Marx’s ergontology: considerations on the metaphysical determination of labor from Heidegger and Derrida

Abstract

In this article I propose to explore the ontological question in Marx’s thought, focusing on the treatments devoted to it by two authors usually placed on the margins of Marxism’s own interests: Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida. From critical or deconstructive perspectives, their interpretations were characterized by situating Marx within the metaphysical tradition based on the understanding of his philosophy as an ontology of labor or, in Werner Hamacher’s words, as an ergontology. The article, then, is devoted to analyze the philosophical arguments employed first by Heidegger and then by Derrida to question, in a differentiated way, although in a close relation of continuity, the metaphysical privilege of labor in Marxist discourse, without neglecting the political implications of their respective questionings.