> So, what do we do with Marx's analysis of surplus value, which
> begins with
> the question of hoarding and then refers to the figure of the
> capitalist
> as a 'rational miser'? robert wood
Marx's term, interpreted in terms of his own idea of "reason," is oxymoronic. Where the end is to some degree "irrational" in terms of this idea, so too must be the means.
"Reason," as Marx understands it, only becomes actual in human feeling, thinking, willing and acting through an "incalculable medial discipline of the intellectual and moral powers." This medial discipline is the historical process of struggle that substitutes reason for instinct.
Though the mentality dominant in capitalism is more rational that that dominant in feudalism, and the mentality dominant in mature capitalism is more rational than that dominant in early capitalism, capitalist mentality, as portrayed by Marx, is, in both its ends and means, significantly irrational. Marx himself assumes this in his analysis of the monetary crises that continue to afflict capitalism in its mature form. He analyses these as a psychological regression to the more overt and irrational form of "aurie sacra fames" he claims characterizes capitalism in its infancy. Many other aspects of capitalist means can also be shown to be significantly irrational (the concept or "reason" dominant in capitalism is one example).
Ted