| This question <40|40> overall <39|41> Ryan: <726|114>. (graded A) |
| Question 68: What is the difference between mode of expression and form of appearance? |
| [40] Ryan: This question seems to refer to the “muddy windshield” that Hans spoke of in class. These two terms (“Ausdrucksweise” or “mode of expression” and “Erscheinungsform” or “form of appearance”) are much more straightforward in German. I will thus, with as much brevity as possible, break down these two terms: |
| Ausdrucksweise = mode of expression. The German term “Ausdruck” just like the English term “expression” is the act of making something heard or seen. Most often used in terms of language (“When in Rome...” is an expression) or in reference to facial cues (expressions). |
| Erscheinungsform = form of appearance. The German “Erscheinungsform” is more accurately captured in the term used by Moore-Aveling: phenomenal form. An “Erscheinung” is a phenomenon, or appearance in the sense that it is a sensory perception, most often used in religious contexts when referring to the appearance of angels. |
| Ausdrucksweise, repeats the phrasing used in the previous passage “the valid exchange-values, express an equal content”, and Marx uses the term again here to maintain the parallel nature of the two statements, but, uses the term “Erscheinungsform” to refine what he is really trying to say. If the underlying social relations express themselves in the form of exchange-values, it should be quite clear what these social relations are. If the forms simply appear, however, the true source of exchange value is something which must be spotted by an astute observer. From the other side, “Erscheinungsform” unlike “Ausdrucksweise” implies that the result is implicit on the part of the capitalist. That labor is being exploited is never expressed, rather it appears in forms such as the contradiction Marx points out in the concept of exchange-value |
| Hans: Very good definitions of the word “expression.” To understand Marx's use of the word “form of appearance” on has to go back to Hegel: in Hegel's terminology, a form of appearance is an expression in which all aspects of the underlying essence are reflected. When transferred to the study of society, this completeness gains a new meaning. The surface of society consists of individual activity and “interpersonal” relationships and interactions. These activities are based on certain invisible social relations and reproduce those relations. If exchange-value is the form of appearance of an underlying relation of production, this means exchange-value is a social relation on the surface, which not only makes manifest the value in the commodities, but which also co-ordinates the many individual activities in such a way that the underlying social relation of value is reproduced. |
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