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 Originally Posted by Renton
When you go to a fruit stand, do you ignore the price tag on an apple and instead pay the dude according to your opinion of the apples value? What if it's a really hot day and you can't imagine anything tastier at this moment than a refreshing apple? Surely in that case it has even greater value to you.
Now it might seem heartless to compare people with fruit, but you have to look objectively at labor, because like it or not, people are commodities, and they don't somehow work differently than soybeans or apples or oil just because they have a pulse. They work exactly the same, and to ignore or deny that when discussing the economy is to be naive.
i think the bolded part is contentious in this context. i understand perfectly what you mean, and i agree it is true in an economic game-theory sense. but the majority of anti-capitalist-folk don't accept the fundamental "rules" of the "game" that is consumer-capitalist economics (ie the belief that all agents ought to make decisions based purely on their perceived self-interest, or that other people and their unique skills/traits are purely means-to-ends/commodities, or that the biodiversity/natural processes of the planet ought be secondary considerations to an individual's immediate financial self-interest etc etc) and tend toward more utilitarian principles. there is no morality in game theory so assuming your questions are being asked with this mindset pre-supposed (which the second bolded part leads me to assume) then no, it is never wrong to do anything to anyone (in the "marketplace"). whether or not this economic system is optimal, well that depends on what one thinks an "economy" ought to do - and is a question which does involve morality, and imo is outside the scope of your questions.
forgive the cynicism, it just seems like you're asking questions of morality in a game which has amorality inbuilt. if you wish to discuss morality, then you need to remove the assumption that life is a commodity. because as far as i can tell, there can be no morality unless it is accepted that other being's desires/goals/intentions/wellbeing etc etc are worthy of consideration. commodities don't have goals or intentions and cannot flourish or suffer. they are value-free
also forgive the convoluted delivery. i can't be assed editing any more. trust me, it was worse
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