Abstract
I argue that Aristotle’s approach to the proper type of acquisition, use-value, want, and accumulation/storage of wealth is oriented less to excluding commercial activity, such as that of Aristotle's Athens, than to forestalling misordered concupiscence – the taking of an inherently limited good for the unlimited, or highest, good. That is, his moral aversion to taking a means for an end lies behind his rendering of the sort of wealth that is natural. By stressing the limited nature of natural wealth, Aristotle distinguishes such wealth qua limited from an artificial unlimited desire for profit in order to drive home his point that wealth ought not be taken as an objective good (i.e., good in itself).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aquinas, T.: 1947, Summa Theologica (D. Friars, trans.) (Benziger Bros, NY)
Aristotle: 1926, Nicomachean Ethics (H. Rackham, trans.) (Harvard University Press, Cambridge)
Aristotle: 1950, Politics (H. Rackham, trans.) (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, NY)
Ashley J. 1895 Aristotle’s Doctrine of Barter. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 9, 333–342
Barker E. 1959 Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle. NY: Russell & Russell
Brown W. R. 1982 Aristotle’s Art of Acquisition and the Conquest of Nature. Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy 10, 159–195
Dover J. 1974. Greek Popular Morality in the Time of Plato and Aristotle. Oxford: Blackwell
Finley M. I. 1970 Aristotle and Economic Analysis. Past and Present 47, 3–25
Gordon B. 1975 Economic Analysis Before Adam Smith. London: Macmillan
Hadreas P. 2002 Aristotle on the Vices and Virtue of Wealth. Journal of Business Ethics 39: 361–376
Haney L. H. 1949 History of Economic Thought. NY: Macmillan
Havelock E. A. 1957 The Liberal Temper in Greek Politics. Yale University Press, New Haven
Hostiensis: 1597, Suma Aurea (Lyon)
Kirschner J., Kimberly L. P. 1984 Peter John Olivi’s Treatises on Contracts of Sale, Usury, and Restitution: Minorite Economics or Minor Works? Quaderni Fiorentine Per la Storia del Pensiero Giuridico Moderno 13, 233–286
Langholm O. 1983 Wealth and Money in the Aristotelian Tradition: A Study in Scholastic Economic Sources. Bergen, Norway: Universitetsforlaget
Lowry S. T. 1987 The Archaeology of Economic Ideas: The Classical Greek Tradition. Durham: Duke University Press
Mitchell H. 1940. The Economics of Ancient Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Neves J. C. das. 2000 Aquinas and Aristotle’s Distinction on Wealth. History of Political Economy 32(3), 649–658
Polanyi K. 1957 Aristotle Discovers the Economy. In K. Polanyi, C. M. Arensberg, H. W. Pearson (eds.), Trade and Market in the Early Empires: Economies in History and Theory. Glencoe, IL: Free Press
Propertius: 1990, Elegies (G. P. Goold, ed., and trans) (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)
Ross W. D. 1956 Aristotle. NY: Barnes & Nobles
Sombart W. 1967 The Quintessence of Capitalism: A Study of the History and Psychology of the Modern Business Man (H. Firtig, NY)
Tawney R. H. 1926 Religion and the Rise of Capitalism: A Historical Study. NY: Harcourt, Brace & Co
Trever A. 1916 A History of Greek Economic Thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Worden, S. Aristotle’s Natural Wealth: The Role of Limitation in Thwarting Misordered Concupiscence. J Bus Ethics 84, 209–219 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9704-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9704-5