| This question <4|4> overall <10|12> Hans: <10|12>. |
| Question 59: Use value is the quality of the commodity, and exchange value is its quantity. Right or wrong? |
| [11] Hans: The Quality of an Exchange Value Perro [4] correctly says that this formulation is wrong: both use value and exchange value have both quality and quantity. But Perro's example at the end only illustrates quality and quantity of the use-values involved, not those of the exchange-values: |
| If a commodity is to be exchanged, then both its qualitative as well as its quantitative sides should be considered. E.g. if I want to exchange an apple-tree with an orange-tree, I would not only count the number of fruits on both trees, but also consider the quality of fruits. |
| These are the qualities of the trees as use values. What about the qualities of them as exchange values? Clearly the exchange value has a quantitative side: you get so and so many orange trees (of a given quality) for a given apple tree. But what is the quality of this exchange value? People are not used to asking this question, but Marx says: if two things are quantitatively comparable then they must be qualitatively equal. I.e., there must be something which the apple tree and the orange tree have in common since they can be exchanged for each other. Marx concludes that what they have in common is that they are both expenditures of human labor. The quality of the exchange value is therefore (abstract) human labor. |
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