| This question <102|101> overall <102|104> Marcellus: <41|206>. |
| Question 216: How does it become plain here that it is not the exchange of commodities which regulates the magnitude of their values, but rather the reverse, it is the magnitude of the value of commodities which regulates the proportion in which they are exchanged? |
| [103] Marcellus: Mona Lisa, Venus De Milo. The action of exchanging commodities does not create value in itself. As an example, say two neighbors were having a garage sale across the street from one another and visited each other's houses. The first neighbor, Liona, found an old painting of a woman that almost resembled herself, while the second neighbor, Andrew, found an armless statue that brought him nostalgia. Liona and Andrew decide to exchange their commodities. They don't know where the painting or the statue came from; they just assume the trade is fair. Then, five years down the road both Liona and Andrew trade their painting and sculpture with Bruce down the street, and both receive a pair of skis. It is obvious here that there is no standard against which to weigh the magnitude of these commodities values (each exchange is haphazard), and each time they are exchanged, the true exchange value is not known. This leads to my next point. |
| According to Marx, value is created by “the ‘value-forming substance’, the labour, contained in the article.” (Marx, 129). If Alex had known that it took DaVinci a month of hard human labour to paint the Mona Lisa, he would have realized his painting was worth not one pair of skis, but ten. And if Liona knew that it took Alexandros two months of blood sweat and tears to carve the Venus de Milo, she would realize her sculpture was also worth ten pairs of skis as well as five season passes. Following is an illustration to make this more clear. |
| Mona Lisa = ten pairs of skis |
| Venus de Milo = ten pairs of skis, five season passes |
| Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo for Bruce who knows the true exchange value = 1 case of rare French Bordeaux |
| As Bruce knows, exchanging commodities does not determine the magnitude of value. It is the magnitude of value of the works of art he obtained that enabled him to obtain twelve bottles of fine French wine. As he enjoyed his first sip he thought, “if they only knew.” |
| Hans: Excellent illustration of what it means that value is not determined by exchange-value but vice versa. |
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