| This question <127|132> overall <127|131> Jenna: <1405|201>. graded A |
| Question 138: If the first chapter is such a systematic discussion of value, why is it then called “Commodities” and not “Value”? |
| [128] Jenna: Commodity is center in any examination of value. Marx begins the first chapter of Capital with a comprehensive discussion of value, and this discussion naturally must start with and center upon the commodity. This is first because the commodity is the actual thing which contains value -- use value and value/exchange value. Without the commodity as canvas, an illustration of value could not be presented. |
| Exchange value cannot exist outside of the commodity, and the distinction between use value and exchange value cannot be made without examining the nature of commodity. We may begin with a thing which has use value, but only the arrival of exchange value will define the thing as a commodity (that is, something which can be exchanged for other commodities). I will borrow the object of a previous example, the coat, to clarify my argument. In a primitive society which does not recognize ownership of property, a coat may exist as a physical thing. It will have use value -- that of warmth it provides to humans. Yet, in this society, the coat is not a commodity because it is not exchangeable. Once the possibility of exchange is introduced, the exchange value of the coat is also born, and the coat becomes a commodity. |
| An earlier response to this question by Jimmy [127] suggested that value exists in its own form and is then “labeled” as a commodity. I respectfully disagree with the assertion that “commodity” or “value” should be considered merely a label. I further disagree with Jimmy's discussion of value as something subjective and or personal in nature. In my understanding of Marx's definition, value is an objective thing. It may not be physical, but it is nevertheless a substantial thing, whose properties can be measured scientifically, and which can affect change. |
| One final note regarding the title of Marx' opening chapter: “Commodities” is the most reasonable title for the opening chapter of Capital because the commodity is the core defining feature of the capitalist system which Marx sets out to analyze and to critique. |
|
|
|||||