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Re: [xmca] unit of analysis

I see, Eric. There is a lot of overlap of related questions here.
The "germ cell" or "unit of analysis" of bourgeois society is the *commodity relation*. This primordial relation generates the succession of value-forms which Marx outlines in section 3 of Chapter 1 of Capital v. I. The outcome of this process is money, in which value is objectified now in material things, i.e., money. Money is the purest manifestation of the ideal, because there is absolutely nothing about the physical, chemical or other material properties of money which invests it with value. That is, *value is an ideal*, existing only thanks to social relations (which have actually far beyond simple exhcnage of commodities). OK, an old story. And Ilyenkov famously tells this story so as to explain in the clearest terms the concept of the ideal.
I can now see the sense in which you link the ideal and the germ cell. Both represent in different ways the object of a project. The object of a project is its ideal, the ideal which the project is the process of realising. The germ cell expresses the tendency of the project primordially rather than as object. So the commodity is just as Davydov says "an entirely /real/ relationship that is given in a form /that can be contemplated by the senses/." But it is *primordial* or archetypal. Capital and money are the *highest* and purest forms, and can't really be apprehended by the senses, in the same way, because they are constituted as such by the entire ensemble of social relations. But an exchange of commodities can take place in circumatances very remote from bourgeois society, and can indeed be apprehended by the senses. 

Andy

ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org wrote:

From Ilyenkov's concept of the Ideal
In /Capital /Marx defines the /form of value in general /as “purely ideal” not on the grounds that it exists only “in the consciousness”, only in the head of the commodity-owner, but on quite opposite grounds. The price or the money form of value, like any form of value in general, is IDEAL because it is totally distinct from the palpable, corporeal form of commodity in which it is /presented, /we read in the chapter on “Money”. [/Capital <http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch03.htm#a3>, /Vol. I, pp. 98-99.]
seventh paragraph and he continues on for the paper calrifying but I hope this helps point out the comparison between what Davydov wrote and Ilyenkov 
perhaps?
eric

-----xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu wrote: -----
To: ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org
From: Andy Blunden
Sent by: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu
Date: 06/28/2013 07:43AM
Cc: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Subject: Re: [xmca] unit of analysis

I don't see it, Eric. Could you explain perhaps?
Andy

ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org wrote:
> Very similiar to Ilyenkov's (siq) thinking on the Ideal.
> correct?
> eric
>
> -----xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu wrote: -----
> To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> From: Andy Blunden
> Sent by: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu
> Date: 06/27/2013 07:28PM
> Subject: Re: [xmca] unit of analysis
>
> And here is another quote from the same book, further clarifying
> Davydov's view:
>
> The aforementioned requirements can be met only by an entirely
> /real/ relationship that is given in a form /that can be
> contemplated by the senses/. As an aspect of something concrete –
> that is, having its /particular/ form – it at the same time
> functions as a genetic basis for another whole (and in this sense it
> functions as a universal). Here the real, objective unity of the
> individual (particular) and the universal, their /connection/, which
> mediates the process of development of the whole, is observed”
> (Davydov 1990, p. 282).
>
> Andy
>
> Andy Blunden wrote:
> > Eric, here is what Vasily Davydov says in his book on "Generalisation": 
> >
> > The uniqueness of this sort of initial abstraction appears in the
> > names for it: “concrete abstraction”, “the concrete-universal
> > relationship is the objective cell of the whole that is under
> > investigation”, “content-oriented abstraction”, or simply “cell”.
> > These names express in different ways the essence of an initial
> > abstraction as a simple relationship of concreteness. It
> > incorporates the potential of the whole, and at the same time it is
> > again reproduced by this whole as its general basis. In our opinion,
> > while all of these names are legitimate, it is advisable to use the
> > term /content-oriented, real abstraction/. In contrast to formal
> > abstraction, it is historical (it is a genetic basis), and its
> > content exists /concretely/, in the form of a relationship that can
> > be contemplated rather than merely in the mind.
> >
> > Andy
> > ERIC.RAMBERG@spps.org wrote:
> >> Been considering this in depth recently and have an idea as "germ
> >> cell" as an ideal of a conceptualiztion tool.
> >> For instance in Yro's moon phase paper the unit of analysis is in
> >> understanding knowledge acquisition as what the triangle of actiivy
> >> expands upon.
> >> Brazil's recent social upheavel would expand upon human subsistance
> >> and basic needs.
> >> The framework is in place for studying each of these activity systems
> >> (perhaps systems isn't best word and another would provide better
> >> clarity) with Yro's expanded triangle but because of the diversity of
> >> human existence the "germ cell" proposition provides a good platform
> >> for how to specify the utilization of the expanded triangle.
> >> Thinking out loud
> >> what do others think?
> >> eric
> >>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Andy Blunden*
> Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/ <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy/> <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy/> 
> Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
> http://marxists.academia.edu/AndyBlunden
>
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--
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*Andy Blunden*
Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/ <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy/>
Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
http://marxists.academia.edu/AndyBlunden

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*Andy Blunden*
Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/
Book: http://www.brill.nl/concepts
http://marxists.academia.edu/AndyBlunden

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