>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 10/16/00 02:43PM >>> At 09:25 16/10/00 -0400, you wrote: >Marxist ecological consciousness precedes the modern ecological movement. >See the following excerpt from "The Part Played By Labour in the >Transition from Ape to Man" by Frederick Engels. Since human production >is always part of the context of Engels' thought, this passage also >demonstrates that our discussions of use-value and exchange-value are >relevant to ecology, contra complaints from some on this list. > >Charles Brown > >(((((((((( It's a fine passage. According the footnotes in my copy, the crash he refers to was in Germany in May 1873 and lasted well into the late 70's. This may be of interest to Mark re the title of this list. (((((((((( CharlesB: Interesting , Chris. Another thought that has been bouncing around in my head on the issue of value and ecology is that Marx's _Capital_ is descriptive of the state of things under capitalism. It should be obvious to everyone that Marx was not proposing by writing _Capital_ that the production of exchange-value or value and surplus-value should continue as the modus operandi of human society. Though Marx's description of capitalism, unlike those of bourgeois political economists or vulgar economists, gives the most favorable interpretation of the role of the working class in the process, Marx's whole life project was to overthrow the order he describes in _Capital_. In general, he advocates a revolution in the mode of production such that production would be guided by use-value and the qualitative needs and wants of people, and not guided by the accumulation of capital and the production of surplus-value and exchange-value. Thus, somewhat self-critically, we Marxists in discussing value in terms of use-value and exchange-value should note that we do not see the dynamics of exchange-value as continuing after world socialist revolution succeeds and predominates. So, the concept of exchange-value is not included in the Marxist analysis of ecological revolution. Of course, use-value is still oriented to a humanist or anthropocentric conception , so that issue remains in dispute. Furthermore, the Marxist conception somewhat correlated to the conception of ecologists who have biocentric orientation is CUNNING as discussed by Marx in the following: An instrument of labour is a thing, or a complex of things, which the labourer interposes between himself and the subject of his labour, and which serves as the conductor of his activity. He makes use of the mechanical, physical, and chemical properties of some substances in order to make other substances subservient to his aims. [2] footnote: [2] "Reason is just as cunning as she is powerful. Her cunning consists principally in her mediating activity, which, by causing objects to act and re-act on each other in accordance with their own nature, in this way, without any direct interference in the process, carries out reason's intentions." (Hegel: "Enzyklop�die, Erster Theil, Die Logik," Berlin, 1840, p. 382.) (from Capital Volume One Part III: The Production of Absolute Surplus-Value CHAPTER SEVEN: THE LABOUR-PROCESS AND THE PROCESS OF PRODUCING SURPLUS-VALUE ) (((((((( CB: Ironically, this occurs in a discussion of instruments or tools. Yet, cunning is passive instrumentality . Thus, it implies a certain unity of biocentrality and anthropocentraly. The passage from Hegel reminds of Hegel and Engels other famous aphorism regarding freedom as the mastery of necessity. Cunning "masters" necessity , and necessity is nature, by yielding intelligently to nature. _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
