TheScienticStatusoftheLabour.PDF

The Scienti?c Status of the Labour Theory of Value W. Paul Cockshott and Allin Cottrell? March, 1997 Contents Such predictions involve applying some general law to pre-given data to produce derived data whose validity 1 General criteria of scienti?city 1 can then be tested. The derived data need not be in the future, or even unknown, provided that they are not 2 Three formulae 2 made available as input data. 3 Some practical concerns 3 Elegance or simplicity 4 Comparison of information gain 5 A second criterion is elegance, captured in William of 5 Non-equalization of pro?t rates 9 Occam’s dictum that entities should not be multiplied without cause. Given two theories, predicting available In this paper we wish to argue that the labour theory data equally well, science opts for the simpler. Ptolemy of value is a scienti?c theory in the strongest sense of the plus epicycles might run Newton a close race, had not empirical sciences. We ?rst elaborate upon what we take simplicity favored the latter. to be criteria of scienti?city, and then show that these are This favoring of the simple echoes the demands of in practice met by the labour theory of value. prediction. The better prediction extends our knowledge furthest on the basis of the least pre-given information. A theory with added epicycles, special cases and fudge 1 General criteria of scienti?city factors may predic