Dave wrote:
"In my view there is no place for some irreducible human 'essence' or quality in a materialist philosophy"
Why not? Matter has qualitative as well as quantitative aspects; materialism should take both into account.
wpc wrote:
"In Marx we get abstract labour identified with energy: abstract expenditure of human labour power over time ... [clip] But it raises problems when we characterise abstract labour: why for example did the hard effort put in by horses and oxen not create value, or did it in fact do so in times past?"
Further, why did the labor of prehistoric peoples, of Greek slaves and of medieval serfs not create value? Why does the labor of bank employees today not create value? Or does it? If it doesn't, then abstract labor cannot be merely identified with energy. Energy is a necessary but not sufficient condition.
Paula
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Received on Fri Dec 11 17:30:41 2009
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