This question <219|263> overall <220|222> Scott: <39|222>.  
  Question 63: The French economist Le Trosne wrote that the value of a thing consists in its exchange-proportions with other things. Does Marx agree with this, or how would he re-formulate this proposition to make it correct?   
  [221] Scott: Marx would not agree with Le Trosne. Marx went on to talk about how value doesn't completely rely on its exchange proportions, which is all Le Trosne is concerned with. Nature plays a role in the value of an object, it is not necessarily valuable or unvaluable just because a person said it is, Marx would also talk about the use value of an item, an example would be air. Air cannot be exchanged, so therefore it has no exchange value, and therefore no worth -- according to Le Trosne, but just because it is all around us, does that make it worthless? No -- the use value of air is inmeasurable, no one would be alive without it yet we don't have to buy it. But since air is not made by man, and has no labor put into it -- as far as the human eye can see, it is a poor example. Rather let us use the example of a man who builds a chair so he won't have to stand all the time, he hand-makes the chair and takes his time, but he has absolutely no intention to sell the chair, the chair contains use value, it can be sat on, it contains abstract labor even though it won't be sold, but it could be viewed by Le Trosne as worthless since it will never be traded.   
  Hans: Marx's concept of value is quite different than use-value. Despite its immense usefulness, air has no value since no labor is in it. If brought to market, the leisurely hobby-produced chair has the same value as an equivalent chair made with modern means of production.   
 
 
 
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