The Deification Of Capital

In the context of Marx,the category of "capital" is undoubtedly an important entry point for penetrating the intrinsic and essential characteristics of capitalist society.From different perspectives,some scholars in contemporary society use concepts such as "financial capitalism","late capitalism","platform capitalism","cognitive capitalism" and "accelerationism" to identify the new aspects of capitalist society and characterize the existence of human beings.In essence,these new terms still revolve around the axis of "capital",and the essence of the associated new capital forms such as "virtual capital","financial capital",and"digital capital" are not reflected in financial derivatives such as stocks,bonds,futures.As an ancient,typical and mature capital,interest-bearing capital exists in the image of "real capital" in people’s concepts,which is the core element that constitutes various forms of new and old capital.In other words,interest-bearing capital is not only a historical fact in capitalist society,but also a necessary inherent link in the logic of capital proliferation.Apart from that dominant capital form accompanies the birth,development and perfection of capitalist society,it also runs through in the development of the entire human society.Interest-bearing capital,however,has a mystical quality that is called as "the mother of all perverted forms" by Marx.In the simple circulation process of interest-bearing capital G-G’,capital appears as the sole source of all surplus value creation,as if possessing a miraculous ability to multiply its own value separated from reproduction.At this time,the highest degree of inversion and alienation of capitalist production relations has realized,and the fetish form of capital and the concept of capital fetishism have been entirely completed.In this sense,interest-bearing capital is an important manifestation which shows that"deification" of capital reaches its peak.And the alienation of capital has achieved the most conspicuous form.Therefore,interest-bearing capital is the root and trump card of contemporary capitalist society.In essence,various new forms of contemporary capital are "deified" capital,a more advanced and abstract manifestation of "interest-bearing capital".It is the "deified" capital that is the most closely related to people’s actual living conditions.It is not only the original form of new capital forms such as financial capital,but also the core category that penetrates the inner essence of contemporary neo-capitalist society.When we are faced with the new changes of contemporary capitalist society,it is necessary to take Marx’s criticism of political economy as the methodological foundation,and deeply analyze various special forms derived from capital in its development process.Theoretical definition and conceptual clarification of the easily confusing capital forms such as monopoly capital and financial capital is important.On this basis,this article relies on the content of the theory of interest-bearing capital in the Volume Ⅲ of Das Kapital,and takes"interest-bearing capital",the peak of the "deification" of capital,as the breakthrough point trying to gain a true insight into a series of real problems waiting to be solved urgently.First of all,this paper will analyze the actual and conceptual factors that affect the replacement of capital forms from the dual perspectives of vertical time and horizontal space,which lay a solid theoretical background for the appearance of interest-bearing capital,and then outline the historic process that the interest-bearing capital grows into beast of a flood step by step from a trickle.Secondly,this article will clarify that the reason why interest-bearing capital is called "fetishized" capital by Marx,for the "fetish form"and "fetish concept" of capital are intertwined,resulting the "reversal of reality"and the "confusion of ideas" in people’s minds,eventually lead to the "highest inversion and reification of production relations" in capitalism.Thirdly,by examining the "real fruit" of interest-bearing capital,"interest" and its fetishistic nature,this paper will reveal the deep-seated causes of capital’s "deification",analyze the unique accumulation mechanism of "deification" capital,and then indicate the accumulation is the double boundary of "quality" and "quantity".On this basis,it is not difficult to see the consequences of the "deification" of capital.In addition to enhancing the liquidity of capital and promoting the development of productive forces,the "deification" of capital obscures the real source of surplus value gives birth to a series of new forms of capital free from the constraints of the production process.In this way,a class of financial rentiers emerged,and "abstraction became domination" constituted an important feature of capitalist society.By exploring the possible path beyond "deified" and "reality change",this article attempts to establish the boundary of rationality to cast off the fog shrouded in fetishism for achieving the ultimate ideal goal of surpassing the "deified" capital.In a word,it is the realistic process of interest-bearing capital moving towards "deification",which has spawned new changes in the accumulation method,operation logic,and internal structure of various new forms of capital leading to a new perspective on the actual living conditions of contemporary subjects.In this sense,the new form of civilization that surpasses capital doesn’t mean forcibly breaking the logic of capital proliferation,nor even simply and rudely destroying interest-bearing capital.Faced with a series of new problems raised by contemporary society,we need to understand Marx’s political economy critique in a complete sense and reveal the inherent nature of the capitalist mode of production from the deep root.Therefore,it is of great significance to investigate the "deification" of interest-bearing capital from the dual logic perspective of philosophy and economics,and to decipher the mystery of the"deification" of capital with a mysterious nature.Further,it is a fundamental work needing to solve that we are supposed to clarify the historical process and interval driving force of deification in the general process of capitalist production by tracing and considering the evolution of capital from using "history" as an explanation principle and thinking way,with the typical key to deification of capital.An in-depth analysis of Marx’s theory of interest-bearing capital is not only a key step to grasp the core characteristics of contemporary new capital forms,analyze the new trends and consequences of contemporary capital development,that is,a key step to respond to major theoretical and practical problems of our times,but also to gain insight into the inherent nature of capitalist production,and then explore the path to control the new capital form.