Nothing has inherent value. Inherent value shouldn’t be confused with practical value. Anyway, while gold has some practical value nowadays, being a corrosion resistant electrical conductor doesn’t explain why people wanted gold more than a hundred years ago. Thinking there’s something special about gold that makes it valuable irrespective of social beliefs or practical uses is just… the world’s least interesting religion.
The fact is, money has value because it’s the only thing that can be used to pay taxes. So for the next level, I’ve never quite understood what “social construct” means. Is being punched for cosplaying a Nazi a social construct? Not the justification, but the fist, is the fist a social construct? Is being harassed by the IRS because you’re a sovereign citizen who uses self-issued Freedom Dollars and doesn’t believe the Sixteenth Amendment was duly ratified so income taxes are illegal, is the harassment from the IRS a social construct?
Yes, those are social constructs. Except the fist, as a fist is a physical object. Consequences for cosplaying a Nazi are social constructs though.
What isn’t a social construct is food, and needing to eat it, as an example. I would then say that food has inherent value to humans. It is worth something to you no matter the society.
Something being a social construct doesn’t make it not real. It simply means it’s not based in physical reality, but in social reality.
Nothing has inherent value. Inherent value shouldn’t be confused with practical value. Anyway, while gold has some practical value nowadays, being a corrosion resistant electrical conductor doesn’t explain why people wanted gold more than a hundred years ago. Thinking there’s something special about gold that makes it valuable irrespective of social beliefs or practical uses is just… the world’s least interesting religion.
The fact is, money has value because it’s the only thing that can be used to pay taxes. So for the next level, I’ve never quite understood what “social construct” means. Is being punched for cosplaying a Nazi a social construct? Not the justification, but the fist, is the fist a social construct? Is being harassed by the IRS because you’re a sovereign citizen who uses self-issued Freedom Dollars and doesn’t believe the Sixteenth Amendment was duly ratified so income taxes are illegal, is the harassment from the IRS a social construct?
Yes, those are social constructs. Except the fist, as a fist is a physical object. Consequences for cosplaying a Nazi are social constructs though.
What isn’t a social construct is food, and needing to eat it, as an example. I would then say that food has inherent value to humans. It is worth something to you no matter the society.
Something being a social construct doesn’t make it not real. It simply means it’s not based in physical reality, but in social reality.