For Marx, “desire” is so often inseparable from the commodity. It is never without object. On the very first page of Capital, quoting Nicholas Barbon, Marx defines it in a footnote: “Desire implies want; it is the appetite of the mind, and …Barbon, Nicholas. 1696. A Discourse Concerning Coining the New Money Lighter. In Answer to Mr. Locke's Considerations, &c, London.
Deleuze, Gilles. 2006. “Four Propositions on Psychoanalysis” in Two Regimes of Madness: Texts & Interviews 1…
Nicholas Barbon
economist · 2 mentions across 1 reading
In this course
Nicholas Barbon was a 17th-century economic theorist whose definition of desire as appetitive and object-oriented became foundational to Marx's critique of commodity fetishism in Capital. Marx invokes Barbon's formulation to ground desire in material want rather than abstract ideality, making him essential to understanding how commodities capture and structure human motivation in capitalist systems. The course uses this genealogy to trace how desire becomes entangled with algorithmic systems and data capture—contemporary forms of appetite channeled through technical infrastructure.
Mentioned in 1 reading
Appears alongside
People mentioned in the same passages — sorted by co-occurrence weight.