In the ideological world of "Capital"，Does the concept of labor constitute the theoretical foundation of Marx's entire capital criticism? This is the focus of the long -term debate at home and abroad。For this question，Marx himself has made it clear: "This duality of labor contained in the product，I first proved by me。This is the hub of understanding political economy。"If Marx's labor concept does not have theoretical function of capital criticism，Then the duality of labor cannot be called "the hub of understanding political economy"。But，Marx said another seemingly opposite thing: "To clarify the concept of capital，It must not start from labor，but start from value，and start from the exchange value developed from the circulation movement。It is impossible to transition from directly from labor to capital，It is just like it is impossible to transition directly from different races to bankers，Or transition directly from nature to steam engines。"" This seems to be here，Marx obviously opposed the theoretical path of grasping capital directly from labor。So，Is Marx falling into the predicament of self -conflict on this question?

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The key to the problem is not whether the concept of labor can become the theoretical basis for capital critical，What kind of labor is the theoretical basis for capital critical。If we understand labor as abstract labor，So this kind of labor is the theoretical basis for the criticism of Marx Capital。The so -called "self -conflict" of the above two paragraphs will be solved and solved。

First look at the previous paragraph。Why does Marx divide the labor parts into specific labor and abstract labor once，Labor duality can become a "understanding of political economy"? This is because，Specific labor shows signs the material process of labor，Abstract labor represents the dimension of social relations。Capitalist production process is not only the material production process，It is also the process of value proliferation，The latter is the social regulatory of capitalist Bet365 app download production。If it corresponds to the material production process is specific labor，So the corresponding thing to the value of value is abstract labor，Because the value is the creation of the abstract labor of workers。and the value of the value proliferation process is the value formation process that exceeds a certain point，The formation process of the remaining value。The remaining value is the value of all values ​​that workers created in the production process than the value of the value of labor。Since the remaining value is not created by the workers in specific labor，Then it cannot be understood at the specific level of labor，can only be grasped at the level of abstract labor。

As Marx said，"The production of surplus value is the purpose of the decision of capitalist production"。That is to say，The production of surplus value is the absolute law of capitalist production methods。In this sense，Abstract labor is not only the basic concept of understanding the essence of capitalist exploitation，and is the theoretical basis for Marx's entire capital critical。In fact，Classical Political Economics, although distinguished the duality of commodities，But because there is no distinction between labor duality，Therefore, the historical prescribed history of capitalist production methods，Mix it into the general material production process。Classical political economists ignore the abstract labor formed by value，Just stay in the horizon of specific labor and general material production process，So the labor process they see is the assembly of various elements，Classical political economists ignore the abstract labor formed by value。In their opinion，If there is no labor material and labor object，Then the labor process cannot be performed，So capital is the necessary material material for production。So，They regard capital as objects or production factors。That is to say，Classical political economics does not distinguish between labor duality，Therefore, it is impossible to grasp the prescribed social relations of capitalist production，The essence of the proliferation of capitalist production value cannot be penetrated。It is in this sense，Marx said，Labor duality is the hub of understanding the entire political economy。

Look at another paragraph。Bet365 app download Once the labor is divided into specific labor and abstract labor，So the true connotation of "it is impossible to transition from labor directly to capital" is clear.。The labor in this sentence is exactly specific labor。That is to say，People cannot directly grasp the essence of capital by specific labor。Specific labor is to intermediary with their own activities、The process of adjusting and controlling the material transformation between people and nature。Specific labor involves only the relationship between man and nature，Social relationship between people does not involve people。So，It does not use any form of human life for transfer。As Marx said，"From the perspective of the general form of the labor process，It does not have a special economic specified。It is not shown in it that it is not a certain historical (social) production relationship that humans occur in the production of their social life，Instead, the general form and general elements that must be decomposed in all social production methods in order to act as a labor "。So，To clarify the concept of capital，You cannot start from direct labor，and start from value，Start from abstract labor。

At the level of abstract labor，The above two paragraphs do not have any contradictions in each other。More importantly，Labor as the basis of capital critical theoretical，Not specific labor in the general sense，but abstract labor。So，Whether the concept of labor can become the basic concept of capital critical this question，It is also solved by the blasting。For a long time，Some scholars from the subjective labor critical capital logic，Rukaccic Criticizing capitalism based on the theory of the body based on the labor -based society，This stays on the level of specific labor。As Pushu Tong said，Lucar's criticism of capitalism，It can only be "tried to use the labor and subject of capital to criticize capitalism"。Contrary to this humanism that emphasizes subjectivity，Another group of scholars emphasize the structured of capital logic。but，If you do not distinguish the work as specific labor and abstract labor，From the internal association of abstract labor and capital criticism，Then make the simple opposition between labor and capital in the logic，Then capital bet365 Play online games will become an incomprehensible "mysterious object" or "priority structure"。This can be seen，The concept of abstract labor has an important position in Marx's entire capital critical theory。

　　The distinction between abstract labor and specific labor

It is worth noting that，The distinction between abstract labor and specific labor is not the distinction of experience，but logically distinguished。Specific labor and abstract labor are not two independent labor processes，but two different aspects of the same production process。Specific labor can be directly grasped by experience or empirical methods，But the problem lies in，How do people grasp abstract labor? We have to know，Specific labor and abstract labor are two completely different social existences。Specific labor shows signs the material process dimension，and abstract labor tables recruit social relationship dimensions。Abstract labor Like the concept of social relationship，Although it is reality，However, it cannot be directly grasped by experience senses。​​Like a social relationship，Abstract labor is a real and non -experienced society。Social existence in the face of such different experiences，There must be a unique way to grasp。So，How do people "analyze" abstract labor in the specific labor within the scope of experience?

