The mediation of preparing and acquiring means, likewise particularized, appropriate to particularized needs, is labour, which specifies, through the most manifold processes, the material immediately supplied by nature for these many purposes. This formation now gives to the means its value and its purposiveness, so that the human being, in his consumption, relates himself chiefly to human products, and it is such endeavours that he consumes.
The immediate material that need not be worked up is only slight: even the air one must acquire for oneself, in that one has to warm it; only water, perhaps, can be drunk just as one finds it. Human sweat and human labor acquire for the human being the means for [satisfying] need.
§ 196: Labor
How do we get the many means for the many needs? Through labor.
What does labor do?
Nature supplies raw material. Labor shapes it for certain purposes. Grain becomes bread. Wool becomes a sweater. Wood becomes a cupboard. Only through this shaping do things gain their value.
Almost everything is labor:
What we consume is almost always the work of human beings. We take hardly anything just as nature gives it. Only water can we drink just as we find it. In winter we must even warm the air first. What we consume is human sweat and human labor.
Summary: Labor shapes the material of nature for our purposes. This gives things their value. What we consume is almost always human labor.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.