Philosophy Speakers: What Money Can and Cannot Buy

The moral limits of markets have been well examined, but their metaphysical limits remain underexplored. This talk presents a framework to understand how there can be some things that money literally cannot buy. I identify these things as “transformable goods,” because exchanging them for money transforms them into something else. Further, I distinguish between those that are always impossible to buy or sell (called “invariably transformable goods”) and those that are only sometimes transformed by financial exchanges (called “variably transformable goods”). Applying this framework demonstrates three things that were previously obscured. First, it explains why some things are impossible to buy, sell, or market. Second, it shows that commodities (and other similar goods) are agent relative. Third, it shows that some paradigms of unsellable goods (such as friendship) can be bought and sold, at least in particular transactions involving the right kinds of agents. About the speaker David Dick is assistant professor of philosophy and a Fellow of the Canadian Centre for Advanced Leadership in Business (CCAL) in the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary. His main areas of research and teaching are in ethics and political philosophy. In particular, metaethics, business ethics, and the philosophy of money. In the Calgary business community, he oversees the Integrity Network, a working group of ethics professionals from corporate, academic, and non-profit sectors. Under David Dick’s guidance, the Integrity Network has grown to include more than 85 participants from 47 organizations. Frequently invited to comment in the media, David Dick has made multiple appearances on Calgary Talk Radio QR77, Alberta Primetime, and the CBC. He is also a contributor to the Globe and Mail’s Leadership Lab column. David Dick’s UCalgary homepage

Location:

Social Sciences 1253

More information at http://www.ucalgary.ca/events/calendar/philosophy-speakers-what-money-can-and-cannot-buy