Sunday, January 26, 2014

Grundrisse

I wonder about Marx's view of production, distribution, consumption, and exchange in the introduction to the Grundrisse because it seems that the main reason for its inclusion is to showcase Hegel. Reading a phrase like "a mediating movement takes place between" production and consumption--which are both immediately each other--makes it clear that Marx is desperately trying to engage in Hegelian dialectics (91). But it seems to me to be the only real motive for the section. Isn't it obvious to suggest the aim of production of any object is in its consumption; in the consumption of the object that the production is realized? Marx goes on to say that "production predominates not only over itself...but over the other movements as well" (99), before concluding that "mutual interaction takes place between the different movements" (100). These two statements detract any profundity that could be drawn from the passage because they sound like conclusions that are so easily reached. The depth of these processes that Marx defines makes it clear that he has given careful consideration to the intricacy of the individual components, and yet the interplay between them seems comparatively lacking in richness (or at least lacking in necessity for inclusion). I am more than likely missing the spark of genius in the passage, but from my understanding, it amounts to a dialectical practice and hardly anything else. If that is the case, the subject of Marx's analysis loses importance because it could be replaced with any other subject that lends itself to a similar dialectical approach.

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