Re: [OPE-L] Capital in General

[Jerry Levy <Gerald_A_Levy@xxxxxxx>]

Hi Fred:

We must have read Mike L's posts differently -- I didn't read his posts
as making any claim about the *magnitude* of surplus value in relation
to the *magnitude* of profit.    His comments did not (directly) concern the
_quantitative_ determination of s and profit;  rather, he was making a
_methodological_ claim (viz  inner & outer; invisible & visible; essence &
appearance). So,  I don't know how you came to the inference that "Mike
seems to suggests that surplus-value and profit are two different
MAGNITUDES" (my emphasis, JL).

> Engels' edited version of Chapter 1 of Volume 3 of Capital begins
> somewhat  differently.  The opening paragraph states that this volume will
> "approach step by step the form in which they [the configurations of
> capital] appear on the surface of society, .i.e. in competition, and in
> the everyday consciousness of the agents of production themselves."
> (p. 117)

Yes,  but to say that one _approaches_ the form in which they appear
in competition is different from saying that one _arrives at_  the  study of
competition in its concrete forms. All he is saying is that he is on a
systematic [step by step] _path  towards_ the "surface of society" and
competition; he doesn't indicate at what point on the road he will arrive
at that point [in which that subject is reconstructed in thought].

In solidarity, Jerry