Episode 149: Marx’s Concept of Intrinsic Value

Gabriel Donnelly interviews his co-host, Andrew Kliman, regarding Marx’s concept of “intrinsic value”—that is, value as distinct from exchange-value (value in exchange). Andrew clarifies the distinction and talks about how it became increasingly important to Marx’s work, and he and Gabriel discuss the significance of the concept of intrinsic value. They also discuss Andrew’s contention that, contrary to popular belief, Marx was proving the existence of intrinsic value, not putting forward a “labor theory of value,” at the start of Capital. And Andrew explains how Jamie Edwards and Brian Leiter’s misunderstanding of Marx’s argument (discussed in RFH Ep. 148) impelled him to revisit this issue now.

During the interview, the cohosts refer to Andrew’s published paper (and pamphlet) on Marx’s concept of intrinsic value and his expanded proof of Marx’s “third thing” argument. Andrew quotes from the opening section of volume 1 of Capital, from Marx’s critique of Samuel Bailey in the Theories of Surplus-Value (“… To belong to space is their unity.”) , and from Philip Mirowski’s More Heat than Light (p. 190).

Plus current-events segment: Lame, Sitting, Dead—the 3 Stages of Donald’s Duckness. The co-hosts discuss the growing consensus that Trump is a “lame duck” and prospects for moving forward to Stages 2 and 3.

ChatRFH 3.0 Coming Soon! Sunday, January 11, starting at 1 pm EST. Chat with Gabriel and Andrew in a live videocast ep. of RFH. Check MHI’s website for Zoom link and details (also
coming soon).

Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective. It is co hosted by Gabriel Donnelly and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks. Radio Free Humanity is sponsored by MHI, but the views expressed by the hosts and guests of Radio Free Humanity are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of MHI.

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