Re: nochmal Gebrauchswert | war: [ox] Werthaltigkeit von Informationsg...
- From: Graham Seaman <graham seul.org>
- Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 09:22:53 -0400 (EDT)
On Fri, 26 Sep 2003, Franz Nahrada wrote:
well it is - if we are systematically interested how to understand the
difference of "Gebrauchswert" and "usefulness" ( I now take the
correct english Term because here the German language is less
clear as we have found out in our private discussion)
I think we should explain that!
My understanding (since last night..) is:
- German has a single term 'nuetzlichkeit' used both in ordinary speech
and as a special technical term in Austrian-school and marginalist
economics.
- English has two terms: 'usefulness' and 'utility'.
'Usefulness' is a term from normal speech, rarely used by economists of any
school, and it has no technical meaning I know of. It refers to a property
of things, though there is no strict definition.
'Utility' is a technical term first used in a special meaning by the
philosophical school of 'Utilitarians' (in particular, Jeremy Bentham who
tried to create a 'calculus of utility', based on quantifiable pleasure),
and then adopted by marginalist economists, with a very similar meaning
(Marx= Hegel+Ricardo; austrian school=Bentham+Say ;-)
Since being adopted by the marginalists, this word refers to subjective
perception of properties of things. There is a good description of the
difference between 'utility' and 'usefulness' on
http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/essays/margrev/phases.htm (section a)
It is almost impossible to use this word without giving it a marginalist
meaning. [Though it has a second unrelated meaning: the 'public utilities'
('Dientsprogramm'?) are gas, electricity, water, etc].
Confusingly, english translations of Marx use both 'utility' and
'usefulness' as a translation for 'nuetzlichkeit'.
'Gebrauchswert' has a single translation: 'use value'. This phrase is only
used by Marxists nowadays.
Hope that helps. Please correct me if I'm wrong about German!
Graham
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