Understanding Money

This book offers a novel understanding of money by moving away from the dominant lens of economics through which it is usually seen.

In contrast to the economic frameworks of "money", the volume examines philosophical discourses on money through conceptual frameworks that explain how monetary value manifests in various empirical monetary systems. It showcases how the increasingly abstract nature of the objects that stand proxy for money could be conceptualized ontologically, highlighting the predominance of digital money today, as well as contemporary monetary innovations such as cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Provocative, yet grounded in a sound theoretical framework, this book will be of interest to scholars, students, and teachers interested in money or monetary value, across various domains and disciplines such as philosophy, economics, sociology, anthropology, finance, science, and technology studies, as well as the interested general reader.

Aditya Nain is an investment consultant with expertise in North American and Indian investments and is visiting faculty for philosophy and logic at Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts and FLAME University. He has taught an undergraduate course on the Philosophy of Money since 2012 and holds a PhD on the topic from IIT Bombay. His ongoing research is focused on the conceptual understanding of money and value, including contemporary innovations such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

P. G. Jung is Associate Professor of philosophy at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Bombay. His area of research and publications focus on the historical tracing of philosophical concepts and the problems concerning philosophy of language and values. His forthcoming monograph traces the different shades of the notion of autonomy in the Modern period and is to be published by the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla.