Please join us for the second workshop of the Fall 2014 Term:

Towards A Philosophical Theory Of Money

Jules Salomone, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Monday, November 10th, 2014, 4:30-6:00pm
Location: Room 5109

Please see the abstract for the talk below.

Towards A Philosophical Theory Of Money

In this paper, I will argue in favor of three interrelated theses: 1) economics cannot but fail to provide us with a satisfactory account of money; 2) in spite of its obvious merits, Searle’s general social ontology needs some serious revisions if it is to explain what money is; 3) although money is arguably a social convention, it must necessarily exist for reasons that go beyond its conventional nature. More precisely, 1′) I will explain why mainstream economics must proceed as if money does not exist and why alternative theories that try to account for the existence of money begs the question. 2′) Although social ontology will consequently appear to be able to do what economics fails to do, I will focus on Searle, one of the leading figures of that field, and show why his theory is not fit for purpose. The discussion will bear upon both his account of the physical counterpart of social entities and his claim that such entities owe their existence to some enigmatic fiat. 3′) Drawing the lessons from my criticism of Searle and taking inspiration from Aristotle’s underestimated theory of money, I will finally argue that money must exist for normative reasons. Among other things, I will explain why only monetary exchanges can be fair.

Please join us for the first workshop of the Fall 2014 Term:

What is Social Software?

Rohit Parikh, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Monday, October 20th, 2014, 4:30-6:00pm
Location: Room 5109

Please see the abstract for the talk below.

What is Social Software?

Much discussion about society revolves around principles, e.g. principles of justice and fairness.  But there are complementary aspects to these usual concerns, namely methods and information.  If we know what our goals are, how do we achieve them?  And if these methods require the participation of many, how do we see to it that they have the information that they need?
For instance the will of the people is the basis for democracy.   But this will must be expressed somehow, so we have elections.  And then to prevent double voting we make sure that people do it only once.  In Afghanistan for instance it is achieved by putting an indelible ink mark on the hand of someone who has voted.   This prevents them from voting a second time.  Again, we must always inform people that they have the right (and perhaps the duty) to vote.   In New York this is achieved via a letter from the Board of Elections.
So we have three factors in running a society, Goals, Methods, and Information.
We cannot confine our consideration to goals because methods and information are also important and in this internet era, the spread of information has taken radically different forms, some beneficial and some less so.
These issues are addressed in the Social Software program to which many have contributed.  We offer an account of some current developments.

References:

Jan van Eijck and Rineke Verbrugge, Discourses on Social Software, Amsterdam University Press, 2009.

Eric Pacuit, Rohit Parikh and Eva Cogan, “The Logic of Knowledge Based Obligation”.  Synthese, March 2006, Volume 149, Issue 2, pp 311-341

Rohit Parikh “Social Software”, Synthese, 132, Sep 2002, 187-211.