Re: labor theory of value again

[rrotheim@xxxxxxxxxxxx (roy rotheim)]

 Michael Perelman writes:
>
> This citation from Sen might be interesting:
> March 24, 1994Sen, Amartya. 1978. "On the Labour Theory of Value: Some
> Methodological Issues." Cambridge Journal of Economics. 2 pp. 175-90.
> He compares labor theory of value to statement that "Michelangelo made the
> statue of David".
> "The description is remarkably selective on facts: it says nothing about t
> tools and instruments used in making the statue; it is silent on the
> ownership of the huge block of marble that Michelangelo used; it eschews t
> patronage that Michelangelo received.  The description is not based on the
> assumption that Michelangelo would have been able to make the statue even
> without these other things but in the role of Michelangelo in the making o
> the statue and the role of these other things.  In going from all possible
> factual statements about a phenomenon to a pithy description, there is, in
> sense, a loss of information, but there is also, in another sense, a gain
> focus."
>
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 916-898-5321
>      916-898-6141 messages
> E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>

My meager knowledge of art history reminds me that Michelangelo
believed that the statue was alread containted in the marble; all he
had to do was liberate it with his hammer and chisel.  An early notion
of embodied labor, if ever there was one.   Roy

Roy J. Rotheim                  INTERNET: rrotheim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Department of Economics         BITNET:   rotheim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Skidmore College                PHONE:    (518) 584-5000 Ext.2350
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