Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 00:46:18 -0700 (PDT) From: LH Engelskirchen <lhengels-AT-igc.apc.org> Subject: existence claims Andy -- I think the point was not more narrow, though I am finding my way here. Start with "means of production." A mule is a mule. A mule is a means of production when it is used for the purpose of production. This means we need to look at the labor process. The labor process is (I'm just interrupted by my wife who notices that "ontologically objective" must be redundant.) Anyway the labor process is the activity of labor disciplined to purpose. So means of production become such because they are instruments of human (intentional) action. Take the structural position of a working person to the means of production. Under the capitalist mode of production, that structural position is characterized by absence. Sooner or later this becomes necessarily a matter of consciousness. Take the structural position of a working person in the process of production under the capitalist mode of production. You do not get to the process of production without consenting to the exchange of labor for a wage. My point was not to deny the objectivity of social relations. They are intransitive, so we can drop the word objectivity. But they are intransitive only to the extent that they exist. They exist in the actions of individual agents (where actions can also include forbearance to act; the key is that the agent could have done otherwise -- e.g. catching a bus is an action, catching a cold is not). But the actions of agents are intentional in the very broad sense that you did one thing but could have done another (ie the concept of action itself embodies the concept of intentionality). So social relations are intransitive only to the extent that they exist in the actions of individual agents or their products. My relation to the means of production is a fundamental presupposition of my action. The very existence of "means of production" depends on someone's action in relation to them. Howard
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