What is money? Where does it come from? How does it relate to debt, morality, and theology? This course explores these questions through philosophy, history, and anthropology, revealing a rich, multi-faceted history and philosophy of money, morality, and debt.
Course Structure
Session 1: The Morality of Credit and Debt
- The myth of barter and the historical reality of credit systems
- Moral dimensions of lending and borrowing
- Debt as social relationship vs. market transaction
Session 2: The Moral Limits of Quantifying Values
- The rise of commercial societies and the use of money and credit until the Middle Ages
- Sacred vs. profane value systems
- The commodification of social relationships
Session 3: Bourgeois Values and Debt Forgiveness
- Nietzsche on bourgeois values and the morality of debt
- Historical practices of debt forgiveness and jubilee
- Money, capitalism, and the rise of finance
Session 4: Debt in the 21st Century
- Contemporary debt crises and financial systems
- What money actually is in modern economies
- Philosophical implications of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin
Key Themes
- The historical development from gift economies to market societies
- The relationship between debt and social power
- Religious and ethical perspectives on interest and usury
- The transformation of social obligations into financial instruments
- Modern monetary theory and its philosophical implications
Learning Approach
This course combines anthropological evidence with philosophical analysis to understand how concepts of value, obligation, and exchange have evolved. We examine both historical development and contemporary debates about the nature of money and debt in modern societies.
The approach is interdisciplinary, drawing from economics, anthropology, history, and philosophy to provide a comprehensive understanding of these fundamental social institutions.