Page:Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, A - Karl Marx.djvu/25

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Capital in General.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

COMMODITIES.

At first sight the wealth of society under the capitalist system presents itself as an immense accumulation of commodities, its unit being a single commodity. But every commodity has a twofold aspect, that of use value and exchange value.^[1]

A commodity is first of all, in the language of English

↑ Aristotle, d. Rep. L. l, c. 9 (edit. I Bekkeri Oxonii, 1837):
ἑκάστου γὰρ κτήματος διττὴ ἡ χρῆσίς ἐστιν…ἡ μὲν οἰκεία, ἡ δ᾽ οὐκ οἰκεία τοῦ πράγματος, οἷον ὑποδήματος ἥ τε ὑπόδεσις καὶ ἡ μεταβλητική. Άμφότεραι γὰρ ὑποδήματος χρήσεις: καὶ γὰρ ὁ ἀλλαττόμενος τῷ δεομένῳ ὑποδήματος ἀντὶ νομίσματος ἢ τροφῆς χρῆται τῷ ὑποδήματι ᾗ ὑπόδημα, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τὴν οἰκείαν χρῆσιν: οὐ γὰρ ἀλλαγῆς ἕνεκεν γέγονεν. Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον ἔχει καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων κτημάτων."
("Of everything which we possess there are two uses:—one is the proper, and the other the improper or secondary use of it. For example, a shoe is used for wear, and is used for exchange; both are uses of the shoe. He who gives a shoe in exchange for money or food to him who wants one, does indeed use the shoe as a shoe, but this is not its proper or primary purpose, for a shoe is not made to be an object of barter. The same may be said of all possessions." The Politics of Aristotle, translated into English by {{subst:al|Benjamin Jowett|B. Jowett}}, Oxford, 1885, v. I., p. 15.)

[1] Aristotle, d. Rep. L. l, c. 9 (edit. I Bekkeri Oxonii, 1837):
ἑκάστου γὰρ κτήματος διττὴ ἡ χρῆσίς ἐστιν…ἡ μὲν οἰκεία, ἡ δ᾽ οὐκ οἰκεία τοῦ πράγματος, οἷον ὑποδήματος ἥ τε ὑπόδεσις καὶ ἡ μεταβλητική. Άμφότεραι γὰρ ὑποδήματος χρήσεις: καὶ γὰρ ὁ ἀλλαττόμενος τῷ δεομένῳ ὑποδήματος ἀντὶ νομίσματος ἢ τροφῆς χρῆται τῷ ὑποδήματι ᾗ ὑπόδημα, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τὴν οἰκείαν χρῆσιν: οὐ γὰρ ἀλλαγῆς ἕνεκεν γέγονεν. Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ τρόπον ἔχει καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων κτημάτων."
("Of everything which we possess there are two uses:—one is the proper, and the other the improper or secondary use of it. For example, a shoe is used for wear, and is used for exchange; both are uses of the shoe. He who gives a shoe in exchange for money or food to him who wants one, does indeed use the shoe as a shoe, but this is not its proper or primary purpose, for a shoe is not made to be an object of barter. The same may be said of all possessions." The Politics of Aristotle, translated into English by {{subst:al|Benjamin Jowett|B. Jowett}}, Oxford, 1885, v. I., p. 15.)

[1]