In the previous lecture, I concluded with the following statements: the relation between the accumulation of wealth and ethics. For Aristotle, a natural thing.
I dare say that contemporary capitalism has completely forgotten this relation.
Let me explain. Aristotle’s economic philosophy is grounded in his teleological view of the universe, wherein every entity has a natural end or purpose, "telos".
The fundamental unit of human organization is the household, "oikos", which exists to provide for the basic needs of life—food, shelter, clothing, and the means of human reproduction.
The art of managing the household is, what he called "oikonomia", from which we derive our word “economics.”
For Aristotle, true "oikonomia" is a limited and virtuous practice. Pay special attention to the term "virtuous" in this context.
Its purpose is not the infinite accumulation of goods but the stewardship of resources to secure a level of self-sufficiency, "autarkeia", sufficient for the members of the household to live a good life.
Just think about this line of thought. It is completely alien to our capitalism, where the norm is more, more, more, and infinite growth.
Wealth, in this context, is a collection of useful goods, a store of grain, tools, land, and, in Aristotle's world, also slaves, that are directly instrumental for living well.
A debate about slaves and slavery is a totally different chapter, but this is how Aristotle thinks about it in his "Politika, part IV"
QUOTE- (...)the servant is a kind of instrument. Thus, too, a possession is an instrument for maintaining life.
And so, in the arrangement of the family, a slave is a living possession, and property a number of such
instruments;
and the servant is himself an instrument which takes precedence of all other instruments. -END QUOTE
To brush up your memory about Aristotle's virtue ethics, which we discussed in several lectures.
It is an ethical framework focused on character and moral development rather than rules or consequences, asking "What kind of person should I be?" instead of "What should I do?".
The goal is to achieve eudaimonia, a state of human flourishing and a fulfilling life, by cultivating virtues, excellent character traits
like prudence, courage, temperance, and justice, through practice and habit.
A key concept is the golden mean, where virtues represent the midpoint between two extremes, e.g., courage between cowardice and recklessness.
Like ethics seem to have disappeared from economics, the idea that a better world can be created by developing virtues and living according to them seems to have become equally unpopular or even unknown.
Main Sources:
MacMillan The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2nd edition
of Economic Thought (2012)
TABLE OF CONTENT -----------------------------------------------------------------
1 - 100 Philosophers 9 May 2009 Start of
2 - 25+ Women Philosophers 10 May 2009 this blog
3 - 25 Adventures in Thinking 10 May 2009
4 - Modern Theories of Ethics 29 Oct 2009
5 - The Ideal State 24 Febr 2010 / 234
6 - The Mystery of the Brain 3 Sept 2010 / 266
7 - The Utopia of the Free Market 16 Febr 2012 / 383
8. - The Aftermath of Neo-liberalism 5 Sept 2012 / 413
9. - The Art Not to Be an Egoist 6 Nov 2012 / 426
10 - Non-Western Philosophy 29 May 2013 / 477
11 - Why Science is Right 2 Sept 2014 / 534
12 - A Philosopher looks at Atheism 1 Jan 2015 / 557
13 - EVIL, a philosophical investigation 17 Apr 2015 / 580
14 - Existentialism and Free Will 2 Sept 2015 / 586
15 - Spinoza 2 Sept 2016 / 615
16 - The Meaning of Life 13 Febr 2017 / 637
17 - In Search of my Self 6 Sept 2017 / 670
18 - The 20th Century Revisited 3 Apr 2018 / 706
19 - The Pessimist 11 Jan 2020 / 819
20 - The Optimist 9 Febr 2020 / 824
21 - Awakening from a Neoliberal Dream 8 Oct 2020 / 872
22 - A World Full of Patterns 1 Apr 2021 / 912
23 - The Concept of Freedom 8 Jan 2022 / 965
24 - Materialism 7 Sept 2022 / 1011
25 - Historical Materialism 5 Oct 2023 / 1088
26 - The Bonobo and the Atheist 9 Jan 2024 / 1102
27 - Artificial Intelligence 9 Feb 2024 / 1108
28 - Why Am I Here 6 Sept 2024 / 1139
The Discussion
[13:14] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman
[13:15] Max Chatnoir: Thanks, Herman.
