Hi Nicola, On 16 Mar 2001, at 2:31, Nicola Taylor wrote: > However, I also consider that crucial differences > among Marxists stem from irreconcilable ambiguities in > Marx's own texts that render any definitive reading of > Marx's theory of value, near impossible. Andy B's > take on socially necessary labour, imo, stems from a > paradigmatic split between those who hold to an > abstract-labour embodied interpretation of Marxian > value theory, and those who do not. Or, from a > different angle, the split might be seen to be between > those who read into Marx an ontological role for > *money* (eg credit) as a crucial determinant of > economic activity in a value-form determined system > (capitalism), and those who do not. There seems to be > no way around this problem except to make one's own > reading of Marx explicit. You paint a very post-modern picture here! If it were true and if Marx is the best presentation of the CMP around then I think we may as well unsubscribe and forget any attempt at scientific debate. Value-form and systematic dialectic interpretations of Marx find some support in Marx but *also* clearly disagree with Marx on important points (eg on when and if ab SNL should be introduced) More 'traditional' embodied labour theories find support from Marx and *also* clearly depart from many of Marx's statements in Capital...witness the transformation problem. *Neither* therefore accords / agrees with universally recognised aspects of Marx's own view. This is not unambigous. It is clear. *If* there were no other view then we would indeed have to live with this unhappy situation and, perhaps, take R&Ws line on Marx's 'Ricardian hangover'. But there *are* other views. I would claim to support an interpretation which does not suffer from the major shortcomings that must be acknowledged in the two views mentioned above. I would suggest that the work of Ben Fine and colleagues on the transformation problem and the TRPF (distinguiishin OCC VCC and TCC) is basically correct and fits Marx better than other views. Sure this needs debating - but let us not undermine the foundations for such debate before we begin! Note that, on my interpretation, this work holds that money is important *and* affirms that value is congealed abstract labour. So your dichotomy is a false one. Best wishes, Andy
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