Re: "Blindly operating averages" and price-value divergence

[Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jim Devine wrote:
>
>
> I'd avoid the word "essence."
>
> The word "essence," unfortunately, has idealist connotations. On the
> other hand, "shared characteristics" focuses on the real-world,
> empirical, phenomena without seeing them as mere reflections on
> Plato's cave wall. There is something in the real world that is shared
> by these real-world phenomena.

For later reference I would suggest reading (or recalling) Gould's
argument for the word and concept in _Structure of Evolutionary Theory_.
I'm aware of the difficulties of the concept and its idealist
tendencies, but I don't really think you can get along without it. In
fact, "There is something in the real world that is shared" is just
another way of saying "these real-world phenomena have a real essence."
"Something" needs to refer to something. :-)

Surplus value is invisible because it is a constantly changing relation,
a process. Are relations real? Jim Blaut once came close to claiming
that if we knew all the facts we wouldn't have to study relations. I
think he was profoundly wrong; facts do not exist independently of
relations, and relations cannot be reduced to the facts. They are real.

Carrol

Carrol