Date: Sat, 20 Aug 1994 13:49:31 -0500 (EST) From: wesley david cecil <wcecil-AT-indiana.edu> Subject: Re: value Chris, that was an excellent post on value, thanks for taking the time to do such a thorough job. I do have a question that I am working on that also touches on the question of use-value. Namely, in the second paragraph of Chapter 1, Marx writes "A commodity is . . . a thing which through its qualities satisfies human needs of whatever kind. the nature of these needs, whether they arise, for example, from the stomach, or the imagination, makes no difference"(Vintage Edition 125). Tow paragraphs later Marx moves to introduce use value "But this usefulness does not dangle in mid-air. It is condtitioned by the physical properties of the commodity and has no existence apart from the latter"(126). Now, "physical properties" and "qualities" would seem to be pretty synonomous here, clearly, however, the usefulness of an object in statisfying human needs is in no way restricted to a commodities physical properties. So this would seem to unhinge the stability of use-value a bit.(?) Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Wes ------------------
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