SRP 435: Murray/Fajardo
Fall 1998
SRP 435: Literature, Philosophy, and Economics:
Critical Representations of Commercial
Life
Guiding Questions and Concerns
The following questions (as well as the questions to be supplied with
each reading assignment) should be taken into consideration in the writing
and discussion which will take place throughout the course. Students are
encouraged to explore, for example, the ways in which these general questions
may relate to the specific issues and situations presented in the readings.
What is economics? What are the etymological roots of the word "economics?
(consult a dictionary which gives word origins). What is the purpose of
an economic system? Are there features common to all economic systems? Is
commerce one of them? Why do people engage in commercial activity? Are there
different ways of exchanging goods and services? Are all forms of exchange
commercial? If not, what makes an exchange commercial?
Are there forms of living and/or thinking which could be said to be
"natural" or "unnatural"? Where do perceptions of the
natural or unnatural come from? Can those perceptions change? Can something
once thought unnatural eventually come to be considered natural (e.g. usury)?
What are the implications of certain practices coming to be perceived as
natural and even necessary? Can human beings adopt as natural practices
which are harmful to them?
Do the ways in which people make a living influence the ways in which
those people think and look at the world? Do the ways in which people think
and look at the world influence the ways in which they make a living? Can
the ways in which things are produced influence perceptions of value, the
natural, etc.? Can perceptions of value, the natural, etc. influence the
particular goods and services which a society chooses to produce? Can perceptions
of value, the natural, etc. influence the particular ways in which goods
and services are produced? Can perceptions of value, the natural, etc. influence
the particular reasons why goods and services are produced?
What happens when certain practices or ways of thought become generalized
and embodied in the activities and social relations of the members of a
human society? What happens when a generation of human beings is born into
a given set of already established practices, modes of thought, and social
relations? What happens when certain ways of living and of thinking come
to reinforce and closely mirror each other? Is it possible to determine
which came first? Is it possible to question the validity or desirability
of such social forms?
What is value? Where does the value of things originate? Are there
different kinds of value? Are all valuable things marketable and subject
to pricing and monetary measurement? Is the monetary value of a thing always
commensurate with its other forms of value? Can something which is valuable
in some way be considered worthless in another? Why are there discrepancies
in value scales? How is value determined in commercial societies? Are there
valuable things which are not valued in commercial societies? Are there
things which are highly valued in commercial societies which could be considered
worthless in other settings?
What is money? How is money used within an economic system? Is money
essential to the proper functioning of an economy? What does money represent?
Are there different functions of money? Are all of the functions of money
necessary and essential to all economic systems? In addition to its medium
of exchange properties, can money itself become a "good" or a
"commodity"? Can money have a price as goods and services do?
Why? What are the effects and implications of money which commands a price
in excess of its face value? What is usury? Why was usury considered a dishonorable
practice in antiquity and a sin in the middle ages? What are the implications/effects
of an economic system which does not see commercial moneylending as a problem?
Does commercial moneylending impose any burdens, limits, or otherwise problematize
economic activity in the present? How is the practice of commercial moneylending
related to and how does it affect future economic activity? Are uncertainty
and anxiety about the future in any way connected to moneylending and other
features of commercial societies? Are economic crises, crashes, and other
catastrophes a necessary and built-in feature of such societies? Why?
Is money capital? Is capital money? Are all resources, all goods and
services, capital? Are all productive resources capital? If only some are,
under what conditions do they function as capital? People often speak of
"human capital." What do they mean? Is there any problem with
the phrase? Some people also speak of networks such as church communities
or civic associations like the Girl Scouts as "social capital."
What do they mean in speaking like that? Do you see any problems with such
phrases? Is capital a thing? If not, then what is it?
What is wage labor? What would be some contrasting social forms of
labor? Is "employee" another word for wage laborer? Is there such
a thing as a fair or just wage? If so, how is it determined? What advantages
and disadvantages does wage labor have (for the employee and for the employers)
as compared with other types of labor? Are independent farmers wage laborers?
If so, who pays them their wages? Are physicians wage laborers? Are CEOs
wage laborers? Must a person work for a capitalist in order to be a wage
laborer? What is the significance of different forms of the payment of wages
(wages vs. salary; daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly payments)?
We speak of our society as a "consumer society," but doesn't consumption, in the sense of the use of goods and services (e.g. consuming food and drink, clothing, fuel, etc.) go on in every society? So are all societies "consumer societies"? If not, what is different about our society that makes it a "consumer society"? Students at private (and most public universities) pay tuition. Are they therefore "consumers" of education? Are you "consumers"? Some people take the "fast food" chain McDonald's as an emblem of a "consumer society." They might use the prefix "Mc" to talk about USA Today as "Mcpaper," HMOs as "Mchealthcare, for-profit primary schooling as "Mceducation," or push this thought to the max and speak of "Mcworld." What is meant by the prefix "Mc" in such usages?