From: gerald_a_levy (gerald_a_levy@msn.com)
Date: Sat Nov 23 2002 - 18:44:12 EST
Re Michael E's [8042]: Michael: Welcome to the discussion. I think we agree more than disagree. For example, I agree completely with the following: > The question whether principles or laws of physics can be applied to > social phenomena is one of whether violence is thereby done to the > phenomena. and the next bit as well: > The simple exchange relation as the "cell" social relation in > societies based on generalized commodity production -- i.e., as one could > say, dominated by the capitalist mode of production -- is a relation of > uncertainty. But the rest I'll have to give some more thought. In particular, I will give more thought to your critique on the underpinnings of quantitative theories of value and the "paradigm of knowing an outcome" from a history of philosophical and scientific thought perspective. A couple of questions: 1) Even if outcomes related to capitalism can't be known in advance, isn't there a kind of legitimate yet "fuzzy" way in which we can delineate alternative possible outcomes? 2) More generally, what are the alternatives to the "paradigm of knowing an outcome"? Thanks for a very thought-provoking post. I look forward to further discussion. In solidarity, Jerry
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