Antropogenesi al lavoro. Il performativo assoluto tra produzione e individuazione nell’epoca del capitalismo linguistico

Abstract

The current historical period sees the merging of the economic means of production with the most general human abilities. Above all, the faculty of language, yet to be actualized in the linguistic acts of a specific individual, has become the most important productive resource. The production system of today’s age, which we can call either postfordism or linguistic capitalism, relies heavily on both the flexibility of the work force and people’s ability to do things with words. The concept of performative acts is particularly relevant in regard to the latter. An even more useful concept is that of the absolute performative, as Paolo Virno defines the free-standing and self-referential act of saying «I speak». This particular kind of linguistic act operates as a self-individuation device, while also being the paradigm of the way in which the indefinite potential of the pre-individual reality becomes exploitable in the here and now of the concrete human body.