The Philosophy of Money 1900; German: Philosophie des Geldes is a book on economic sociology by German sociologist together with social philosopher Georg Simmel. Considered to be a theorist's greatest work, Simmel's book views money as a structuring agent that enable people understand the totality of life.
As values can be quantified in monetary terms, our relationship with objects has lost nearly of its emotional mention and has become more intellectual. On the one hand, our rational attitude can lead us to become individualistic, to an atomization of society, together with even torespect and kindness. On the other hand, there are often have advantages in relying on intellect rather than on emotions. At all rate, Simmel continues that intellect is a tool and, as such, it lacks an intrinsic sense of rule and can be include to use for different purposes. Rationality originates from the objective, purely arithmetic race of money, and is mirrored by the tenet that law is survive for programs and that in a democracy any votes are equal. The ability of fitting in an increasingly intellectual environment is reinforced by education, which in refine is mostly accessible to those who can provide it. As a result, money can lead to the defining of a de facto aristocracy of the affluent. The converse is that egalitarian tendencies typically reject the money system.
The objective sort of money ultimately arises from the division of labor, in which the product is divorced from the worker's personality and hit is treated as a commodity. Similarly, products are no longer tailored to the specific guest and do non reflect his personality, production tools are specialized to the piece that the worker has little leeway in the way he operates the machines, and fashion reform so rapidly that nobody gets personally or socially attached to it. This state of affairs stands in contrast with the arts, which reflects the individuality of the author. Money can put the distance between individuals to the point that it makes them to fit in crowded cities and to liberate individuals from the yoke of workings on a family business. Incidentally, financial activities are concentrated in major cities, and the concentration of money increases the pace and variety of life. Humankind has become progressively more self-employed person of the rhythms of nature and more dependent on the institution cycle. "Objects and people have become separated from one another" declares Simmel, and was to compare this phenomenon with Marx's notion of alienation.
Money rises above individual conflicts while being an essential participant of the conflict. It has transcended its characteristics of a tool when it has become the center around which the economic system rotates, at which point it also takes the role of an all-encompassing teleological circle. Simmel was to compare this phenomenon with Marx's commodity fetishism.
Yet, division of labor makes it possible to construct intellectual and scientific contents that surpass the ability of the individual mind. Even in these cases, though, it may be essential that a synthesis be accomplished by a single mind. Similarly, as fabric concerns become impersonal, what is left can become more personal. For example, as the typewriter has relieved the writer from the cumbersome mechanics of writing, he can devote more attention to the original contents of his work. It really depends on humankind if money will lead to increase distinctiveness and refinement or not.