Paul Cockshott (clyder@gn.apc.org)
Thu, 30 Dec 1999 22:33:21 GMT
At 11:34 28/12/99, ope-l@galaxy.csuchico.edu wrote:
>
>
>I think that Steve and Ajit seem to agree that the degree
>to which skilled labor creates value can only be determined
>ex post. If true, this would contradict to Fred's
>idea that abstract labor is totally independent of price.
>That is, we can only know the amount of abstract labor
>involved by looking at prices.
>
There seems to be an epistemological confusion here. The issue
of whether abstract labour determines prices is logically distinct
from the question of how we empirically measure skilled labour
multipliers.
The amount of abstract labour involved may, on Freds assumption,
determine the prices. The fact that one can only measure something
by its effects does not mean that the thing itself does not exist
independently of its effects.
I need a ampmeter to measure a current, but the current does not
depend upon the ampmeter.
Paul Cockshott (clyder@gn.apc.org)
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