On Thu, September 10, 1998 at 12:04:49 (-0400) Mike Yates writes: >Friends, > >I concur with Jim's assessment of Robin's analysis. Why is it that so >many people do not grasp Marx's use of abstraction? You would think that >economists, trained in neoclasical abstraction, would understand it >without that much difficulty. Also, it should be noted that there is >plenty of immiseration in the First World, certainly in D.C. where Robin >teaches. As if Robin does not understand "Marx's use of abstraction". He simply happens to think his abstractions are wrong in many cases. Is criticism of the abstraction about the increasing immiseration of the working class an instance of not grasping the abstraction, or simply disagreeing with it? What if Marx himself were later to decide that this want' quite right? Would Marx himself be guilty of the charge you so easily level at Robin? Bill
