Cynicism, the Heuristic Pharmakon

Abstract

Cynicism can productively guide critical thinking about social relations under late neoliberal capital, in terms of power and ethics, in terms of knowledge and interpretation. A cynical perspective makes for a safe bet in speculating on or interpreting the actions and statements of neo-liberal rulers—meaning transnational corporations and the state governments that serve them—since they are so exclusively governed by the profit motive. ... If neo-liberal hegemony has perfected the modus operandi of wielding a hammer to make every- thing look like a nail, the cynical critique of capital must take a hand in the flattening that ensues. Cynicism is late capital’s heuristic pharmakon: both poison and antidote.