Form and substance: An approach from Capital and the Grundrisse

Abstract

The main subject matter of this article is the relation between the forms of existence of value and the particular nature of commodity-producing labor. In this article I claim that the dual and antagonistic nature of labor in capitalism produces a social reality which unfolds into a substance and its forms of existence. To comprehend the category of form on the basis of commodity-producing labor allows us to explain the historical specificity of form and to understand it as part of the antagonism of capital. From this perspective, it is only in capitalism that social reality and class struggle exist in terms of forms of existence. Form and substance are materialist and critical categories which can reinforce the strugglesagainst capital.