| This question <106|96> overall <74|76> Gonzalez: <30|131>. |
| Question 95: What does Marx mean by the remark in the footnote to R144:1, that humans are not born with a mirror in their hands? |
| [75] Gonzalez: Fichtean Will Marx is referring to the means in which man comes to an identity of the self in relation to the world. As man cannot see a reflection of himself, he then uses the relationship between himself and others to give a definition of himself. Marx is comparing this relationship to that of commodities, in which the commodity finds and derives its value by reflecting itself in other commodities. |
| The commodities express their value through their relationship with other commodities. In the Fictean expression ‘I am I’, Marx is attempting to show that man can only discern himself by experience and sensory data. This data is received by one individual interacting with another, thereby allowing each other to give meaning and definition to the self. It is the same for the relationship between commodities, inasmuch as both relationships provide a basis for determining and defining inherent value. |
| One important distinction must be made when comparing commodities through reflected value. That is the fact that value is inherent in each individual commodity and therefore has a use value in and of itself. |
| Hans: Marx is referring to the means in which man comes to an identity of the self in relation to the world. As man cannot see a reflection of himself, he then uses the relationship between himself and others to give a definition of himself. Marx is comparing this relationship to that of commodities, in which the commodity finds and derives its value by reflecting itself in other commodities. |
| The commodity does not derive its value from this reflection, rather, as you write in the next sentence, it expresses its value through this reflection. These are two different things. (I think you are making this distinction in your last paragraph). |
| The commodities express their value through their relationship with other commodities. In the Fictean expression ‘I am I’, Marx is attempting to show that man can only discern himself by experience and sensory data. This data is received by one individual interacting with another, thereby allowing each other to give meaning and definition to the self. It is the same for the relationship between commodities, inasmuch as both relationships provide a basis for determining and defining inherent value. |
| Here you seem to say that humans receive their value only through others, through their service to others? Marx did not hold this view. He considered humans as goals in themselves, and wanted to give them freedom to self-realization. |
| One important distinction must be made when comparing commodities through reflected value. That is the fact that value is inherent in each individual commodity and therefore has a use value in and of itself. |
| You still have to work on clarity. |
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