Value: Between Illusion and Reality

This treatise argues that absolute value is an illusion generated by the structure of language itself, and that the true mode of value’s existence is relational, differential, and governed by a law of conservation. Drawing on the semiotics of Saussure and Peirce and Derrida’s concept of différance, the argument first demonstrates that any cognizable value must enter language and is thus subject to an endless play of difference and deferral, rendering the notion of a fixed, ultimate “signified” of value a contradiction. The text then posits a transcendental structure: the “axiological framework,” which is the condition of possibility for value to appear. Within this framework, a distinction is made between “proto-value” (an undifferentiated, prelinguistic potential) and “value” (its differentiated, positive or negative articulation). The core of the argument is the principle of value conservation: the total quantum of proto-value and value is constant, meaning value cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. The so-called “creation” of value is merely the differential carving of proto-value, and its “destruction” is the reduction of value back to a state of proto-value. This framework is then applied to reconsider instrumental, value, and communicative rationality, and to reinterpret Weber’s “struggle of the gods” as a deeper “struggle over god-making power.” The treatise concludes by re-evaluating the theories of Derrida, Deleuze, and Adorno, arguing that différance must have a starting point in an identitybased logical space (the semiotic square), even if it has no endpoint. Value, therefore, exists in a tragic space between illusion and reality, where all creation is simultaneously a sacrifice.