--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The question is really how do we think…" description: "\"The question is really how do we think seriously about this mechanism called a market. It ought to be determining not values but prices.\" — Cornel West" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4e/cornel-west-708_investing_the-question-is-really-how-do-we-think-s_1654021.jpg" --- # The question is really how do we think seriously about… ![“The question is really how do we think seriously about this mechanism called a market. It ought to be determining not values but prices.” quote by Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4e/cornel-west-708_investing_the-question-is-really-how-do-we-think-s_1654021.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4e/cornel-west-708_investing_the-question-is-really-how-do-we-think-s_1654021.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4e/cornel-west-708_investing_the-question-is-really-how-do-we-think-s_1654021.jpg) > “The question is really how do we think seriously about this mechanism called a market. It ought to be determining not values but prices.” [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Markets should reflect true value, not just price, urging deeper ethical consideration. **In simple terms:** Markets need ethical grounding beyond pricing. Key Takeaway Question market ethics and value. Themes ethics economics philosophy value society Mood critical thought‑provoking Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - policy design - consumer behavior - investment decisions - academic research Key Concepts price theory moral economics social justice Questions to Reflect On - How should societies balance price and moral worth? - What mechanisms can embed ethics in markets? A Different Perspective Markets often ignore non‑monetary values. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Investing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/investing/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) ## Related quotes > [“Economies about money are called market economies. 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I'm only trying to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katrina-kaif/when-you-re-walking-at-the-airport-you-re-expected-to-smile-at-people/) [Katrina Kaif](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katrina-kaif/) > [One mechanism of repression is the grand jury.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-parenti/one-mechanism-of-repression-is-the-grand-jury/) [Michael Parenti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-parenti/) > [Obedience is the psychological mechanism that links individual action to political purpose. It is the dispositional cement that binds men to systems of authority.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-milgram/obedience-is-the-psychological-mechanism-that-links-individual-action/) [Stanley Milgram](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-milgram/) > [I think the most important way to understand play is that it's this property that's in things. Like there's play in a mechanism. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-bogost/i-think-the-most-important-way-to-understand-play-is-that-it-s-this/) [Ian Bogost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-bogost/) > [Tom Stafford was an odd character, you know - a brilliant guy. He looked weird and I think he took a really defensive attitude…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donnie-fritts/tom-stafford-was-an-odd-character-you-know-a-brilliant-guy-he-looked/) [Donnie Fritts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donnie-fritts/) > [There are no two countries with the same style of economic mechanism, with the same capitalism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anatoly-chubais/there-are-no-two-countries-with-the-same-style-of-economic-mechanism/) [Anatoly Chubais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anatoly-chubais/) > [Vegetables, which are the lowest in the scale of living things, are fed by roots, which, implanted in the native soil, select by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-anthelme-brillat-savarin/vegetables-which-are-the-lowest-in-the-scale-of-living-things-are-fed/) [Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-anthelme-brillat-savarin/) > [It is natural that our minds replay old stories, because that is our own mechanism for trying to work out unresolved problems. Yet rerunning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tara-brach/it-is-natural-that-our-minds-replay-old-stories-because-that-is-our/) [Tara Brach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tara-brach/) > [Story is about pulling the reader in and a plot is a more externalized mechanism of revelation. A plot is more antic, more performative,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/story-is-about-pulling-the-reader-in-and-a-plot-is-a-more/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) ## More by Cornel West > [There has certainly been ugly, right-wing hatred targeting Barack Obama.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/there-has-certainly-been-ugly-right-wing-hatred-targeting-barack-obama/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [What is accurately portrayed is the rich humanity not just of Martin Luther King but of the movement, which was a multiracial movement. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/what-is-accurately-portrayed-is-the-rich-humanity-not-just-of-martin/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I feel as if I have been blessed to undergo a transformation from 'gangster' to 'redeemed sinner with gangster proclivities.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-feel-as-if-i-have-been-blessed-to-undergo-a-transformation-from/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [“Like King, we need to put on our cemetery clothes and be coffin-ready for the next great democratic battle.