The second half of the Fourth Century B.C. was a time of crisis for Greek city states. Aristotle lived through this crisis. He began to reflect on the ideal organization of the polis. In his analyses of ethics (Nicomachean Ethics: NE) and of politics (Politics: P), can be found the conceptual framework for the socio-economic organization of the polis in light of its “development crisis”. In these texts Aristotle distinguishes himself from practitioners of political economics (as, for example, Isocrates and (...) Xenophon) by declaring what could be called the socio-economic paradigm of a school theoretician. (shrink)

Most textbooks on the history of economic theory scarcely mention the Islamic contribution. The writings of Grice-Hutchinson, Lowry, and Essid are notable exceptions, in that they offer a broad summary of the Islamic literature that enriched the Mediterranean tradition. Yet, Islamic civilization simply deepened the flow of ideas inherited from Antiquity before, and passed them on. From the twelfth century, its brilliance started a slow transfer of Islamic knowledge to a West which was ready to receive it.