Dialogue with Patrick Murray on the Value-Form Paradigm, Part 2 -- Ep. 26

Brendan and Andrew continue their dialogue with Patrick Murray, the noted value-form theorist. (The value-form paradigm is a Marx-inspired strand of political economy that focuses on the market.) Patrick responds to Andrew’s arguments that Marx’s views on the origin of profit, intra-firm trade, and the quantity theory of money presuppose that commodities’ prices are determined before they are sold. And, as in Part 1 (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/episode-25-dialogue-with-patrick-murray-on-the-value-form-paradigm-part-1), much of the discussion focuses on whether, in Marx’s theory, a commodity’s value is only potential before it is sold; whether “co-constitutive” value-form theory collapses into a more extreme version; and whether Marx held that the magnitude of a commodity’s value is determined exclusively by the amount of labor that is socially necessary to produce it. Throughout the discussion, frequent reference is made to: a published symposium (http://copejournal.com/critique-of-political-economy-vol-1/) on the value-form paradigm, in which Andrew (http://www.copejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/andrew-kliman-on-capitalism_s-historical-specificity-and-price-determination.pdf) and others criticized the paradigm, while Patrick (http://www.copejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/patrick-murray-avoiding-bad-abstractions.pdf) responded to them; Part 1 (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/episode-17-the-value-form-paradigm-vs-marxs-capital-part-1) and Part 2 (https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/episode-18-the-value-form-paradigm-vs-marxs-capital-part-2) of the recent RFH discussion of “The Value-Form Paradigm vs. Marx’s ‘Capital’”; and Marx’s Capital, especially chapter 1 (https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm) and chapter 3 (https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch03.htm) of volume 1. Plus: current-events segment on our attitudes to the Democratic Party and Jill-Stein voters, in response to a listener’s comments. * ~ * ~ * ~ * Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective. It is co-hosted by Brendan Cooney and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks. Radio Free Humanity is sponsored by Marxist-Humanist Initiative (MHI), but the views expressed by the co-hosts and guests of Radio Free Humanity are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of MHI. We welcome and encourage listeners’ comments, posted on this episode’s page of the MHI website. Please visit MHI’s website for information on philosophy & organization, Marxist-Humanist archives, and its online publication, “With Sober Senses”: https://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/