Nick Potts (ed.) - Is Marxs Theory of Profit Right?: The Simultaneist-Temporalist Debate

Is Marxs Theory of Profit Right?

Heterodox Studies in the Critique of Political Economy

Series Editor: Andrew Kliman

The outbreak of the global economic crisis in 2007 has led to renewed discussion of heterodox economics and Karl Marxs contributions. Heterodox Studies in the Critique of Political Economy contributes to and seeks to broaden the focus of these discussions. It welcomes proposals from authors working within various heterodox traditions. Contributions to the critique of political economy in the tradition founded by Marx are strongly encouraged, as are other marginalized voices and perspectives. Thus, non-academics, scholars from Asia and the global South, and proponents of perspectives that are under-represented in the existing academic heterodox literature are encouraged to submit proposals. Both single-authored works and edited collections are welcome.

Advisory Board

Alan Freeman, London Metropolitan University

Seongjin Jeong, Gyeongsang National University

Nick Potts, Southampton Solent University

Recent Titles in This Series

Is Marxs Theory of Profit Right? The Simultaneist-Temporalist Debate , Edited by Andrew Kliman and Nick Potts.

The Dissolution of the Financial State: A Marxian Examination of the Political Economy of Contemporary Money with Case Studies of the United Kingdom and Germany since the 1930s , By Simon Mouatt.

Is Marxs Theory of Profit Right?

The SimultaneistTemporalist Debate

Edited by

Nick Potts and Andrew Kliman

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To our mothers,

Janet Potts (19371999)

Esther B. (Itsy) Kliman

Contents

Nick Potts

Andrew J. Kliman

Simon Mohun

Andrew Kliman

Roberto Veneziani

Andrew Kliman and Alan Freeman

Simon Mohun and Roberto Veneziani

Alan Freeman and Andrew Kliman

Andrew Kliman and Alan Freeman

Simon Mohun and Roberto Veneziani

Alan Freeman and Andrew Kliman

Robert Paul Wolff

Chris Byron, Alan Freeman, and Andrew Kliman

Robert Paul Wolff

Andrew Kliman and Robert Paul Wolff

Editors Note

This volume brings together all of the major contributions to a recent, decade-long controversy over Karl Marxs theory that exploitation of workers is the exclusive source of capitalists profit. The authors whose works are republished here include Andrew Kliman, Alan Freeman, Simon Mohun, and Roberto Veneziani. The first two are proponents of the temporal single-system interpretation of Marxs value theory, while the latter two are critics. These contributions are preceded by Nick Pottss introduction to and commentary on the debate, which appears here for the first time.

Also included in this volume is a very recent exchange in which several of the same themes resurfaced. It appears here in print for the first time. The protagonists in the latter exchange were the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff on one hand, and Kliman, Freeman, and Chris Byron on the other.

All contributions are presented in chronological order and without amendment or revision. Editors notes have been inserted inside braces (curly brackets); all material inside parentheses and square brackets was part of the texts as originally published. Typographical errors have been corrected and stylistic changes have been made. References to other works have been moved from the end of individual texts to a consolidated bibliography at the end of the book.

Nick Potts and Andrew Kliman

Acknowledgments

The editors wish to thank:

The Conference of Socialist Economists, for providing funding that made the publication of this volume possible.

The Institute for Social Sciences of Gyeongsang National University (South Korea), for permission to republish the following articles, which originally appeared in Marxism 21 :

Kliman, Andrew, and Alan Freeman. 2009. The Truthiness of Venezianis Critique of Marx and the TSSI, Marxism 21 , vol. 6, no. 2, 33566.

Mohun, Simon, and Roberto Veneziani. 2009. The Temporal Single-System Interpretation: Underdetermination and Inconsistency, Marxism 21 , vol. 6, no. 3, 277301.

Freeman, Alan, and Andrew Kliman. 2009. No Longer a Question of Truth? The Knell of Scientific Bourgeois Marxian Economics and a Positive Alternative, Marxism 21 , vol. 6, no. 3, 30217.

John Wiley & Sons, for permission to republish section 3 (pp. 1047) of Veneziani, Roberto. 2004. The Temporal Single-System Interpretation of Marxs Economics: A Critical Evaluation, Metroeconomica , vol. 55, no. 1, 96114. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004 .

Marxist-Humanist Initiative, for permission to republish Byron, Chris, Alan Freeman, and Andrew Kliman, Physicalism and the Exploitation Theory of Profit are Incompatible: A Response to Robert Paul Wolff, which was first published in its web journal With Sober Senses (www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/our-publication) on May 9, 2014.

Sage Publications, for permission to republish the following articles, which originally appeared in Capital & Class :

Kliman, Andrew. 2001. Simultaneous Valuation vs. the Exploitation Theory of Profit, Capital & Class, Spring, vol. 25, no. 1, 97112.

Mohun, Simon. 2003. On the TSSI and the Exploitation Theory of Profit, Capital & Class, Autumn, vol. 27, no. 3, 85102.

Kliman, Andrew, and Freeman, Alan. 2006. Replicating Marx: A Reply to Mohun, Capital & Class, Spring, vol. 30, no. 1, 11726.

Mohun, Simon, and Veneziani, Roberto. 2007. The Incoherence of the TSSI: A Reply to Kliman and Freeman, Capital & Class, Summer, vol. 31, no. 2, 13945.

Kliman, Andrew, and Freeman, Alan. 2008. Simultaneous Valuation vs. the Exploitation Theory of Profit: A Summing Up, Capital & Class, Spring, vol. 32, no. 1, 10717.

Robert Paul Wolff, for permission to republish his blog posts and e-mail messages that appear here. The blog posts were first published on The Philosophers Stone www.robertpaulwolff.blogspot.com/, on May 4, 10, 11, 12, and 14, 2014.

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