• Llituro [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      yeah, i mean i think forcing marx into a specific mathematical model misses the point entirely for the most part. it's just that there is a consistent mathematical way to phrase "tendency" which is in terms of time-averaged behaviors, which are a well-studied mathematical field. the tendency for the rate of profit to fall would be most accurately phrased mathematically as a statement about some abstract objects that have a specific time-averaged behavior, that marx therefore asserts is a dialectically correct interpretation of the aggregate behavior of capital. saying that it is "on average" falling is to actually say that it does have counter-tendencies that change the local behavior but not the behavior over sufficient time scales.

        • Llituro [he/him, they/them]
          ·
          1 year ago

          that's what i'm saying though is that you could do it, but to do so would be to miss the point. i don't think that makes a law of it though, just a model of a particular abstract thing. to proscribe mathematically is to insist that you can come up with a mathematically coherent and empirically observable set of quantities. no more, no less.