From: Ian Wright (ian_paul_wright@HOTMAIL.COM)
Date: Tue May 20 2003 - 23:56:35 EDT
Hello Andy and Paul, I have been following your exchanges with a lot of interest, particularly as they relate to the foundations of political economy. I would like to try to summarise your positions, if only for my own clarification, and then end with a question for Andy. Andy believes it necessary that social labour is conserved in exchange, whereas Paul believes it contingent. Hence, Paul considers it logically possible that something other than social labour is conserved, and refers to empirical studies that support the hypothesis that it is in fact labour that is conserved. Andy, however, considers it logically impossible that something other than social labour is conserved, which he deduces from the observation that all commodities only have one property in common, that of being products of social labour, plus the additional materialist postulate that common powers (e.g., the ability to exchange) must be explicable in terms of common properties. Hence: all commodities have the power to exchange in virtue of their shared property of being products of labour. Basically, you both start with the same observation, that exchange is a conservative operation, both end with the same result, that it is social labour that is conserved, but differ in the deduction. Normally it is a cause for celebration when differing methodologies give the same answers. I'm therefore a bit non-plussed. My question for Andy is: do you remain dissatisfied because you think that the ontological status of social labour remains unclear or undefined in Paul's presentation? If so, and assuming that for you its ontological status is in fact clear, would you measure abstract labour in a different manner to Paul? In other words, do these philosophical differences result in practical differences? -Ian. _________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
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