Interpreting Digital Capitalism as a Modern Myth through Ernst Cassirer’s Philosophy of Symbolic Forms

Abstract

This study interprets digital capitalism as a modern myth by employing Ernst Cassirer’s philosophy of symbolic forms, thereby offering a philosophical reflection on the role of digitality within contemporary cultural contexts. Cassirer emphasizes that human beings are essentially symbolic animals who apprehend the world through symbolic forms, which structure how reality is constructed, mediated, and interpreted. In the digital age, capitalism operates as an economic and dominant symbolic form that organizes human perception and meaning-making processes. Within Cassirer’s framework, digital capitalism can be read as a modern myth because it performs a symbolic conversion mechanism: transforming experiences, relationships, and cultural values into commodities for capital accumulation. Although it emerges from a rational and scientific discourse, this myth continues to assert itself by establishing cultural hegemony in digital life. The study argues for the urgency of developing symbolic literacy to unveil the mythic structures of digital capitalism critically and for creating alternative cultural spaces rooted in dialogue and intersubjective relations. Such efforts are necessary to foster critical awareness and resist the totalizing influence of capitalist myth in shaping digital reality.