Wealth as a Value

For all things philosophical.

Moderators: AMod, iMod

Post Reply
RWStanding
Posts: 384
Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2016 12:23 pm

Wealth as a Value

Post by RWStanding »

Wealth as a Value
A fundamental problem of today that needs to be dealt with for the future ‘good’ of society.
At present ‘wealth’ is treated as a thing, goods and property represented by money.
Therefore, ethics treats it from the outside as a whole, and we have confused ideas about how it should be used and distributed. And more particularly, we debate the use of money rather than how it is made. Anything that makes a profit adds to national wealth, allowing government more revenue for national expenditure.
What is always been notable is how property tends to represent virtue, as in the upper classes.
BUT the alternative for the future is to treat wealth as a virtue that relates to the class of society we must first create or espouse.
A tyranny or authoritarian society, in its nature, will own or control all property and money. The populace will serve the purposes of that government and not themselves or each other. In the long term such a society must manage the human environment sustainably – as the modern term has it – which may involve minimal care and conservation of nature or even human beings and diversity.
Anarchistic society or that based on the individual ego, has no mutual benefit beyond bare survival, and perhaps only token equality of opportunity. In its nature this would have a capitalist economy, with no common ethical currency other than money itself.
Altruistic society based on the community, would employ money as a practical convenience. But it would measure wealth on a holistic basis, that cares for the diversity of humanity and diversity of the natural world. Some earnings would be a debit to the economy and society, such as betting and gaming. Leisure pursuits would be of value for human health, and otherwise an outlay and consumption of wealth.
Veritas Aequitas
Posts: 12357
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:41 am

Re: Wealth as a Value

Post by Veritas Aequitas »

"At present ‘wealth’ is treated as a thing, goods and property represented by money."

It had already happened long ago and still ongoing where the measurement of "wealth" had expanded from 'money' to social responsibility, corporate responsibility, and of recent, carbon units, well-being, happiness, intelligence, wisdom, health, and others.
Post Reply