Some believe that money can be used in the service of ethics. Others limit themselves to considering that ethics and money are irreconcilable. All of these debates will be broadcast live on the website of the city of Nice: www.nice.fr
For some, respect for ethics does not depend on individual behavior, but on society’s ability to establish safeguards that enforce the law protecting humans against the abuse of money and immoral behavior. Others, on the contrary, consider that money and ethics are compatible, and even that one can serve the other, provided that the laws in this area are sufficiently clear and enforced.
The debate is far from over because money has invested human relations with a singular power as a universal means of commercial exchange, especially in these times of globalization where financial flows in circulation greatly exceed the volume of physical transactions.
Given the centrality of this issue, the weekly magazine Marianne has placed the topic “Money and Ethics” at the center of a conference and brought together for discussions on the subject more than fifty politicians, journalists, experts, and researchers from various disciplines (economics, sociology, philosophy, law, civil society…) including scientists, practitioners, and association leaders.
Ethics, a wise person might say, “is first living with eyes wide open.”
Therefore, the primary concern is to ensure that these debates do not become a mode of permanent spectacle but rather contribute, even modestly, to understanding this vast issue.
Ethics is seen as the form of supreme authority, the symbolic keystone of society, and the social values that constitute the common good.
The subject is doubly complicated. Indeed, it involves combining money, ethics, and (today) globalization, three categories that are themselves complex and of different natures.
This definition is exacerbated by the monetary-financial dimension of globalization, which reverses the power dynamics between regulator and regulated.
Moreover, relating them cannot be done directly as if they were similar, homogeneous categories; their entanglement must be considered, rather than causal relations between them.
Ethics is about resisting idolatry, that of money, and recognizing three simple principles: responsibility, humility, and justice.
When money becomes the sole measure of human value, when it is the sole objective, one is close to idolatry.
This state of affairs necessitates the invention of a civil government as envisioned by John Locke, in order to manage the conflicts created by accumulation and to allow the preservation of value.
Capitalism does not need to be rebuilt, but rather regulated. And if this regulation is necessary, it is certainly to avoid the pitfalls of ignorance, but first and foremost, the pitfalls of human greed.
But how, if not through ethical principles, can one regulate the international financial society, this stateless society?
Because, as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said, “By working for material goods alone, we build our own prison, with our currency of ashes which brings nothing worth living for.”
