The Importance of Money

Abstract

In this chapter the focus is on the shift in the importance of money where debt seems to have lost its social stigma. In the economic and financial domains debts have also changed status and become a popular monetary instrument for investments that are not linked to any enterprising activity. To make sense of what is currently happening to our relationship with money I dwell on the difference between being important and having importance. It seems that what is generally important might have no particular importance for people. It also seems that things acquire importance through people’s care. A question arising from here is whether the present status of debts has to do with people seemingly caring less about money particularly when money takes the form of credits. There are ethical issues related to this shifts in importance from credit to debt. But the motives behind such a shift are difficult to establish. There is a sense here that traditional ethics theory is not capable of sorting these motives. But a theory of care alone might not provide an answer either.