Abstract time again

“Abstract” time often has reference to durations of time, particularly in relation to economic activity. If I work a 40-hour week for a set wage, I get paid the same no matter what I do or don’t accomplish in that time. In the account books, there’s just the number of hours and the wage paid.

The time is “abstracted” from my productivity as the sole standard of “how much I worked,” and then equated with another “abstract” standard of value – money. Money is “abstract” because it can be equalized with anything – carrots or coal, hours of labor, automobiles and airline tickets. (We’d do more than look quizzically at a grocer who demanded more than the listed price by saying slyly, “Yes, but they’re carrots .”)