“Currency led to the valuation of an article by its pride, which is something not intrinsic, but an abstraction shared with other commodities. Things not made to be exchanged may be valued for what they are, not for what they will buy. ” (Russell, 104)
This quote from Lecture 4 connects to the chapter’s idea of useful, necessary and necessary action vs delightful action. Choosing to do what must be done for a goal or what can be done for enjoyment. Here Russell discusses a commodities value, whether monetarily or otherwise. Russell elaborates on what motivates actions and creation. This connects to Lecture 2 where Russell discusses how society can and should function. In Lecture 2 Russell uses the example of government control and individual freedom and how these weigh against each other. He argues that society’s structure has a great impact on how people operate and how civilizations progress.
Meirav Weintraub
I think that your take on the quote and connection to his ideas is very insightful because of the fact that he does stress the difference between varying actions and freedoms. Structure is something that he mentions consistently within his writings, which I have noticed, as well. This quote is interesting because it refers to something quite specific, and the power that currency holds within the system that we live in. I think that when it comes to power and authority, this quote is a proper representation behind one of the root cause behind abuse of power, which is mentioned heavily by Russell.
Culture and currency are directly related to how a civilization progresses. The quote gives insight on most economic situations especially in big industrious countries such as the US and China. I agree with Russel in that the introduction of currency has led to a more stable situation in how commodities can be traded and exchanged for other uses. I agree with you that society’s structure indeed has a great influence to progress and in our case, the structure is one which revolves around money and how it much it’s worth in exchange of other commodities. We can exchange currency for many things all because of the balance of government control and our own individual freedom.
I agree with Russell saying that we do have a freedom to choose the purpose in why we do things whether its for entertainment or for a specific goal. I also agree that society has an influence on how we progress as people. Currency is valued highly by society and in some cases we can become obsessed with the value of the currency because society puts it as its number one priority. In this sense, we are controlled by the value of currency but we are free to purchase what we want, when we want to.
Just like how competition is a great incentive for people, currency is another great incentive. Russell states that currency is viewed as pride which I totally agree because in the modern industrialized society, money sets people apart. It represents the status of the individual or group when they have something that the other people don’t have. Society is structured in a way where people are always competing to see who eventually will stand on the top and money is one of the best materials to determine that factor. I believe it is because human are indulged in the concept of survival of the fittest and that money determines one’s success in society.