From: ajit sinha (sinha_a99@YAHOO.COM)
Date: Fri Dec 01 2006 - 07:05:38 EST
--- Ian Wright <wrighti@ACM.ORG> wrote: > Hi Ajit > > OK let's cut to the chase as you suggest. > > Marx's theory of value implies the proposition that > there is no profit > without surplus labour. It's logically possible that > there is profit > without surplus labour. Hence Marx's theory of value > is wrong. > > My theory of horses implies the proposition that > they don't talk. It's > logically possible that horses can talk. Therefore > my theory of horses > is wrong. > > This is not much of a critique is it? _________________________ This is an incorrect representation of both Marx and me. Marx's proposition is not that empirically there is no profit without surplus labor. If this is what Marx was saying then at the same level one could argue that there is no profit without without the rain forest or football, as no body has observed profits in the absence of either the rain forest or the football. This will be no theory at all. Now, coming more closer to your heart, it can also be argued that there is no profit without surplus of any basic good in which account one may want to reduce all the other commodities. The corn theory of value would simply not allow you to move another step. Now, the proposition Marx is making is not that empirically profits and surplus labor are observed to go together but rather the *cause* of profit lies in surplus labor. This proposition is simply asserted but never proved by Marx. Marx has a problem with his falling rate of profit thesis. He simply cannot allow the rise in the rate of surplus value to outstrip his rise in organic composition of capital due to technical change because that will bring the metaphysical nature of his basic proposition about labor and value to sharp relief. Now to your horse analogy: You don't have a theory of horses. You just have an observation that they don't talk. If you had said that horses cannot talk because of this or that reason and somebody showed you that logically horses could talk because they have the capacity of whatever talk entails, then of course your theory of horses will be as good as grass. Cheers, ajit sinha ____________________________________________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. http://new.mail.yahoo.com
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