Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Cuyvers, Ludo

Titel

Why Did Marx's Capital Remain Unfinished? On Some Old and New Arguments

Ist Teil von

• Science & society (New York. 1936), 2020-01, Vol.84 (1), p.13

Ort / Verlag

New York: Guilford Press

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Sociological Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Many reasons have been advanced why Capital remained unfinished. Marx's bad health seriously hampered his research and writing, but this was much more so in the early 1860s, than in the 1870s. Also, after 1872, Marx's other commitments had become much less time-consuming. During the decade and until his death, Marx studied agronomy, geography, geology, ethnology and mathematics, making extensive notes, but his scientific output was relatively small. Other reasons that have been advanced are allegedly incorrect solutions to theoretical problems, such as the transformation of labor values into prices of production, the secular behavior of the rate of profit, the expanded reproduction of the capitalist economy, or how non-capitalist societies would evolve. Except for his theories of expanded reproduction, and economic and financial crisis, which clearly awaited further elaboration, most of these reasons are unconvincing. However, being a perfectionist, Marx was permanently searching for new material to further substantiate his theory, accumulating notes that he was unable to integrate into his manuscript of Volumes II and III of Capital.