Counting transforms being-in-itself into being-for-others, the genuine principle of all economy

Evidence

Counting is a process of quantification – a process which disregards the qualities of what is counted in order to transform the being-in-itself of things into a controllable being-for-others. However, the principle of being-for-another is precisely the genuine principle of all economy, pre-capitalist and capitalist alike. What is new under capital compared to previous economic systems is the total assertion of this principle as ‘the absolute being for the other of the commodity world’. ‘[S]ociety has become the total functional context which liberalismusedtothinkitwas:tobeistoberelativetootherpersonsandthings, and to be irrelevant in oneself’. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1233

Categorization

• XREF: Marries Adorno’s identity-critique with Marx’s political economy: being-for-another as the principle of economy, and capital as its total assertion — directly serves the book’s revisionist thesis that Adorno’s critique is political-economic. — connects to: Antillean self-worth depends entirely on comparison with others; Economic value emerges through the distance exchange creates between self and object — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 250; Hegel makes being-for-others a necessary condition of being-for-itself — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 686 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Economic value emerges through the distance exchange creates between self and object #expands (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 250
• Hegel makes being-for-others a necessary condition of being-for-itself #corroborates (0.82) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 686
• The totality of for-itself and in-itself differs from for-others by its absence of reciprocity #expands (0.78)
• Antillean self-worth depends entirely on comparison with others #exemplifies (0.72)