A Critique of Cognitive Capitalism

Abstract

In this article, George Caffentzis makes a cardinal question: why call the current stage "cognitive capitalism" if the union between production and knowledge accompanies us from the beginning of history? What is specific about this characterization? Approaching Carlo Vercellone’s texts, one of the exponents of the approach of cognitive capitalism, and in dialogue with diverse traditions, the author historicizes the central concept that gives its name to this approach, pointing out its successes and highlighting its limits and inaccuracies. Particularly, it analyzes a structural problem that underlies the premises of this current: a definition of the notion of knowledge is lacking and, moreover, the problem that this deficiency represents is overlooked. For the author, it is not a matter of distinguishing knowledge based on its character of truth, but of distinguishing and defining that knowledge creates value and can be commodified, allowing even to doubt about the impossibility of its measurement in units of time.