Product and commodity: on the ontological constitution of modernity from Heidegger and Marx

Abstract

In order to contribute to the dialogue suggested by Heidegger between his thought and the work of Marx, this paper aims to highlight the confluence between the Heideggerian interpretation of modernity and Marx’s analysis in Capital of the capitalist production form. To this end, we study the prevalence that, from his ontological point of view, Heidegger gives to the idea of producing in the modernity from the transformation of the meaning of the Greek poíesis and in connection with the essence of technology, concurrently defending the likewise ontological nature attributable to the Marxian notion of commodity. Considering the concept of uniform and homogeneous time underlying that notion, equivalent to that established in modern science, we also propose the thesis that the modern presence of entity as the unconditionally producible and calculable object described by Heidegger coincides with the constitution of things into commodities as products of labor highlighted in Capital