At 23:13 29/11/2006, Doug wrote:
On Nov 29, 2006, at 10:01 PM, michael a. lebowitz wrote:
"Surplus-value and the rate of surplus-value are
the invisible
essence to be investigated, whereas the rate of profit and hence
the form of surplus-value as profit are visible surface
phenomena" (Marx, 1981b: 134).
Of course that essence has no existence separate from the surface
phenomena, does it?
Not if we are following Marx and Hegel on this
theme. My understanding as set out in the chapter
I mentioned before, 'Marx's Methodological Project' is as follows:
But, what is the relation between
the initial observations, the multiplicity of
appearances which are our point of departure,
and the obscure structure, that inner core,
which is essential but concealed (Marx, 1968:
65; 1981b: 311)? Are those appearances false?
We have already indicated in Chapter 1 that
those appearances are not false for individual
capitalists. But, should they be ignored because they are false in general?
Not if Marx was following Hegel
with respect to the relationship between
Essence and Appearance. Essence must appear,
Hegel (1929, II: 107) declared. Essence shows
itself, is reflected on the surface.
Appearances, thus, are forms of essence.
Accordingly, there are not two disconnected
worlds--- a world of appearances and an
essential world, two worlds entirely
independent of each other. Rather, there is an
essential relation between essence and
appearance, an essential relation between inner and outer.
We need to understand, Hegel
proposed, reality or actuality as the unity of
the inner core and its forms of existence. A
particular inner produces a particular outer; a
particular outer manifests a particular inner.
Thus, essence and appearance are inseparably
united as two sides of reality--- the inner
connections and the multiplicity of outward
forms (Hegel, 1929, II: 159). We cannot
understand that reality if we understand it
one-sidedly: if we stop the process of
reasoning at the point where essence has been
logically developed, we stop it prematurely
because we do not understand essence if we do
not understand why it appears as it does.
This question of understanding the
necessary form of essence, incidentally, is not
something that Marx relegates only to Vol. III of
Capital. It's the key point of Vol. I, Ch. 19 on
the Wage, the form which the value of labour-power must take.
michael
Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Currently based in Venezuela.
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