Historical Materialism

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 Historical Materialism
by Davies, Daniel
01 February 2002 16:01 UTC


>Why? The question is, what work does this alleged quantity do? I agree that

>LTV talk is useful heuristic way to saying that there's exploitation. But
we
>can say that without LTV talk, that is, without denying that there are
other
>sources of value than labor or that SNALT does not provide a useful measure

>of a significant quantity.

I would have thought that a more important reason for trying to hang onto
the LTV is that it embodies a fundamental egalitarian principle; if we
believe that my life is equally as valuable as your life, then an hour of my
life must be worth the same as an hour of your life, and I think that this
ends up implying something like the LTV.

dd

^^^^^^^

CB: Yes, and in a related idea, there is a principle of seeming inherent human sense of equality underlying Engels and Marx historical materialist first principle that the history of exploitative class society is the history of exploited and oppressed  classes struggling against their oppression and exploitation.