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MONEY AND THE STYLE OF MODERN LIFE 233
length, so that the purpose of an hour’s activity lies far be-
yond that hour and sometimes even beyond the sphere of
the individual’s vision.
This extension of the teleological series is in the first
place due to the introduction of money. It creates a cen-
tral interest over and above otherwise unrelated activities
and thereby brings them into mutual relationships. After
the introduction of money, the gains of one undertaking,
and thereby that undertaking itself, can become the means
to another enterprise—a thing which was impossible as
long as the two were unrelated. On the other hand, money,
because it is generally conceived as a purpose and an end,
thereby degrades many things to means which are really
ends in themselves. Money, because it is everywhere and
for everybody both an end and a means, links all the con-
tents of life into teleological relationships.
These relationships come to be expressed in terms of
objective exchange values, and thereby come to be woven
into a large system of factual contents which resembles the
system of the causal relationships of the natural order. It
is held together by the function of the all-pervading ex-
change value as the latter is held together by the all-per-
vading energy. In the relations between man and the natu-
ral order, objective knowledge and impersonal intelligence
have taken the place of emotional attachments and per-
sonal feelings, and in a similar fashion the practical social
world has since the introduction of money become more
and more a problem for intelligent activity and less and
less an object for emotional attachments.
This correlation between the significance of money and
of intelligence for modern life is first of all manifest in a
negative aspect. Both lack character. Both are merely
functions. Intelligence is the indifferent mirror of the ac-
tuality in which all elements are pictured with complete
