Value and Nature: From Value Theory to the Fate of the Earth

Abstract

Value is central to Marx's theory of capitalism, but it is a concept more honored in the breach than taken to heart. What value is there in value theory? How does it illuminate the problems for which critics of capitalism seek answers? Value theory did different things for Smith, Ricardo, and Proudhon, let alone Marx, and it has to evolve to serve contemporary purposes. One of these is making it speak to the central role of natural resources in production; another is to integrate nature with complex labor; yet another is to delineate all forms of exploitation in search of capitalist profit; and, finally, it must help us unmask the destruction of the earth through unlimited accumulation of capital.