This question seems very easy to answer。Duality distinction between the value and value of the product，So labor also has a distinction between specific labor and abstract labor。Consider，Abstract labor exists as a production process formed by value。So，We need to ask further，How does the concept of value play? Marx said: "Labor products are just in their exchange，Only get a social equivalent value object，This objectivity is separated from their feelings.。"" "，Because the overall labor of the society is carried out in the form of private labor，Therefore, it is necessary to exchange between private labor，And the exchange of private labor，It must have a value scale。For this，Marx has raised a problem of thought -provoking: Aristotle knows "5 beds = 1 room"，I know that there must be a common thing between 5 beds and 1 room，Why can't we get the concept of value? Aristotle is only one step away from the concept of "value"，This is not due to Aristotle's knowledge limitations，bet365 best casino games but due to the limitation of the era of Aristotle。In the era of Aristotle，The dominant position is slave labor，instead of universal commodity production，So he can't get the concept of "value"。This means，The appearance of the concept of "value" is the product of the development of the times to a specific stage。Specifically，It is due to the universalization of product exchange，The concept of "value" appeared，Then "abstract labor" appeared。As Marx said: "Labor products are split into useful objects and values，In fact, only when the exchange is extensive and very important，At that time, it was produced for exchanges，Therefore, the value of the thing is still noticed in the production of the material itself。”

　　Commodity exchange is universal

Now，The problem to be questioned further is，How is the generalization of commodity exchange? It is worth noting that，Commodity exchange has appeared very early in human society，However。For this，Marx once put forward such a point of view，"If we further study，What kind of state，All products or at least most products adopt the form of products，We will find it，This situation occurs only on the basis of a very special production method, that is, the capitalist production method "。Although the circulation of goods has existed before capitalism，But the generalization of commodity exchanges can only be possible in a capitalist society，How should we understand this?

In "Capital"，Marx has distinguished two forms of commodity circulation in the process of "currency transformation into capital"，One is "Sell for Buy" for "Commodity -Currency -Commodity"，The other is the "buy for sale" for "currency -commodity -currency"。In fact，The former is a production based on the value of use，The purpose of exchange is to obtain the value of the product，This exchange is equivalent。The former is a production based on the value of use，People are no longer concerned about the value of the product in the exchange，but the value of the product，Pay more attention to the value of the product。In the simple exchange form of the product，The exchange between goods and goods is just equivalent exchange，This is what Marx said "circulation was originally manifested bet365 Play online games as a established amount"。Once value proliferation occurs in the exchange，At this time, the circulation of goods "appears as the amount of change，and the amount that is continuously expanded through the production itself "，So under the driver of value proliferation，Commodity exchange will break through the original boundary and is generally generalized。

The universalization of commodity exchange is due to the driver of value proliferation，and value proliferation can only be implemented under capital conditions。If the principle of exchanges in the equivalent of the product，Then value proliferation cannot be explained，Because "product circulation only causes the form of product value to change，Under the situation of phenomenon purely，Just cause the exchange of equivalent objects "。So Marx pointed out，The secrets of value proliferation cannot be revealed in the field of commodity circulation，and can only be unveiled in the field of capitalist production。From Marx's view，The root of value proliferation is the commercialization of labor -currency owners have found such a unique product in the market，This is the labor ability or labor force "。It is due to the commodification of labor，This is the key factor that the capitalist production method is constructed，Only the secrets of value proliferation and even commodity exchange are unveiled。and the historical premise of labor commercialization is the establishment of capitalist production relations，That is the thorough separation of workers and labor data，Forcing workers can only sell their own labor products。So far，Marx clearly shows the full chain of "capitalist production relationship → separation of workers and labor data → commodity of labor → value proliferation → universalization of commodity exchange → Value → Abstract labor"。

It can be seen from this chain，Abstract labor Establish product value，This seemingly extremely simple universal regulations，Even the general provisions of the characteristics of "super history" characteristics，All have a specific social and historical premise。So，We can understand this paragraph of Marx: "The value form of labor products is the most abstract of the bourgeois production method、but also the most common form，This makes the bourgeois production Bet365 app download method a special social production type，Therefore, it has historical characteristics。"" Only constantly questioning the social history prerequisite for abstract labor，can the abstract labor be presented，can we understand why abstract labor can characterize the social form of material production and even the entire social relationship。Take abstract labor as an example，Marx solves such a profound philosophical problem: how to grasp the reality but non -experienced society such as abstract labor and social forms?

This is the philosophical meaning of abstract labor.

　　(The author is an associate professor hired by the Department of Philosophy at Peking University、Researcher at the Marxist College of Jinan University)