Being, Becoming, Subsumption: The Kantian Roots of a Marxist Problematic

One of the fundamental tensions within Marx's writings arises from the complex relationship between the systematic and historical aspects of his description of capitalist society. This article argues that among all the concepts deployed by Marx `subsumption' is key with respect to this issue. The different forms of capitalist subsumption analyzed by Marx designate the mechanisms by which capital shapes the developmental dynamics of modern societies. Yet the concept is undertheorized in Marx's writings and has been subject to divergent interpretations. Its implications remain contested. By returning to the philosophical origins of subsumption, in particular to Kant's `critical' reconceptualization of it as a productive act of `synthetic determination', this article seeks to establish its centrality for Marxist thought. Subsumption, it is argued, is the fundamental category of analysis linking capital as system to capital as history.