| This question <86|86> overall <90|92> Hans: <90|92>. |
| Question 225: How does the General Equivalent form of value express the labor represented in value not only negatively but also positively? |
| [91] Hans: For Marx, Quality More Important than Quantity. In [86], Melanie says: it is a good thing every commodity measures its value in one and the same equivalent, because this makes the exchange proportions more consistent and prevents accidental over- or undercharging. |
| Melanie's focus on the quantitative aspect of the exchange relation fits together well with the way we do sciences nowadays: everything is quantified. Marx's old-fashioned thinking pays much more attention to the qualities of things than is customary nowadays. |
| But it is useful for us to exercise our underused qualitative thinking-muscles a little bit. What does the qualitative dimension of the exchange-relation look like? |
| Say the linen weaver barters some of her linen with a coat, some other linen with tea, and shoes, etc. Every time she says to herself: I am giving my linen away for coat (tea, shoes) because I never meant to keep the linen for myself anyway. I always produced it to get something other than linen for it. This is a negative expression of value, because the value of the linen is expressed in something other than linen. |
| Now assume a different scenario in which the linen weaver sells all her linen for gold coins before buying coat, tea, and shoes with these gold goins. Here the linen weaver says: the labor I am putting into the linen gives me gold coins. This is a positive expression of the value of the linen. |
| This positive expression has an unintended consequence. Because now the linen weaver may think: oh this gold is so useful, I will keep some of the gold for a rainy day. And she sticks a few gold coins into her mattress. Value suddenly becomes a goal rather than only an intermediary step on the way to the next use-value. This is an important shift in the linen weaver's motivation. I.e., the qualitative way of looking at things gives us insights which we miss if we only look at the quantities. |
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