have been wondering recently what my blind spots are, what are beliefs I have that are unexamined or based on too little evidence for how much I believe them …
maybe there are common patterns, that people commonly believe false things and I might be challenged in my own beliefs this way
It’s even earlier, Marx himself noted that conclusion of LTV itself is socialism and indeed all the economists basing on Ricardo’s work arrived at this point. Marx was just completely conscious in his tries and used dialectical materialism unlike others to develop a scientific socialism, thus his theory was the best one. He also noted that this necessity was why the pet economists of capitalists needed to take a step back and turned mainstream political economisc into the superficial justifications of capitalism, that happened with J.S. Mill Junior iirc.
Definitely true! The LTV of course predates Marx, and could easily be used as justification for socialism. I was more referring to the problems with Smith’s and Ricardo’s work that Marx resolved, giving an even better justification that only points towards socialism.
Yeah other socialist theoreticians fumbled over idealism and several other issues, Marx literally wrote volumes about it (Theories of Surplus Value plus a lot in his other works, he was incredibly well versed in history of economic thought).
Yep! I’m working my way through volume 2 of Capital right now, getting into turnover time, and Marx is about to start discussing Smith and the physiocrats.
Volume 2 is the most dry one, it’s nearly entirely about capital circulation.
I know 🫠 volume 1 had fun metaphors and worked in examples, plus you could really feel Marx’s anger. It’s a much more engaging work. That being said, volume 2 has been very eye-opening so far, just like volume 1 was, so I’m sticking with it. Should be done with volume 3 early next year at the pace I’m at.