Kritika robne opsjene i pojam vizualne reprezentacije u kulturalnoj teoriji : doktorski rad

Rad razmatra antropološku i filozofijsku pozadinu i teorijsku upotrebu Marxova pojma robnog fetišizma. Takva se razmatranja nastoje pretvoriti u okvir kroz koji se motri koncepcija vizualne reprezentacije u suvremenoj književnoj i kulturalnoj teoriji. Ishodište je rada osporavanje klasičnog marksističkog tumačenja fetišizma kao opsjene. Jer takvim se tumačenjem fetišizma kao nečega što zavarava osjetila ili zavodi um Marxovo mišljenje zadržava unutar jednog dogmatskog poimanja metafizike koje ostavlja pogubne posljedice prilikom afirmiranja političke i etičke dimenzije književne i kulturalne teorije. Po tom bi dogmatskom tumačenju Marxova pojma robnog fetišizma spoznajna emancipacija bila pretpostavka svake druge emancipacije: kad se oslobodimo vlastita neznanja, stekli smo apsolutnu slobodu i dovršili svoju preobrazbu u uzorno ljudsko biće. Ta vrsta 'epistemološkog humanizma' koji teoriju predstavlja kao djelatnost po mjeri čovjeka u konačnici pretvara teoriju u pedagogiju koja ne misli već jedino određuje skup didaktičkih naputaka. Stoga mi nismo od Marxa naslijedili gotove definicije i konačne odgovore koji bi njegovo écriture pretvorili u Sveto Pismo, već prije svega otvorena pitanja i probleme čija rješenja podrazumijevaju jednakovrijedne alternative. I upravo tako stoje stvari s pojom robnog fetišizma: ono je pitanje, problem, ili kako je to sam Marx rekao, to je tajna (Geheimnis). Takav pokušaj da se ponovno pokrene 'rad mišljenja' jednog prividno konačnog i zatvorenog pojma otvara put za ulazak u konverzaciju s nekim od glavnih suvremenih ili aktualnih teoretičara i mislioca (Giorgio Agamben, Louis Althusser, Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Nancy) koji su na jedan ili drugi način naglasili važnost ili potencijal Marxova pojma robnog fetišizma.This doctoral dissertation considers anthropological and philosophical background and uses of Marx’s concept of the commodity fetishism. Starting from this considerations dissertation explores the conception of visual representation in the contemporary literary and cultural theory. Dissertation argues against classical Marxist understanding of the commodity fetishism as an illusion. Such understanding of Marx’s concept of the commodity fetishism as something that deludes or deceives human senses or misleads human mind confines Marx’s thinking within the limits of the dogmatic view of the metaphysics. This understanding of the fetishism as an illusion hinders affirming of the political and the ethical impetus of the literary and cultural theory. According to that dogmatic understanding of Marx’s concept of the commodity fetishism, epistemological emancipation serves as a prerequisite for any subsequent emancipation: liberation from ignorance liberates human being and leads to the state of absolute freedom. That kind of the ‘epistemological humanism’ which presents theory as the agency on human scale will not turn theory into something ‘practical’. Instead, ‘epistemological humanism’ turns theory into pedagogy that does not think but only specifies the sets of didactic prescriptions. Therefore, we did not inherit from Marx pure definitions and final answers that would turn his écriture into Holy Scripture. Rather, what we inherited from Marx are open questions and problems with alternative solutions. And this is exactly how things stand with the concept of commodity fetishism: it is a question, problem, or as Marx himself put it, it is a secret (Geheimnis). Such attempt to recover the ‘work of thinking’ in the seemingly finished and closed concept paves the way for entering into the conversation with some of the main contemporary or actual theoreticians and thinkers (Giorgio Agamben, Louis Althusser, Walter Benjamin, Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Nancy) that in one fashion or another stresses the importance and potentiality of the Marx’s concept of the commodity fetishism