ABSTRACT
In ages past, the pious thought about God. In order to exercise power, God must be an object of belief and desire, an ultimate guarantor of meaning. Acting through his humble servants, God required appropriate practices of thought. Capital, by contrast, exercises its power purely through socio-economic relations, without needing to become a universal object of reflection. Capital, being a benevolent despot, appears to permit freedom of thought, for thought itself is barely able to compromise its power.
