What Does Pricelessness Mean?

The goal of this text is to elaborate the notion of pricelessness. The issue of pricelessness is distinguished from other important points in the Moral Limits of Markets debate. The proposition of the meaning of pricelessness is presented and discussed. I argue that the notion of pricelessness should not be identified with the notion of dignity or the highest value. The value which is a basis for the pricelessness claim does not have to be a moral value, the notion of pricelessness functions at the crossroads between different kinds of values (moral, aesthetic, scientific, sentimental, commercial etc.). I argue that the core intuition associated with pricelessness refers to the incomparability of values. It is expressed as being price-less because money is seen as a universal comparator - it has a potential to translate any other values. Further, I distinguish three models of relation between commercial and priceless realms, named as: 1) contamination model, 2) contractual model, and 3) contextual model, in order to show that the attitudes toward the intuition that pricing itself may corrupt intrinsic values, depends on the presuppositions one shares. I argue that the conviction about corrupting force of money might be also explained by the intuitive concerns related to purity and degradation under Moral Foundations Theory. Using Radin's concepts, I claim that both non-commodities and incomplete commodities might be meaningfully called priceless. Finally, I recognize the limits of the argument from pricelessness and admit that it is rarely strong enough in itself to justify prohibition of commodification.