From: Philip Dunn (pscumnud@DIRCON.CO.UK)
Date: Mon Oct 25 2004 - 04:23:42 EDT
Hi Jerry At 09:18 22/10/2004 -0400, you wrote: >Before we leave this topic, there is a question that I'vePhil >been meaning to ask you. > >Maybe I missed it, but did you provide an explanation for >why you have struggled with this particular issue for so long? >I.e. what is it about the topic of negative values in pure joint >production that you found stimulating, challenging, and/or >important? Why? I am no longer sure why originally. It was a long time ago. But, with the benefit of hindsight, the Aristotle's aporetic method is the key. Collect together all the puzzles, problems and paradoxes and start from there. Initially, I took the problem to be a purely mathematical one within a fairly orthodox framework. After about four years I realized that this was inadequate. The mathematical analysis was useful in revealing the intractability of the problem. At one stage I thought that negative values were possible but would tend to disappear with capitalist development. Techniques of production were designed where possible to yield positive values and adverse cases could be dismissed on the grounds of "arrested development". It was an appeal to "real subsumption". But the adverse cases cannot just be ignored. The problem is important because negative values are bad news. It is challenging because the problem is impossible to solve in a physical quantities input output framework. It was stimulating because it forced me to think about the problem in Aristotelian terms, e.g. use-value as matter in relation to the commodity as substance, the way that the individuation of commodities differs from that of use-values, and generally the importance of the commodity-form. >PS: > > Labour activity is identical to value creating activity. >So, e.g., labour activity performed by state employees is >always value creating activity? The state is not selling a product here, so v no value is created and labour activity, as recognised by money, is zero. >
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