores the
dawn of the third millennium - or Y2K - as constituting one such Aeonic event.

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item