Spinoza on money and social desire

Alexander Xavier Douglas

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-54140-7_4

Spinoza on money and social desire

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Abstract

Spinoza’s philosophy contains a theory of money very different from that in the economics textbooks, which treat money as an instrument of voluntary exchange. This is because his theory of desire rules it highly unlikely that agents should enter into voluntary exchanges at all. What appears to be voluntary exchange is really something else: a type of retaliatory expropriation, in which money plays a crucial pacifying role. Spinoza warns that money can, however, fail in this function if it becomes an object desired for its own sake. A general decline in prices across Europe beginning in the 1660s probably informed this opinion.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The Palgrave handbook of philosophy and money
Subtitle of host publication	Volume 2 - Modern thought
Editors	Joseph J. Tinguely
Place of Publication	Cham
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Chapter	4
Pages	67-87
Number of pages	21
ISBN (Electronic)	9783031541407
ISBN (Print)	9783031541391, 9783031541421
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54140-7_4
Publication status	Published - 28 Jun 2024

Keywords

Benedict de Spinoza
Desire
Emulation
Ambition
Beth Lord
Michel Aglietta
André Orléan
Frédéric Lordon
René Girard
Debt
Violence
Desacralization

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1007/978-3-031-54140-7_4

Cite this

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KW - Emulation

KW - Ambition

KW - Beth Lord

KW - Michel Aglietta

KW - André Orléan

KW - Frédéric Lordon

KW - René Girard

KW - Debt

KW - Violence

KW - Desacralization

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Spinoza on money and social desire

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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