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Money Matters: Does Money Matter?
By philobean | August 9, 2007
Money can’t buy happiness–at least, so the saying goes. Well, I’m inclined to agree. After all, I’ve never seen an ad post for happiness. I’ve never seen happiness sold at the stores (no matter how big or small, modern or prehistoric). This proves a point, surely. But does it prove that money can’t buy happiness? Or does it simply prove happiness isn’t being sold (or can’t be)?
If happiness can’t be sold, then we can’t buy it (tautological definitely). Thus, we can safely conclude we can’t buy happiness directly. That’s settled.
Moving forward, however; can we buy things that can buy us happiness? Stated otherwise: can we indirectly buy happiness? Well, this is a little more tricky as you can very well see. Herein listed are some of the more commonly attributed sources of happiness: wisdom, intelligence (or knowledge), power or influence, social capital (i.e. simply, people find you endearing), accomplishment and honor; and so on.
So, can money buy all these things? Yes and no (it depends). No, it can’t buy these things directly (as it can’t buy happiness directly) but it can buy them indirectly.
Note the following:
(1) Wisdom cannot be pursued on an empty stomach. Thus, money is necessary for philosophical inquiry. If you’re too busy looking for your next meal (or savoring the current one), you’ll likely not be all that wise. [Note how philosophical inquiry began as soon as accumulation of wealth became a possibility.]
(2) Moving on to knowledge. The most popular sources of knowledge: education (preferably higher education at some prestigious institution), books (they cost some too), more recently the Internet (well, its not free either!), your parents (if they know stuff, someone probably paid for it), and so on. Knowledge isn’t free. That’s why its so coveted (more now than ever before, in fact).
(3) Social capital. Doing good things will cost you. It won’t always cost you money but someday its bound to. Ever gave a Christmas gift that didn’t cost a centavo? (If you said yes, I’m inclined to think you’re lying. There’s got to be at least some indirect costs somewhere in the procurement process).
(4) Accomplishment and honor: Think the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Or, closer to home, the Ayala Foundation, and so on. The world’s biggest philanthropists are also the world’s richest persons. No doubt why. (And, no, no, no. You can’t win the Nobel Prize without at least a centavo. You think research is cheap? Think again!)
Alas. We need money to be happy. Oh, wait, wait. I can almost hear the pedants screaming ‘injustice’ as I type up these words. Yes, money is a necessary condition for happiness but, yes, I have not proven that money is a sufficient condition for it. (Which basically means that, while I need money to be happy, having money won’t give me happiness.)
Agreeing then that the objection is valid, we conclude that, in most cases, money can’t buy happiness. However, money can buy happiness sometimes…
When? When used wisely. Our new motto: “Happiness is naught but money spent wisely”.
Topics: A little political, Personal |