| This question <7|10> overall <8|10> Hans: <8|10>. |
| Question 57: Is value the result of abstract labor? |
| [9] Hans: The Magical Link between Social Use Value and Labor Time Angus's [6] is a direct response to Cartman's [3], and in principle I like it if class participants have a dialogue with each other. However Angus does not notice Cartman's main error, that Cartman consides the word “value” to mean the value of a certain article for society, while for Marx the word “value” simply denotes that what causes a commodity's price to be high. |
| Instead of correcting Cartman's error, Angus amplifies it, spinning on Cartman's speculations about what a commodity's “real value to society” depends on. Angus argues that the value of a commodity is not determined by the sometimes irrational individual preferences but by its overall use value to society. Then he says that, if consumers are rational, this overall use value to society stands in proportion to the labor input into the commodity. |
| This is an attempt to reconcile Marx's labor theory of value with some kind of utility-based value theory, two theories which are very different from each other. One is left wondering not only whether Angus considers the consumers rational or not, but also how the magical coincidence between value to society and labor content comes about even if consumers are rational. |
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