Blog2

Commodities are everywhere. Why do they exist and why do many individuals draw to commodities? As Marx describes, commodity fetishism is a growing issue in our society. This fetishism specifically is the perception of the social relationships involved in production and the exchange value in the market place. Marx also goes to explain how there are two values in our commodities. The use-value and exchange value. The use-value of a product mostly satisfies human needs and wants. The exchange value of a product is determined by when traded how much use or value does it have to the beholder, this doesn't necessarily always concern money as Marx explains. As I mentioned, commodities are everywhere and many people base their living on this brain-washing idea. Personally, I also fall into this trap of commodities. I am not saying that they are a bad thing that individuals fall into. I believe competition is important in our society because it gives us a reason to work harder and achieve more. I think competition goes hand and hand with commodities. The market is a great example that displays competition and they strive to have their products be useful and exchangeable for high prices. I too fall in the idea of commodities and I try to find products that are high in value. I also am a competitive person. With these two traits I am looking for the "hot commodities," like many other individuals. I buy expensive things just to better my view to others and show them that I have these nice things so I could potentially look valuable. One product that I splurge on would be purses. A purse has one use, to hold belongings easily so you can travel with it everywhere you go. So I then question, why is a Coach purse more valuable than a non name brand purse. The quality could be more valuable but a non name brand purse could still hold same amount of quality. Below are two leather purses. Hardly do these look different. Both seem to hold the same amount of items and have the same durability, the only thing that distinguishes these items is price. Can you tell which one holds greater value? The purse on the left is Coach and on the right is a purse found on Ebay for $15. I am not sure of the price of the Coach purse but I would assume it is easily over $100. I felt this was a good representation of how the market can trick and abuse buyers to fall into the idea of valuable goods. We will always have this constant battle between producers and buyers and a relationship that will forever be unstable.

Blog1

The theorist I am going to debate is Auguste Comte's theory on Positivism. Positivism states that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only come from positive affirmation of theories through strict scientific method. I agree with Comte's ideas to a certain extent. I do believe that many theories and issues can be explained through science. For example the idea of gravity. Gravity is used to explain many issues that scientists in many fields question in their experiments and methods. However, some scientists could question many controversial issues that gravity cannot explain. Coming from a religious back round I believe in faith and the power of will. An example that came to mind where power of will was in great effect in this case. This is the controversial issue of Stonehenge. I find the placement and organization of these rocks to be very interesting. I believe these were placed not by the help from gravity or any scientific experiment, but placed religiously. As you read the article it is still unknown to how these ginormous boulders came to where they lay and I love this aspect about these stones for the fact that many scientists have not explained or looked into these rocks very much. I chose this example because these boulders were placed years ago and many people wonder how any person would have the strength to lift these with the materials they had at that time. Even though scientists could have a logical explanation to how they got there I still believe that faith had a major effect on the placement of these rocks.
Surprising Stonehenge