Speculating the Subject of Money: Georg Simmel on Human Value
This article initiates an inquiry into the sources and frameworks of value used to denote human subjects in modernity. In particular, I consider the conflation of monetary, legal, and theological registers employed to demarcate human worth. Drawing on Simmel’s speculative genealogy of the money equi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2016-06-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/7/7/80 |
| _version_ | 1811318217625305088 |
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| author | Devin Singh |
| author_facet | Devin Singh |
| author_sort | Devin Singh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article initiates an inquiry into the sources and frameworks of value used to denote human subjects in modernity. In particular, I consider the conflation of monetary, legal, and theological registers employed to demarcate human worth. Drawing on Simmel’s speculative genealogy of the money equivalent of human values, I consider the spectrum of ascriptions from specifically quantified to infinite human value. I suggest that predications of infinite human value require and imply quantified—and specifically monetary-economic—human value. Cost and worth, economically and legally defined, provide a foundation for subsequent eternal projections in a theological imaginary. This calls into question the interventionist potential of claims to infinite or unquantifiable human value as resistance to the contemporary financialization of human life and society. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:21:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e8ed8d0078e64d9386263b6d4795198b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:21:56Z |
| publishDate | 2016-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-e8ed8d0078e64d9386263b6d4795198b2022-12-22T02:47:11ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442016-06-01778010.3390/rel7070080rel7070080Speculating the Subject of Money: Georg Simmel on Human ValueDevin Singh0Department of Religion, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USAThis article initiates an inquiry into the sources and frameworks of value used to denote human subjects in modernity. In particular, I consider the conflation of monetary, legal, and theological registers employed to demarcate human worth. Drawing on Simmel’s speculative genealogy of the money equivalent of human values, I consider the spectrum of ascriptions from specifically quantified to infinite human value. I suggest that predications of infinite human value require and imply quantified—and specifically monetary-economic—human value. Cost and worth, economically and legally defined, provide a foundation for subsequent eternal projections in a theological imaginary. This calls into question the interventionist potential of claims to infinite or unquantifiable human value as resistance to the contemporary financialization of human life and society.http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/7/7/80SimmelDoddFoucaultmoneyvaluefinancializationsecularizationtheology |
| spellingShingle | Devin Singh Speculating the Subject of Money: Georg Simmel on Human Value Religions Simmel Dodd Foucault money value financialization secularization theology |
| title | Speculating the Subject of Money: Georg Simmel on Human Value |
| title_full | Speculating the Subject of Money: Georg Simmel on Human Value |
| title_fullStr | Speculating the Subject of Money: Georg Simmel on Human Value |
| title_full_unstemmed | Speculating the Subject of Money: Georg Simmel on Human Value |
| title_short | Speculating the Subject of Money: Georg Simmel on Human Value |
| title_sort | speculating the subject of money georg simmel on human value |
| topic | Simmel Dodd Foucault money value financialization secularization theology |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/7/7/80 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT devinsingh speculatingthesubjectofmoneygeorgsimmelonhumanvalue |