[13:15] herman Bergson: Did you do your homework, Max?
[13:15] Max Chatnoir: Oddly, a little later this afternoon at the Chautauqua Pavilion there is a discussion on "manliness" which I believe is the root word for "virtue"
[13:16] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Maybe they should teach children at school these values again
[13:16] herman Bergson: My idea, Beertje
[13:16] Max Chatnoir: I did do my homework and discovered that ethics does not go beyond the undergraduate years, and even there it is one of many choices.
[13:16] herman Bergson: Virtue is not manliness...
[13:17] Max Chatnoir: Its part of a set of course called "ethical leadership"
[13:17] herman Bergson: it is character...neither manliness nor womanless...it is human
[13:17] Max Chatnoir: It isn't mentioned in the MBA
[13:18] Max Chatnoir: Yes, I agree that humanliness would be better
[13:18] herman Bergson: Well then I wasn't wrong...and today we see the results
[13:18] herman Bergson: Thank you for the effort
[13:18] Max Chatnoir: My pleasure!
[13:19] herman Bergson: But yet a sad observation, I;d say
[13:19] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aha
[13:19] Max Chatnoir: I may mention it to the Provost, who was from the school of business.
[13:20] herman Bergson: What is interesting here today is the idea of self-sufficiancy...
[13:21] herman Bergson: In another project I mentioned some experiments of attempts to create an economic system that was focused on that in stead of growth...
[13:21] Max Chatnoir: I have a question about the scope of maintaining the household. Was it thought to extend beyond your own family resources?
[13:21] herman Bergson: For Aristotle is it was probably an obvious concept
[13:22] Max Chatnoir: Doesn't seem to obvious today.
[13:22] herman Bergson: Interesting one, Max....
[13:22] Max Chatnoir: so obvious
[13:22] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): true
[13:22] herman Bergson: Point is...we'll address that in the next lecture... Aristotle thought retail was somehow unnatiural...
[13:23] Max Chatnoir: But his privileging the servants above other resources is interesting.
[13:23] herman Bergson: SO maintaining a household was primarily withing the scope of the household...
[13:23] Max Chatnoir: Could that be extended to mean that personal resources should be more widely shared?
[13:24] herman Bergson: Yes..at least he regarded them to be human beining...more valualble than grain or cattle, I guess
[13:25] herman Bergson: Shared with who, Max?
[13:25] Max Chatnoir: other households?
[13:25] Henk Restless: Slaves were very expensive. In today's prices, a simple slave could be what is a year's salary. A skilled one many years and a very premium one (like a doctor or a clerk) tens of median salaries. So of course they were prized
[13:25] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): These servants were only for the rich in that time?
[13:25] Henk Restless: The well-off, (top 10% or so) might have a common slave, skilled slaves were for the rich
[13:26] herman Bergson: Yes, definitely
[13:26] herman Bergson: interesting data Henk
[13:26] Henk Restless: These are Roman prices by the way, probably similar to Greece
[13:26] Max Chatnoir: So sort of a high-priced commodoty?
[13:26] Max Chatnoir: commodity?
[13:27] herman Bergson: Like expenxive cars today....only for the rich :-)
[13:27] Henk Restless: Well compare it to a horse or an ox, which was also not very affordable. A slavce would be much more valuable than that
[13:27] Henk Restless: not everyone was able to have an ox
[13:27] Henk Restless: so a slave would e even more high-end
[13:27] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): hallo Stranger
[13:27] herman Bergson: A pitty you are late, Stanger...
[13:28] Max Chatnoir: Hi, Stranger.
[13:28] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hi Stranger
[13:28] Henk Restless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0A_OxIX338 here's an interesting video I watched recently on the topic (hence I remember something about it)
[13:28] Stranger Nightfire: hello
[13:29] herman Bergson: IS it about dslave prices Henk?
[13:29] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): I willlook at it later
[13:29] Henk Restless: Yep
[13:30] herman Bergson: Really interesting...gonna watch it!
