CB: In Althusser's terms, the mature Marx significantly relocates humanism and essentialism, philosophical anthropology to human labor in that it is a main source of value; and there is a sense of human essence in the abstract equality of all abstract human labor. It's "homogeneous" and "uniform". It "exists in the organism of every ordinary individual." It's "human labour pure and simple. ", "identically abstract" ( and abstractly identical", "human labor generally"
and physiologically and "ESSENTIALLY the expenditure of human brain, nerves, muscles, &c. " Both the value creating character , and the use-value creating character of labor ( see below), are essentially human> Marx's is a laborious humanism, in _Capital_ Capital I: "The labour, however, that forms the substance of value, is homogeneous human labour, expenditure of one uniform labour power. The total labour power of society, which is embodied in the sum total of the values of all commodities produced by that society, counts here as one homogeneous mass of human labour power, composed though it be of innumerable individual units. Each of these units is the same as any other, so far as it has the character of the average labour power of society, and takes effect as such; that is, so far as it requires for producing a commodity, no more time than is needed on an average, no more than is socially necessary." "...But the value of a commodity represents human labour in the abstract, the expenditure of human labour in general. And just as in society, a general or a banker plays a great part, but mere man, on the other hand, a very shabby part,[14] so here with mere human labour. It is the expenditure of simple labour power, i.e., of the labour power which, on an average, apart from any special development, exists in the organism of "every ordinary individual." "...While, therefore, with reference to use value, the labour contained in a commodity counts only qualitatively, with reference to value it counts only quantitatively, and must first be reduced to human labour pure and simple... " "..On the one hand all labour is, speaking physiologically, an expenditure of human labour power, and in its character of identical abstract human labour, it creates and forms the value of commodities..." "The general value form is the reduction of all kinds of actual labour to their common character of being human labour generally, of being the expenditure of human labour power. " "For, in the first place, however varied the useful kinds of labour, or productive activities, may be, it is a physiological fact, that they are functions of the human organism, and that each such function, whatever may be its nature or form, is essentially the expenditure of human brain, nerves, muscles, &c. " CB:There is even an essential human natural equality of the use-value creating character of labor. Capital I: "So far therefore as labour is a creator of use value, is useful labour, it is a necessary condition, independent of all forms of society, for the existence of the human race; it is an eternal nature-imposed necessity, without which there can be no material exchanges between man and Nature, and therefore no life. " _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
