Shane Mage wrote: >>> 'Orthodoxy" is irrelevant . An "orthodox" marxist is no marxist
me: >> Of course. And of course, almost no-one describes themselves as >> "orthodox."[*] But some think in an "orthodox" (or dogmatic) way. Shane: >>> The Law >>> should be regarded as a touchstone of Marxian political economy >>> because >>> Marx himself insists on it: me: >> This is an example of "orthodox" thinking: Some theory is the >> touchstone of a Thinker's thought because he said so. (Didn't Marx and >> Engels say in THE GERMAN IDEOLOGY that nobody should be evaluated >> solely on the basis of their self-perception? Shane: > Self-perception is not the same thing as a scientist's or craftsman's > or artist's conception of the nature and purpose of his work. For a > philosopher--Marx in particular--explicit statement of that nature and > purpose is integral to the work itself. Marx is a systematic thinker. > He deserves to be treated as such. In any event, those trying to understand Marx are stuck with reading unfinished and somewhat incoherent texts as a major source material, because finished and coherent books such as volume I of CAPITAL do not tell the whole story. The long quote from Marx that Shane posted is from volume III of CAPITAL, an example of such a text. As I read Marx, he argued that the true barrier to capitalism's growth is capital itself, i.e., that capitalism undermines its own health (where "health" is of course defined in capitalist terms, perhaps measured by the rate of profit). I agree with that point, but I find his argument that the internal dynamics of capitalism are always driving the rate of profit downward (only temporarily delayed by counter-acting tendencies) to be unfinished and incoherent. His theory should not be discussed using the premise that "Marx was always right." Instead, people need to look at the _logic_ of his theory. Why doesn't the steady rise of labor productivity in the sector producing the means of production (and other counter-tendencies) prevent the fall of the rate of profit from describing a trend seen in the real world? -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
