25 Jul 2006 @ 13:41, by Shreepal Singh
Commodity is the sum product of five human elements and one element of Nature’s gift. The cost of commodity is determined by the interaction of these six quanta. These elements are: firstly, the knowledge of the technology that enables the manufacturing of the concerned commodity, secondly, the human labor that makes it possible to transform the raw material into commodity by the application of the enabling technology, thirdly, the management that puts these elements of labor and technology in the required productive order, fourthly, the motive on the part of the initiator to go ahead and start the process of manufacturing as result of which commodity is manufactured and comes into being, fifthly, the enabling environment provided by the established government of the time which guarantees that the elements of motive, labor and technology would be permitted to put themselves in the required productive mode and lastly and sixthly, the raw material provided by Nature on which these five human elements work and turn the raw material into the finished commodity.
Commodity may be considered a recipe of five ingredients – knowledge, labor, management, motive and enabling environment encased in the eggshell of nature’s gift. The recipe of these five elements sometimes even without the eggshell of nature’s raw material is capable of acquiring the properties of commodity and in that case these precious human elements are called service. The service is a commodity.
Each of these five human elements plays equally crucial role in the production of commodity. We may visualize, with regard to the first element, that every commodity bears within it an essential constituent element of knowledge. Production of a commodity requires an inherent element, without which that commodity can never be produced, that is contributed by Mind. This element adds to the cumulative cost of this commodity. For producing any commodity we need the required technology without which its production is not possible. For example, for producing an airplane we need the knowledge of a large number of concerned branches of science – aerodynamics, electronics, propulsion, metallurgy etc. – and of their associated sophisticated engineering. In the case of simple commodity, say potato, we need the knowledge of agriculture – putting seeds in the soil, irrigation, providing fertilizer, tending the crop etc. – without which it is not possible to grow potatoes.
Let us take another example from the life of primitive human beings, a stone dart. The primitive man needs to have the knowledge of the utility of a pointed stone in hunting an animal, he needs to know the technique of stone-chiseling, he needs to possess the knowledge of correct scrapping of the raw material – the unwieldy crude stone piece – that must be not too less and not too much scrapping of the raw material etc.
This knowledge of science is the product of Mind and in the process of production of commodity this element of Mind is deposited as an element of value in commodity. No commodity can be conceived of without this element being present in it. The contribution made by Mind in making the production of commodity possible is an inherent constituent element of commodity. This element of Mind or knowledge may be made possible by a single individual, by collective and common knowledge of society or by borrowing it from others. This element of Mind interacts with Nature through the human agency and gets embedded there in the product or commodity. In the finished goods or commodity the element contributed by Nature in the form of raw material on which other necessary elements related to human beings act turning this Natural – raw – element into finished commodity works like an eggshell wherein human elements get themselves deposited. Likewise, commodity also bears within it labor and remaining three essential elements.
It is possible to arrange these six elements in different interrelations. We may take the case of motive and put it in two different relations with the rest of the elements to find out the difference it brings in the resultant economic system. If we allow the human desires to fuel the motive, that put the remaining elements in the required order to produce commodity, then the resultant economy would be profit oriented capitalist one. On the other hand, if in the place of desires mind is allowed to fuel the whole productive process and put the remaining elements in the required order for producing commodity, the resultant economy would be planned socialist or communist one. It is the motive that determines the character of an economy. Also, seen from the point of view of the chosen motive, the ingredients of the concerned economy acquire different meaning and contents. There is universal misconception about capital. It is assumed that capital is one the ingredients that is always necessary for producing commodity. While capital is necessary ingredient in an economy whose motive element is desire fuelled, it is not necessary in an economy whose motive is dominated by planning by mind.
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