From Digital Capital to Webfare

Toward a Theory of Social Justice in the Digital Age

Abstract

This paper examines Maurizio Ferraris’ theory of Webfare as a novel proposal for social justice in the context of the digital revolution. Situating Webfare within the broader framework of New Realism and its recent development into Technosophy, the text reconstructs the conceptual trajectory that leads from social ontology (documentality) to a theory of digital capital grounded in inscription, hysteresis, and technological mediation. Against both postmodern relativism and predominantly critical philosophies of technology, Ferraris advances a positive realist account in which technology is understood as a constitutive dimension of human nature (doc-humanity). On this basis, the paper analyses the emergence of digital capital as the capitalization of recorded human actions and consumption, rather than solely of productive labour. The distinction between semantic and syntactic data is shown to be central to understanding new forms of value production and digital exploitation. Finally, the paper argues that Webfare represents an ethical-political attempt to socialise digital surplus value by shifting the focus of justice from merit to need, thereby outlining a model of digital welfare suited to highly automated societies.