Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Capitalism, Economics, Chresmatistics

In Politics I:9, Aristotle distinguishes Money and Wealth as a Means, from Money and Wealth as an End.  He characterizes the former as "natural", the latter as not.  As Marx transliterates Aristotle's terms, the classification of the former is "Economic", and the latter, "Chresmatistic".  The significance of the distinction to him is that, as the title of Smith's book suggests, in Capitalism, Money and Wealth is an End.  Hence, Capitalism is a Chresmatistic, not an Economic, system, a conclusion that is not necessarily from a Socialist perspective, since Aristotle is an advocate of Private Property.

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