Abstract
Noology is the technical life of ideology. It works at the formal and
technical production of knowledge, rather than focusing on the
content displayed by a specific system of thought. There are two
reasons why the notion of noology must play a role in today’s critical
and political debates. First, the concept of ideology has lost its
relevance since its everyday meaning is far removed from the original
meaning Karl Marx gave it; today ideology mainly means “political
doctrine,” right-wing, left-wing, or the entire spectrum of shades
between the two. Expressions such as “an ideology” or “ideologies”
are used in critical analysis, while for Marx “ideology” has always
come without any pronoun. Ideology now presents itself as an
“inversion of causalities producing illusions.”1 The second reason has
to do with the changes in the modes of production since the 1970s,
and the rise of the post-Fordist economy, or “neoliberalism.” Since
the 1970s, the end of ideologies has been proclaimed (epitomised by
Daniel Bell). Given this context, noology critique demonstrates that
the work of ideology in today’s economy plays out at an infrastructural
level, in social organs that materially institutionalise thought and ideas,
and not simply at the level of the immaterial culture of political parties
and discourses (superstructure).