Philosophical aspects of a gift economy

The article discusses the philosophical issues of the use of a gift economy in modern conditions. The researcher is faced with the task of a systems analysis of the current trends in the development of the gift economy in their comparison with previous approaches in philosophy and anthropology, and with cultural characteristics of modern society. The method of critical analysis is aimed at rethinking the stable ideas that have developed in science and identifying the uniqueness of the current stage of development of the gift economy. The study examines the concepts of the gift economy as a reversible process, contexts of inalienable, symbolic interaction, systems of moral attitudes, forms of social construction. Conclusions are drawn that, in the revision of economic models of market participants' interaction, we observe the active use of the gift economy as one of the directions of society's development. Digital technologies, operating with openness and accessibility of information, create conditions for the use of the gift economy. Today, the gift economy exists as one of several economies in parallel with traditional commodity relations. However, the global task of this type of relationship is to transform the nature of market exchange in order to build a system of meanings, completely different from those created by utilitarian economists. The value of the gift economy lies in preserving the spiritual, mental connection between people. Corporate solidarity and the joy of giving in public are of paramount importance. Possessing a more ancient, sacred nature than market exchange, donation is aimed at forming long-term relationships in society. Practices of the gift economy include the awareness of oneself as the subjective center of a collective event, which is important for the individual, and give the opportunity to present the best version of oneself in the face of the community. Behind social structures, the gift economy reveals a person with his/her experiences and feelings. Thus, the gift economy becomes an important link to understanding one's own existence in the relationship between culture and society, appears as a way to lead a conscious life based on the inability to separate egoistic goals from collective consciousness, removing the false opposition of exchange and gift, egoism and altruism, motive and principle. We are witnessing the emergence of the economy as a sphere associated with the returning of the potential meanings of human existence, the ensuring of the priority of human relations over material well-being - all this actualizes the appeal to the gift economy as a form of living, emotional being.

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