Abstract

This paper focuses on Bataille's elaboration of an 'economic' conception of the 'sacred' and considers the extent to which it is vulnerable to the charge of 'romantic anti-capitalism'. Aspects of the thought of Deleuze and Guattari on the nature of 'late capitalism' are evoked with a view to supporting the paper's hypothesis that a synthesis of Bataille's conception of the 'sacred' and Deleuze's and Guattari's insights into the nature of capital provides a powerful theoretical outlook at once enticing and disturbing - the sacredness of 'late capital'. What this entails as regards both the attainment of the non-anthropomorphic nature of religion and contemporary political critique is considered.