From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Thu Aug 30 2007 - 11:03:06 EDT
Jerry, I think where Kliman (and the TSSI in general) has advanced Marxian theoryis that they have challenged the dominant interpretation that Marx's theory is based on simultaneous determination (of input prices and output prices and the rate of profit), and suggested an alternative "temporal" determination. I don't agree with them in some respects, but I think that this is a crucial issue to raise, and they have been the ones to raise it. =============== Fred: Well, I don't think that raising a "crucial issue" is in itself an advance in Marxian theory. The question is whether you or others accept the specific answers and alternatives that they have offered. Simply stating truisms about the need for non-linear dynamic theory isn't by itself an advance in theory. Kliman and Freeman are good in terms of "talking the talk" about the need for this but "where is the beef"? In any event - as Kliman himself highlights - their analysis is limited essential to hermeneutics, especially hermeneutic issues associated with interpreting Marx's quantitative theory. The huge departure that Kliman makes from Marx can be seen in his slogan: for Marx, "the point" was to understand and change the world; for Kliman "the point" is to "interpret Marx correctly". The first is a scientific stance, the later is an appropriate stance for dogmatists. In solidarity, Jerry
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