180097 SE Ethics and Money: A History of Ideas (2020S)

Is there such a thing as having too much money? Would it be inappropriate to pay your friend money for a favour they did for you, and if so, why? What, if anything, justifies getting interest on loaned money, and when is a loan exploitative? When is a product immorally overpriced, and is it problematic to ask different prices of different people? Can we put a price on human life, health, or the natural environment?

These and similar ethical questions about our relationship with money are pressing today, but have also already been asked for centuries. In this seminar, we aim to learn from this historical heritage to better understand the morality of money for today. We will hence approach the morality of money from both a historical and a systematic perspective. The aim is to understand the philosophical issues at stake in these questions, to understand and critically appraise a range of different ethical positions that may be partly alien to us, and to lay the foundations for formulating and defending our own answers to these questions in a contemporary setting.

Indicative topics:
- putting prices on everything: commodification
- the motive of seeking profit
- usury and lending against interest
- storing value and accumulating wealth
- just price, fair trade, price discrimination
- fair wages, earning too much or too little
- gambling, insurance, derivatives, and risk
- inflation, money-printing, who gets to make money, "real money"

The main focus of the seminar will be on the "Western" tradition of philosophical and theological reasoning about money. At times, we may also look to other intellectual traditions, e.g. Islamic moral theology. Contemporary texts will mainly be drawn from the so-called "analytical" tradition of philosophy.

After successful completion of the seminar, you will be able to
- explain key historical positions in the morality of money in your own words in speaking and writing,
- contextualise contemporary ethical questions in the context of the history of ideas, identifying relevant historical texts and using these to increase your understanding of the contemporary questions,
- reconstruct and critically evaluate arguments from historical and contemporary texts, in speaking and writing,
- position yourself with regard to selected question in the morality of money,
- explain selected philosophical questions, arguments, and concepts to a non-specialist audience.

The seminar is taught and assessed in English, and will feature extensive small group discussions which require everyone's preparation and contribution to succeed. In preparation of each seminar, you will read the assigned core text and complete some short preparatory reading tasks and other research exercises on Moodle. A willingness to engage with concepts and ideas from contemporary economics is required. Prior knowledge of economics is an asset, but not required. Relevant economic concepts and ideas will be explained in class where needed.