전지구적 자본주의 시대, 동아시아 지식인은 국가를 어떻게 사유하는가? ― 가라타니 고진(柄谷行人)과 왕후이(汪暉)의 논의를중심으로

Abstract

This study explored the possibility of the alternative theory about global capitalism by considering different views of Karatani Kojin and Wang Hui about the ‘state’. These two people have widely been known as critical thinkers representing East Asia, thus far. However, Karatani has executed diverse theoretical and practical activities to build an anti-capitalistic front transcending the state and the nation, while Wang Hui has expressed expectations for the ‘Chinese Model' as an independent system to resist the capitalistic hegemony by publishing pro-government writings, since 2010. Karatani's concept of ‘The World Republic' and ‘Association' proves this. Although some criticisms of many progressive scholars on Wang Hui are excessive, and came from misunderstanding of him,necessarily, there is a limit to his argument that sticks to the ‘institutional' solution to fight against social problems and global capitalism, since it is impossible to settle problems caused by capitalism without transcending the state, according to Karatani. Besides, Wang Hui's theory of Chinese model conceals the fact that the country's independence in the capitalistic system is nothing but an illusion, and that the ‘tributary and investiture system' of the Chinese Empire emphasizing harmony rather than hegemony also forced the surrounding countries to follow its hierarchical order. Of course, Karatani's theory of the World republic has lots of things to remedy, and the concept of association has caused a number of practical problems, too. Nevertheless, his claim that it is fundamentally impossible to criticize global capitalism with no sublation of the state and the nation, is persuasive, judging from the historical lessons of the past centuries. The important thing for us is a theoretical and practical imagination to sublate the state and capital at the same time, not an obsolete way of thinking to solve problems of capitalism through the state.