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/like-king-we-need-to-put-on-our-cemetery-clothes-and-be-coffin-ready/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [ “You can't really move forward until you look back. \[From Remaking America panel discussion at George Washington University\]” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-t-really-move-forward-until-you-look-back-from-remaking/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [When we think of globalization we are thinking in part of structures and institutions that have been developed over time and that have allowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/when-we-think-of-globalization-we-are-thinking-in-part-of-structures/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The challenge artists face today is whether to be an underground, unheard genius, or to dilute their art for the marketplace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-challenge-artists-face-today-is-whether-to-be-an-underground/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The need of black conservatives to gain the respect of their white peers deeply shapes certain elements of their conservatism. In this regard, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-need-of-black-conservatives-to-gain-the-respect-of-their-white/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [For me, musicians are poets. Beethoven describes himself as a poet of tones, just like Coltrane's a poet of tempo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/for-me-musicians-are-poets-beethoven-describes-himself-as-a-poet-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [I don't draw any distinctions between forms of bigotry or forms of ideology that lose sight of the humanity of people. I can't stand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/i-don-t-draw-any-distinctions-between-forms-of-bigotry-or-forms-of/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Barack Obama has domesticated the left in such a way that we feel as if we have no alternative but him...I refuse to accept…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/barack-obama-has-domesticated-the-left-in-such-a-way-that-we-feel-as/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Larry Summers, I think, he had a long history of arrogance and relative ignorance about poor people's culture and working people's culture and so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/larry-summers-i-think-he-had-a-long-history-of-arrogance-and-relative/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [The greatest gift you can give someone is the gift of inspiration.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/the-greatest-gift-you-can-give-someone-is-the-gift-of-inspiration/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [You can see it in terms of the obsession on Wall Street with not just profits but greed, more profit, more profit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/you-can-see-it-in-terms-of-the-obsession-on-wall-street-with-not-just/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) > [Anybody who takes Martin Luther King seriously has got to go beyond the standard understanding of who he was, has to connect those dots.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornel-west/anybody-who-takes-martin-luther-king-seriously-has-got-to-go-beyond/) [Cornel West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) [Explore all 400 Cornel West quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornel-west/) ## More Investing quotes > [Don't let's lose sight of what creates wealth. 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And it wasn’t so much a question of what that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arne-dahl/the-market-was-king-that-much-was-clear-share-worth-had-replaced/) [Arne Dahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arne-dahl/) > [Windmills and solar cells are carbon-free sources of electricity. But they are costly. If you've been investing in those, give it up. That game…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-fisher/windmills-and-solar-cells-are-carbon-free-sources-of-electricity-but/) [Kenneth Fisher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-fisher/) > [The exact details of how you practice value investing will vary investor to investor, but the fundamental principle of scouring the world, looking for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitney-tilson/the-exact-details-of-how-you-practice-value-investing-will-vary/) [Whitney Tilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitney-tilson/) > [“Wed don't need to live like the elites of California, New York, or Washington, D.C. We don't need to work a hundred hours a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-vance/wed-don-t-need-to-live-like-the-elites-of-california-new-york-or/) [J.D. Vance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-d-vance/) > [Television series are like the stock market. There's room for bears and bulls but no room for pigs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-newhart/television-series-are-like-the-stock-market-there-s-room-for-bears/) [Bob Newhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-newhart/) > [That's one of the things about the NFL is that you have small-market teams, big-market teams. I feel like the bigger market teams do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/travis-kelce/that-s-one-of-the-things-about-the-nfl-is-that-you-have-small-market/) [Travis Kelce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/travis-kelce/) > [In China, people are moving from bigger cars to small hatches, and interestingly, the Indian market is graduating to bigger cars and sedans. 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Mankins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-c-mankins/) > [I'll invest my money in people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-keith-kellogg/i-ll-invest-my-money-in-people/) [Will Keith Kellogg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-keith-kellogg/) [Browse all 13,164 Investing quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/investing/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The question is really how do we think seriously about this mechanism called a market. 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