From: Paul Cockshott (wpc@DCS.GLA.AC.UK)
Date: Mon Apr 25 2005 - 08:56:36 EDT
From: OPE-L on behalf of Andrew Brown This is very interesting. It enables me to clarify very simply that I argue, contrary to your clearly stated view below, that the whole issue precisely turns on the difference between labour / labour power as opposed to machine / machine power. That's pretty much the crux of everything: value as labour and surplus value as surplus labour, on my argument. Thus it is the qualitative considerations that are decisive here, for me. Many of my previous posts to this list, especially as concerns the uniqueness of labour can be read in this light. Many thanks, Andy -------------------- Paul the correspondence should not be machine/machine power to labour/labour power. If one wants to do that the correspondance should be (machine/machine power) goes to (worker/labour power). Labour is the time integral of labour power, just as for Watt, work done was the time integral of horse power. If one wants a couple corresponding to labour/labour power it would have to be something like kilo-joules/ kilo-watts in a putative 'electrical theory of value' - not of course that I advocate any such theory of course. One can construct a consistent electrical theory of value, the problem is not its internal consistency, but that it is a shit theory when it comes to predictiong what actually happens to prices. When you look at real prices, only labour will cut it.
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