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aaah
[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes checking that
[13:30] herman Bergson: We have no idea how life was in thosee days and what we know is probably from the upper 10%
[13:31] Henk Restless: except for (perhaps) the bible almost all writings that I know of are from the top 0.01%
[13:31] Henk Restless: those close to the power of the emperor
[13:31] herman Bergson: But given that context...the ideas of Aristotle are still relevant
[13:31] herman Bergson: I agree Henk...
[13:32] herman Bergson: Besides..the other 90% couldm't even read or write :-)
[13:32] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): but their ives are very intersting too
[13:32] Max Chatnoir: Bookmarking it!
[13:32] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): their lives
[13:32] Henk Restless: It was more straight-forward to be self-sufficient back then compared to today
[13:33] Max Chatnoir: How so?
[13:33] Henk Restless: For example just living in a forest would be uncomforatble but doable. Now it's strictly illegal in all countries to do that, even if you were to manage it
[13:33] herman Bergson: Of course, Beertje..they were the silent majority that did the work
[13:33] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): yes
[13:34] herman Bergson: Ahh yes Henk...we now are killed by all kinds of regulations and laws
[13:34] Max Chatnoir: Good point. A lot of the landscape became private property.
[13:34] Henk Restless: Sometimes literally
[13:35] Henk Restless: All of the landscape
[13:35] herman Bergson: Bu tI once read/saw a story of a man whohad lived in the woods for 20 years or so....
[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): so I can not just like I saw in a swedish kids show when i was little live in an abandoned construction wagon in the forest even if noone else claims it
[13:35] Max Chatnoir: I guess "public land" is sort of not totall public.
[13:36] Henk Restless: "public land" is still owned, by the government
[13:36] Henk Restless: hence it is not actually public strictly speaking
[13:36] herman Bergson: indeed...
[13:37] herman Bergson: REcently we addressed the idea how you can own this planet, while you are just one of the animals running around here.
[13:37] herman Bergson: lol
[13:37] herman Bergson: there she goes
[13:37] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): hahah sorry
[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): lol
[13:38] herman Bergson: the conceptof private property...
[13:38] herman Bergson: how can land be private property
[13:38] Henk Restless: I don't think I am just one of the animals running around here
[13:38] herman Bergson: I am sorry Henk, what are you?
[13:39] Henk Restless: Property, and owning, is a concept. The concept is known therefore it is real. Animals aren't able to grasp that concept, so they don't exist on the same level
[13:39] herman Bergson: But they defend their territory yet
[13:39] Henk Restless: For survival purposes not because of property rights
[13:40] Max Chatnoir: I think the feral cats that I feed think the back yard is their territory.
[13:40] herman Bergson: true..we did too but invented private property which changed it
[13:40] Henk Restless: Perhaps a bit of anthropomorphism (attributing human characteristics to animals)
[13:40] Max Chatnoir: They certainly object to strangers.
[13:40] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeed we invented the concept but.. its only in our heads sort of
[13:40] Henk Restless: Indeed we invented private property, I've never seen an animal do that
[13:41] herman Bergson: No, but don't enter its private space...
[13:41] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeed or it will most likley eat you
[13:42] herman Bergson: Well, for the moment we may conclude that it wasn't Aristotle who introduced capitalism....
[13:42] Max Chatnoir: I noticed that when I used to walk my dog. Other animals were quite defensive about their territory.
[13:43] Henk Restless: it was invented long before Aristotle
[13:43] herman Bergson: Who are to "blame" for capitalism we'll discuss in future lectures :-))
[13:44] herman Bergson: I take the liberty to disagree with you here, Henk :-))
[13:45] herman Bergson: Gonna be an interesting discussion for the future Iguess :-))
[13:45] Max Chatnoir: Never a dull moment!
[13:45] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): indeedd
[13:45] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): lol Max
[13:45] herman Bergson: Right...!
[13:45] herman Bergson: So...thank you all again for this interesting discussion...
[13:46] herman Bergson: Class dismissed...
[13:46] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman very interesting again
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