74

was erected on the basis o f the first nature is transformed

back into the latter. The transformation o f the materials o f
nature by men is undone by the destructive force o f the
extra-human influences exerted by nature. Every breakers
yard confirms the M arxist notion that the continuous
absorption o f the individualized [i.e. what has been appro
priated by man, A .S.] into the elemental is just as much a
moment o f the natural process as is the continuous indi
vidualization o f the elemental.68
M arx interpreted this natural process o f the decay o f usevalues not applied to human purposes in another way as
well, which is just as relevant for the understanding o f his
philosophy. We have repeatedly pointed out so far that for
M arx use-values are combinations o f two elements, the
stuff o f nature and the labour which shapes it. It is true that
nature has slumbering powers, and that its own forms can
be reshaped by man. However, this does not mean that the
combined concept o f matter and nature (both o f which are
included in pre-human nature) becomes a semi-mythical
Nature-Subject, 80and thus restores the Hegelian identity o f
Subject and Object, which M arx criticized, indeed, from a
materialist point o f view. Nature, the material o f the world,
which comprises both the Subject and the Object o f labour,
is not a homogeneous substratum. T he moment o f non
identity is retained under all social conditions, precisely on
the basis o f labour, which nevertheless, on the other hand,
unites the Subject and the Object. The view that physical
natures meaning . . . has at the present not yet appeared
and that this meaning like that o f men is still in a position
o f utopian latency 81 only has a place in an eschatologically
oriented metaphysic such as that o f Bloch.
In relation to the problem we are discussing here, the
non-identity o f Subject and Object has the consequence
thar'the human form is indifferent towards the stu ff o f
nature, that it remains external to it. This is particularly
noticeable when a use-value is subjected to the process o f
natural decay.
M arx strongly emphasized this mutual indifference o f
form and material. He wrote in the Grundrisse o f the distinc
tion between the natural form o f the material, which all