Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/609

 THE PHILOSOPHY OF VALUE 593

resigntnent of other exertion or enjoyment, places at a distance from us the object to conquer which is the essence of desire for it. Its economic value now, second, which rises upon the basis of its being desired, can consist only in heightening or subli- mating of that relativity which resides in desire. For the desired object does not pass into practical value, that is, into value that enters into the industrial movement, until its desira- bility is compared with that of another object, and thereby acquires a measure. Only when a second object is present, with reference to which I am sure that I am willing to give it for the first object, or vice versa, has each of the two an assignable eco- nomic value. The mere desire for an object does not lead to this valuation, since it finds in itself alone no measure. Only the comparison of desires, that is, the exchangeability of their objects, fixes each of the same as a value defined in accordance with its scale, that is, an economic value. The intensity of the individual desire, in and of itself, need not have a cumulative effect upon the economic value of the object, for since the latter comes to expression only in exchange, desire can determine it only in so far as it modifies the exchange. If now I desire an object very intensely, its exchange value is not thereby deter- mined ; for either I have the object not yet in my possession ; in which case my desire, if I do not manifest it, can exert no influ- ence upon the demand of the present possessor ; he will rather adjust his claims according to the measure of his own interest in the object, or in accordance with his suppositions with reference to average interest ; or, I have the object in my possession ; in which case my terms will be either so high that the object is entirely excluded from exchange, in which instance it is to that extent no longer an economic value, or my demands must fall to the measure of the interest which a calculating person takes in the object. The decisive factor is this: that the economic, practically effective value is never a value in the abstract, but rather in its essence and idea a determined quantum of value ; that this quantity in general can come into existence only through measurements of two intensities of desire against each other; that the form in which this measurement takes place