Re: science

From: Michael Perelman (michael@ECST.CSUCHICO.EDU)
Date: Thu Oct 30 2003 - 12:37:56 EST


Yes, universal labor is one of the most neglected aspects of Marx.

On Thu, Oct 30, 2003 at 02:06:26AM -0800, Rakesh Bhandari wrote:
>   Marx, Theories of Surplus Value, Vol I, p. 353
>
> 'According to Hobbes *science*, not *operative labor*, is the mother of the
> arts.
>
> "Arts of public use, as fortications, making of engines, and other
> instruments of war; because they confer to defence, and victory, are power;
> and though the true mother of them, be *science, namely the mathematics*;
> yet because they are brought into light by the hand of the artificer, they
> be esteemed, the midwife passing with the vulgar for the mother, as his
> issue" [Leviathan]
>
> The product of mental labor--science--always stands far below its value,
> because the labor time needed to reproduce it has no relation at all to the
> labor time required for its initial production. For example, a schoolboy
> can learn the binomial theorem in an hour."

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@ecst.csuchico.edu


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