From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Sat Sep 01 2007 - 10:08:13 EDT
> I do not think the transformation problem is a "red herring", insofar as > it aims to understand what the relationship between values and prices > really is, and how this affects the process of competition. Hi Jurriaan: The neverending debate (which has been going on for well over a century) has been very limited in its scope and has focused almost exclusively on the logic of Marx's theory of PoP and its relation to his theory of value. Enough historical time has passed that we should all be able to recognize the following: a) there is no reason to believe that the debate over the TP will be resolved to the satisfaction of most scholars in our lifetimes. The debate on the TP is not a "red herring" exactly, but it has become a road without an end. b) the debate on the TP has 'crowded-out' debates on many other topics which Marxians should be exploring in greater depth, especially those which directly concern the subject matter of capitalism rather than being focused on the narrow field of hermeneutics. c) regardless of its origin, the debate has been reproduced primarily by Marxians because and has become The Marxian Obsession. d) despite the intention of many authors sympathetic to Marx to offer "solutions" to the TP which will - they hope - descisively resolve the debate, these authors are _themselves_ the ones who have caused the debate to be reproduced. e) there is absolutely no reason to believe that there will be consensus - or even anything remotely approaching consensus - over any of the alternative solutions which have been offered. f) the debate on the TP has gone on so long that it has its own _mythology_ concerning its own importance. This mythology was created and reproduced by the isolation of scholars working in this field. Quite simply, scholars have lost touch with the realities concerning the relative (in-) significance of this subject but have created a mythology in which the subject takes on far greater importance than it in fact merits. In solidarity, Jerry
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