Aristotle and the political economy of the polis

Abstract

Athens in the fourth century was undergoing a process of social and economic change of which a major component was the development of elements of market economy. The question to be addressed here is: what response does that historical process meet with in the work of Aristotle? I shall contend that Aristotle has a substantial body of thought, analytical in nature and intent, which is directed specifically to the analysis of that process. M. I. Finley has drawn quite the contrary conclusion, and in addition to developing my own account of Aristotle's thought 1 shall have to examine the shortcomings of Finley's. Finley takes the view that although Aristotle was aware of the process of change he simply ignored it, and that there is no trace of any analytical concern with it to be found in those sections of the Aristotelian corpus which it has been usual to regard as containing Aristotle's ‘economic’ thought, namely, NE v 5, and Pol i 8–10. Finley sees in Aristotle nothing more than moral condemnation of certain practices such as kapelike which he regarded as damaging to the koinonia of the polis.It sometimes happens that what one finds in an author depends on one's possession or lack of the equipment necessary to recognise what is there and to identify it for what it is. Finley is looking at Aristotle in order to determine the presence or absence of what he terms ‘economic analysis’.