[OPE-L:8164] Newtonian or Hegelian roots to Marx's understanding of "law of motion"?

From: gerald_a_levy (gerald_a_levy@msn.com)
Date: Thu Dec 12 2002 - 07:46:02 EST


Re Michael E's [8053]:

Replying to Andy B, you wrote:

> The issue of materialist dialectics is a
> large one, as you say. The task here would be to interpret Marx's
> references to "law of motion" and "law of gravity" in another way which
> puts a distance between these obvious Newtonian references and what Marx
> attempts to establish as a "law of value".

The expression "economic law of motion of capital"  _sounds like_
Marx is conceptualizing "law of motion" in a Newtonian sense.
Yet, this perspective on how Marx understands "law of motion"
(and laws generally) has been challenged by others including
John P. Burkett in "Marx's Concept of an Economic Law of Motion"
(http://www.uri.edu/research/isiac/lawofmot.pdf ).  J. Burkett
claims that Marx rejected the Newtonian conception of laws in
favor of  Hegel's conception. [Burkett also claims that  Marx's use 
of the Hegelian conception of law led to important  theoretical
problems such as "selectively ignoring observed variables and theorizing
about unobserved ones".]   Do you (and others on the list) agree with
Burkett that Marx's conception of 'law of motion' was Hegelian and
non-Newtonian?

In solidarity, Jerry


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