Gold.. a Philosophical Discussion
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Gold.. an object.. substance.. a material that has captivated human civilisations for thousands of years. Its natural brilliance, resistance to tarnish, and malleability made it the material of choice for crafting jewellery, religious icons, and royal regalia across ancient cultures such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and China. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, gold was adopted early as a form of currency due to its portability, divisibility, and consistent physical properties traits that align closely with Aristotle’s concept of sound money. Across cultures, gold has carried deep symbolic meaning, often representing the divine, the eternal, and the pure. Myths such as King Midas and tales of El Dorado reflect its legendary status as an object of desire and obsession. Furthermore historically, gold adorned temples, crowned rulers, and backed currencies, reinforcing its enduring association with power, wealth, and spiritual significance.
Gold’s value seems to have both intrinsic and extrinsic qualities. Its intrinsic value stems from its physical properties such as rarity, durability, and lustre which make it both aesthetically pleasing and functionally useful. Yet much of its worth also appears to be extrinsic, shaped by collective belief, cultural tradition, and market behaviour. Scarcity plays a central role, as gold is difficult to mine and limited in supply, further enhancing its appeal as a long-term store of value. This combination of physical uniqueness and social consensus seems to have sustained gold’s position not only as a precious metal but also as a lasting symbol of security and status.
Today.. in the current financial landscape it could be said that gold faces competition from new forms of value such as cryptocurrencies, intellectual property and some may even say non fungible tokens. While gold, as argued by many a traditionalist is still viewed as a "safe haven" during economic uncertainty, its tangible nature and intrinsic properties are now perhaps being challenged by assets with no physical form. Bitcoin, for instance, imitates gold’s scarcity and divisibility while existing purely in digital code.
All this perhaps raises some questions:
- What comes to mind when you think of gold.. emotionally, visually, or symbolically?
- Is gold truly beautiful to you, or does its appeal come mostly from the value we assign to it?
- What do you believe makes gold valuable. Is it its physical properties, its rarity, or the meanings we've attached to it across cultures and history?
- Why do you think gold has appeared in so many myths and stories throughout various cultures for centuries?
- How do Aristotle’s principles of “sound money” help explain gold’s early and continued use as currency?
- Can something hold value without being physical, or do we still need tangible objects like gold to anchor our idea of worth?
- How does gold’s presence in myths, religions, and royal symbols shape our cultural and emotional attachment to it?
- Is gold fundamentally different from modern forms of value like Bitcoin, NFTs, or intellectual property or are they part of the same human need to store meaning and trust?
- Does the ongoing shift toward digital assets signal that our relationship with gold is outdated or does it highlight something enduring in how we understand security and permanence?
- What does this conversation say philosophically about the way we value something?
Sources/References:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliviergarret/2017/04/21/why-even-the-father-of-logic-thought-that-gold-makes-the-best-money-in-the-world/
https://www.gold.org/history-gold/gold-as-currency?
https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
https://youtu.be/2XX2b2MeDe0?si=7mFbU2u-BgEjxaXN
Gold.. a Philosophical Discussion