[OPE-L] James Furner's paper in Historical Materialism

From: Hans G. Ehrbar (ehrbar@LISTS.ECON.UTAH.EDU)
Date: Wed Mar 02 2005 - 08:26:57 EST


Philip, your Cantillon quote

> ... cependant dans cet essai je me suis toujours servi du
> terme de valeur intrinseque, pour fixer la quantite de
> terre & du travail qui entre dans la production des
> choses...

is, in English:

> ... however in this essay I have always used the term of
> "valeur intrinseque" for fixing the quantity of earth and
> labor which enters the production of things ...

With this meaning, the word "valeur intrinseque" would
certainly be translated as "value" by Marx, not as
"exchange-value".  Therefore this would be an argument
against my interpretation.

I just looked at the first edition of *Capital*, in which
Marx's sentence with the parenthetical valeur intrinseque is
identical to the fourth edition, the only difference being
that the word "Relatives" is emphasized.  The last footnote
before this passage, footnote 6 to the previous sentence,
says:

> "La *valeur* consiste dans *le rapport d'echange* qui se
> trouve entre telle chose et tell autre, entre telle mesure
> d'une production et telle mesure d'une autre."  *Le
> Trosne: "De L'Interet Social". Physiocrates. ed. Daire.*
> Paris 1846. p. 889.

In English, this is:

> "The *value* consists in *the exchange proportion* between
> one thing and another, between this amount of one product
> and that of another."

Here the French word "valeur" is clearly used for something
which Marx himself would call "exchange-value."  It would be
interesting to know if Le Trosne, after having giving this
definition, uses the term "valeur intrinseque" in "De
L'Interet Social".


Hans.


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