The Metamorphoses of the Subject: Of/After Cogito Before/After Libido

Abstract

This article presents the problem of subject transformation: from a rational subject (cogito subject) to a desiring subject (libido subject). The problem of a subject limits and the possibility of transcendence thereof, is analyzed in term of a contraposition of the rational and the corporeal, of desire and pleasure. The presented problem is solved through the advancement from percept to concept in cinema (the fly of David Cronenberg) and literature (the neohuman of Michel Houellebecq). The subject formation is directly tied to the Enlightenment – created radical rupture between the sensual and the rational, the human and the animal, the cultural and the natural, the barbarian and the civilized. The transformation of subject is presented in the context of capitalism’s progress from biopolitics to cyberpolitics. It is argued that the desiring subject takes form in the stream of endless change, of becoming different, of modification. The cogito subject reaches its limits in violent sensuality, being insensitive to the Other, while the libido subject dissolves in the impersonal domain of capital.