Money from the Perspectives of Various Philosophers

It would not be an academic approach to make a definite statement about the concept of money and present a generally valid definition. Because money has adapted to the system like a living organism shaped in accordance with the needs of the society, according to the geography and period in which it is in use.

In the book titled “A Study on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” written by Adam Smith in 1776, the development of money under the control of various civilizations throughout history is addressed under the section titled “The Origin and Use of Money”. The mentioned section explains the role of money in social life in its own period by stating, “... money has become a universal means of trade in all civilized nations, mediating the purchase and sale of all kinds of goods or being exchanged between themselves” (Smith 2019).

In Alfred Marshall’s book “Principles of Economics”, first published in 1890, he described money as a “means” with a view parallel to A. Smith regarding money by stating “Money is a means towards ends, and if the ends are noble, the desire for the means is not ignoble. The lad who works hard and saves all he can, in order to be able to pay his way afterwards at a University, is eager for money; but his eagerness is not ignoble.

In his book “Capital (Vol-1)” published in 1867, Karl Marx defined the condition of the commodity as being a measure of value and means of circulation as money and approached this with a critical point of view: “Commodity that functions as a measure of value and functions as a means of circulation by itself or by a representative is” money “.Gold (or silver) therefore means money. On the one hand, gold functions as money, on the other hand, it comes into being as a commodity. (...) In other words, they play the role of pure and simple use values as the only appropriate existence form of exchange values against all other commodities” (Marx 1976).

In his book of 1914 titled “A Treatise on Money (Volume-1), John M. Keynes claimed, regarding the concept of money: “. debt and price contracts are paid, the form and character of General Purchasing Power derive from its relation to being the Money-of-Account, because prices and debts must first be expressed under certain conditions.” (Keynes 2017). Keynes explained that in addition to being a concrete expression of purchasing power as a means of payment, money also functions as a money of account.

Regarding money in the “The Modern Mixed Economy” section of the book “Economics” first published in 1948 by Paul A. Samuelson and William D. Nord- haus: “Money is an oil that facilitates change. When everyone trusts and accepts; trade is facilitated when money is accepted as payment for goods and debts. Imagine how complicated the economic life will be if you have to trade goods every time you want to buy pizza or go to a concert.

Regarding money, the book “Monetary Statistics of the United States: Estimates, Sources, Methods” published by Milton Friedman and Anna Jacobson Schwartz in 1970 explained that money can be defined according to various forms: it doesn’t

matter how money is defined. Different definitions can be placed by changing the equations that determine the equilibrium values of the variables at the same time” (Friedman and Anna 1970).

In the “Definition and Measurement of Money” section of Margaret Ray and David Anderson’s book “Krugman’s Economics for Ap * 2nd Edition”, which was first published in 2010, which is an adaptation of “Economics” by Paul Krugman and Robin Wells, a definition of money is used that is not different from the previous literature examples: “Money is defined by the job it does: money is an asset that can be easily used to purchase goods and services...if an asset is defined as liquid if it can be easily converted into cash. Money consists of cash that is liquid by definition and other assets with liquidity feature” (Ray and Anderson 2011).

As a different point of view, in the book “The Philosophy of Money”, first published in 1900 by the German sociologist and social philosopher Georg Simmel: “Money is measured by the goods with which it is exchanged and also by the money itself. Because money is not paid only in money, as shown by the money market and lending with interest, but a country’s currency becomes a measure of value for another country’s currency, as foreign exchange transactions show” (Simmel 2018: 83). Simmel, in his study where he addressed the concept of money philosophically, did not consider money only as an expression of a concrete quantity, but explained that its main value took its final form by assuming abstract qualities and with the effect of independent variables.

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