COMMODITY: "an external object, a thing which through its qualities satisfies human needs of whatever kind" (Marx, Capital 125) and is then exchanged for something else. When Marx speaks of commodities, he is particularly concerned with the "physical properties of the commodity" (126), which he associates closely with the use-value of an object. However, use-value does not automatically lead to a commodity: "He who satisfies his own need with the product of his own labour admittedly creates use-values, but not commodities. In order to produce the latter, he must not only produce use-values, but use-values for others, social use-values" (131). Commodities, therefore, "possess a double form, i.e. natural form and value form" (138). (See Use-Value vs. Exchange-Value.) The physical body of the commodity is made up of 1) the material provided by nature (e.g. linen, gold, etc.); and 2) the labor expended to create it (see Marx, Capital 133). Note that a commodity can refer to tangilble things as well as more ephemeral products (e.g. a lecture). What matters is that something be exchanged for the thing.