Money, Value, and Modern Life
Rebecca Spang
Hutton Honors College
Ideas and arguments about money—what it is, how it works, who controls it—have been fundamental to modern history and to many theories of modernity itself. In this seminar, we will work through some foundational texts of Western social and political theory, focusing on how authors’ claims about money relate to how they see the world, imagine people, and understand ethics. Some of our key texts for the semester were written by economists (David Ricardo, John Maynard Keynes) or by writers now claimed as important for economics (Adam Smith), but the seminar will proceed more like a class in political theory, sociology, or philosophy than like one in Economics or Finance. No previous study of economics or intellectual history is required but students must be prepared to deal with dense and difficult texts. If you do not want to have your assumptions about money challenged, you should not take this course. Readings will include speeches, policies, and opinion pieces, as well as selections from
- John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (1690)
- Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)
- William Cobbett, Paper against Gold (1815)
- David Ricardo, On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817)
- John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy (1864)
- Karl Marx, Capital (1867, 1885)
- Georg Simmel, The Philosophy of Money (1889)
- John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936)
- John Galbraith, The Affluent Society (1958) Grading and Requirements: Attendance and participation (15%); short daily discussion posts (10%); four “reading reports” (5% each); paper with an assigned prompt (20%), must be revised and resubmitted for credit; final paper proposal (10%); final paper (25%). This course satisfies the Intensive Writing requirement and I will pay special attention to the felicity and effectiveness of your prose. Please recognize the revision process as an opportunity for sustained reworking of your first submission; if you simply correct typographical errors and spelling mistakes, your grade will go down instead of up. Policy on Attendance and Participation: You are expected to attend all course meetings. If you miss more than three sessions, for _whatever _reason, I have the right to give you a failing grade for the course (regardless of your grades on written work).
Catalog Information: HHC-H 212 PAST AUTHORS, QUESTIONS II