This question <84|94> overall <85|93> Michael: <55|137>.

Question 73: Use-value is the quality of the commodity, and exchange-value is its quantity. Right or wrong?

[89] Michael: Comments on Bob's Response to Q 73.   Bob,

I think you are on the right track. Let me simply make some comments that expand on what you've said.

In the second paragraph you note: “He claims that the exchange-value of a commodity cannot be derived from its use-value.” Right, the reason why is that the exchange value of commodity B may change even as the menu of uses of B is constant. For example, take gasoline. The menu of uses of gasoline has remained essentially fixed over the last few years, but the exchange value hasn't (assume we live in a barter economy so that products are directly traded for other products. We haven't talked about money yet; that's to come). A few years ago, perhaps you could have exchanged a gallon of gasoline for one-half bushel of tomatoes. Today maybe you could get a full bushel of tomatoes for one gallon of gas. In order for exchange-value to be derivable from use-value we would need to be able to say exactly what the exchange value(s) would be for any given use-value, yet the above example shows that we can't generally do that.

Also in the second paragraph, you say: “A comodity has a second quality, seperate from use-values, this then allows trade to occur.” The fact that commodities are traded means that they must in some way be comparable. How do you decide how many apples you will require to part with your bushel of oranges? You must find a basis from which to compare apples and oranges. As use-values they are not comparable (3 apples are not unambiguously better than 4 oranges, right?). Marx says that this common thing they have is that they are products of human labor (if they are cultivated). So (a special type of) human labor is the thing on which we base our comparison; particulary, how much of it there is in the commodities being compared. Since value is the term Marx uses for this quantity of labor, we say that what commodities have in common is value. Now, we wouldn't compare the amount of labor we ourselves put into the bushel of apples against the amount of labor someone else put into some quantity of oranges. Instead the comparison is between the usual amount of labor time needed for a bushel of apples and the usual amount of labor time needed for some fixed quantity of oranges. (Note: this labor time is measured in units of what you might call essential labor, which is a technical simplification--see Marx's discussion.)

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