Paul Sweezy addressed the subject in The Theory of Capitalist Development, chapter one section one "The Use of Abstraction." I will try to summarize some of his points (my comments in brackets):
"Marx was a strong adherent of the abstract-deductive method which was such a marked characteristic of the Ricardian school... Marx believed in and practiced what modern theorists have called the method of 'successive approximations,' which consists in moving from the more abstract to the more concrete in a step-by-step fashion, removing simplifying assumptions at successive stages of the investigation so that theory may take account of and explain an ever wider range of actual phenomena." [Marx diverted from classical economists in how it is applied.] "First, one must somehow decide what to abstract from and what not to abstract from. Two issues arise here. First, what problem is being investigated? Second, what are the essential elements of the problem?... Even after the investigator's task has been determined, however, there is still no sovereign formula to guide his footsteps. As Hegel very correctly remarked in the introduction to his Philosophy of History: in the 'process of scientific understanding, it is of importance that the essential should be distinguished and brought into relief in contrast with the so-called non-essential. But in order to render this possible we must know what is essential...' To bring the essential into relief and to make possible its analysis: that is the specific task of abstraction." [Marx believed that class conflict should be the center of investigation] "the power of abstraction must be employed to isolate it [class conflict], to reduce it to its purest form, to enable it to be subjected to the most painstaking analysis, free of all unrelated disturbances. This involves two steps. First, all social relations except that between capital and labor must be provisionally assumed away, to be reintroduced... at a later stage. Second, the capital-labor relation itself must be reduced to its most significant form or forms... Almost the entire remainder of the first volume of Capital is devoted to the capital-labor relation in its 'isolated' and 'purified' forms. In other words, Volume 1 begins and remains on a high level of abstraction." "... It follows that the tendencies or laws enunciated in Volume 1 are not to be interpreted as direct predictions about the future. Their validity is relative to the level of abstraction on which they are derived and to the extent of the modifications which they must undergo when the analysis is brought to a more concrete level. Recognition of this fact would have saved a great deal of sterile controversy. As an example we may cite the famous 'law of the increasing misery of the proletariat,' which Marx called 'the absolute general law of capitalist accumulation.' Anti-Marxists have always maintained the falsity of this law and have deduced from this the incorrectness of Marx's analysis of capitalism. Some Marxist, on the other hand, have been equally concerned to demonstrate the truth of the law, and so a controversy producing much heat and little light has raged for more than half a century. Both sides are guilty of the same misunderstanding of Marx's method. The law in question is derived on a high level of abstraction; the term 'absolute' used in describing it is used in the Hegelian sense of 'abstract'; it constitutes in no sense a concrete prediction about the future. Moreover, in this particular case, Marx says as much in perfectly clear language, so that misinterpretation seems particularly difficult to condone. Having stated the law, he immediately adds, 'Like all other laws it is modified in its working by many circumstances, the analysis of which does not concern us here.'" Jayson Funke The information contained in this e-mail may be confidential and is intended solely for the use of the named addressee. Access, copying or re-use of the e-mail or any information contained therein by any other person is not authorized. If you are not the intended recipient please notify us immediately by returning the e-mail to the originator.(B)
