| This question <61|61> overall <60|62> Dragon: <640|154>. |
| Question 94: When Marx wrote that labor is the father and the earth the mother of use-values, should he also have included produced means of production in addition to nature and labor? |
| [61] Dragon: The Father and Mother of use-values. I do not believe Marx should have included produced means of production in his description of labor as the father, and nature as the mother of use-values. |
| In the annotations Marx says that use-values are a “combination of two elements -- matter and labor. If we take away the useful labor expended upon them, a material substratum is always left, which is furnished by nature without the help of man. In his production man can proceed only in the same way as nature itself does, i.e., by changing the forms of matter.” |
| In Capital Marx says that a machine that is not active is useless. Yarn which is not used is wasted. “Living labor must seize upon these things, awaken them from the dead, change them from merely possible into real and effective use-values.” They are used as elements in the formation of new use-values, and products that can be used for individual consumption or as a means of production in a new labor process. |
| A finished product's induction into the process, “their contact with living labour, is the sole means by which they can be made to retain their character of use-values, and be realised.” |
| Hans: You found some interesting Marx quotes relevant for the question at hand. But you should (1) have given page number references to these quotes, and (2) explained in your own words how these quotes relate to the question. |
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