| This question <42|42> overall <46|48> Hans: <46|49>. |
| Question 92: The exchange of commodities poses a dilemma: what are the grounds for treating tangibly different commodities as equals? This dilemma is then also echoed on the level of the labors producing these commodities, and on the level of labor powers. On each of these three levels the dilemma has a different resolution. Describe these three different resolutions. |
| [47] Hans: Triple Dilemma George writes in [42]: |
| Since two different goods cannot, on the concrete level, be considered homogeneous, two tangibly different goods find equality in the amount and quality of labor that was expended in their production. |
| You are jumping ahead. The first resolution of the dilemma is simply: their commonality lies in them both being products of society's labor. |
| This equality is found on the concrete and abstract level of a commodity's production. |
| No, exactly not. The concrete labors are not equal! This is how this dilemma pops up the second time. The labors which we said were what is common in the commodities are themselves not equal. Marx's second resolution is: every labor has two aspects: on the one hand, it is a unique concrete labor different from the other labors, but on the other hand, all labor process are also the expenditure of human labor power, which is equal among all members of society. The equality is based on the second aspect, which Marx calls “abstract labor,” not the unique concrete labor. |
| I am skipping over your next sentence, because there you jump ahead to the third dilemma. Then you say: |
| Both of the laborers ... gave up their time to this commodity instead of to anything else they might do, and this is where the resolution lies. |
| Right. But then we come to the third dilemma: labor power is not exactly equal between different people. Some people can do what others can't. Skipping another sentence of yours, you write: |
| Marx finds the work of a skilled laborer as “multiplied” simple labor. This would lead to the conclusion that the value of all labor is simply a measure of simple labor. |
| This is the third resolution: skilled labor is “multiplied” simple labor because you can start out with simple labor and take the time to learn the skills and then perform the skilled task. The difference between skilled and simple labor is therefore only quantitative, not qualitative. And quantitative differences are no problem. |
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