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10 - Marx on Value and Valorization

from Part III - A Revisionist Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2021

Colin Bird
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
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Summary

The revisionist account of human dignity elaborated here is modeled loosely on the value-theory that Marx developed to analyze capitalism and its “intentionality” (in the sense described at the end of Chapter 9). The object of this chapter is to describe relevant aspects of that theory and motivate my claim that dignitarians can and should emulate it. I stress that using Marx’s analysis as a prototype in this manner does not require his general account of capitalism to be sound. Although I do in fact believe that Marx’s approach is on the right lines, for present purposes nothing turns on that truth of that belief. Even if it gives a poor account of commodity-value, I contend that Marx’s analysis can still provide a useful template for explaining how “human dignity” can represent the value and people and their lives without having to rely on the traditionalist assumptions rejected in the first half of this book. It exemplifies the right kind of analysis, one that dignity-revisionists can fruitfully appropriate for their own purposes. Later, I explain more fully why I think Marx’s approach is propitious in this regard.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Marx on Value and Valorization
  • Colin Bird, University of Virginia
  • Book: Human Dignity and Political Criticism
  • Online publication: 24 September 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108937597.011
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  • Marx on Value and Valorization
  • Colin Bird, University of Virginia
  • Book: Human Dignity and Political Criticism
  • Online publication: 24 September 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108937597.011
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Marx on Value and Valorization
  • Colin Bird, University of Virginia
  • Book: Human Dignity and Political Criticism
  • Online publication: 24 September 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108937597.011
Available formats
×