On the Groundlessness of Depreciating Aristotle’ Economic Considerations

Marcin W. Bukała

The economic views of the author of Nicomachean Ethics, Politics and Economics have been the subject of a series of studies of historians of philosophy and historians of economic thought. Important works have also been created, showing the usefulness of Aristotelian concepts for contemporary understanding of the economic exchange issues. Extensive literature on this topic is, unfortunately, often overlooked in some syntheses and handbooks concerning the history of economic ideas, including Filozofia ekonomii by M. Gorazda. The author of this article refers, polemically, to the comments on Aristotle contained in the sythesis by Gorazda and in the publication by J. Huerta de Soto, on which Gorazda relies. The text demonstrates that the incomplete nature of Aristotle’s economic analysis and his philosophy of economic life does not preclude their timeliness and usefulness for further analytical studies. This is confirmed, among others, by the cited remarks of J. Schumpeter, contemporary studies of R. Crespo, and detailed analytical works based on the Aristotelian assumptions, such as the work of J. M. Bocheński. In the perspective of “philosophy of economic exchange” and „philosophy of economics”, Aristotle’s contribution is much more than just a historical curiosity.

DOI: 10.37240/AHFiMS.2019.64.2

Keywords: Aristotle · “Nicomachean Ethics” · “Politics” · history of economic thought • history of ancient philosophy • history of medieval philosophy • philosophy of economics • Józef Maria Bocheński · Marcin Gorazda · philosophy of enterprise

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