A History of Greek Economic Thought. Albert Augustus Trever
Socratics, Plato, Xenophon, and Aristotle, and is continued, in a very incidental way, in the orators, and in the Stoics and their contemporaries. As we shall see, however, even in the Socratics, no real science of wealth is developed, in the modern sense. The reason for this lack, which is most commonly emphasized since it is closest at hand, is that the phenomena of actual production were but slightly developed. This explanation is well summarized by Haney[61] as follows: (a) that economic relations between individuals and states were far simpler than now; (b) that international commerce was not encouraged by ancient states, whose ideal was rather national exclusion; (c) that public finance was then very limited and unimportant; (d) that division of labor was not extensive; (e) that the relative lack of security of life and property discouraged exchange and saving; (f) that in all these respects, the situation is analogous to that of mediaeval Europe.
There is certainly much force in this general reason. The development of economic thought must, of course, depend upon the actual conditions under which the thinkers live. We have already admitted also the vast difference between the present economic complexity and the simplicity in ancient Greece. The foregoing summary of Haney, however, is misleading. Though the ideal of Sparta was national exclusion, it was surely not that of Athens and some other Greek states. All extant records agree that Athens, at least, the home of the economic theorists, encouraged international commerce by every means in her power. The division of labor, while insignificant compared with the minute division of modern mechanical industry, was by no means inextensive, as is evidenced by the fact that this is a point on which Greek thinkers show especial insight. The notion that Greek industry was chiefly limited to household economy, and that the era of capitalism had not yet dawned, has long ago been refuted by Meyer and others. The alleged insecurity of life and property, while relatively true, is exaggerated for Athens, at least. Above all, the common attempt to draw an analogy between classical Greece and mediaeval Europe economically is due to an utter misconception. The period of Greek economic history, which corresponds to that of the Middle Ages, is rather the era of economic awakening, between the middle of the ninth and the end of the sixth century B.C.[62]
Other reasons for the limited development of Greek economic thought are:
a) The dominance of the state over the individual citizen, which fact caused political rather than economic speculation to absorb the attention of Greek thinkers. It is stated that the importance of the individual must be recognized before a science of economics can develop.[63] This reason is also usually overemphasized.
b) The general prejudice in Greece against industry, labor for another, and finance for its own sake. That such a prejudice existed to some degree, arising from the old aristocratic feeling, moral objections, the reflex influence of slavery, the spirit of independence, and the belief that leisure was necessary for the proper performance of the duties of citizenship, is generally admitted. The commonly assumed universality of this feeling is, however, open to grave question. The prejudice against skilled labor was probably limited to the moral philosophers, and perhaps to the more aristocratic portion of the citizens, and we shall see in another chapter that the hostile attitude of the philosophers themselves has been considerably exaggerated. The evil effects of slavery also could not have been so marked in Greece, before the age of machinery. Moreover, as Meyer has pointed out, a prejudice against manual labor is evident among the more favored classes in most European countries today, yet it does not appear to retard the advance of industry in the least.[64]
c) The approval of conquest as a legitimate source of wealth. This is somewhat true as applied to the state, but it certainly is irrelevant for the individual citizen of fifth-century Athens. To appeal to Aristotle’s list of legitimate employments as evidence of this is to misinterpret his meaning, for he is thinking of a primitive life, not of contemporary Greece.[65]
d) Economic facts are a commonplace of daily life, and familiarity breeds contempt.[66] This statement contradicts the first reason given by Haney. Moreover, it is somewhat unfortunate as applied to Greece, since the very opposite reason is given for the prominence of political speculation—the commonness of practical politics.
e) Perhaps the strongest reason for the comparative unimportance of Greek economic thought is usually not emphasized. It is the patent fact that almost our only extant sources are the Socratic philosophers, who represent avowedly a direct moral reaction against the commercial spirit and money-greed of their age.[67] Thus the limited development of Greek economics, so far from being an evidence of primitive economic conditions in Greece, is a direct argument for the opposite. To be sure, a man with the scientific mind of Aristotle would scarcely have failed to gain a clearer apprehension of certain fundamentals of economics than he did, had his economic environment been more complex. Yet the fact remains that he and Plato are moral prophets, protesting against that very capitalism whose existence many modern historians have sought to deny to their age.
CHAPTER III
PLATO
As seen above, Plato was the first great economic thinker of Greece.[68] Plato, however, was primarily interested in neither economics nor politics, but in moral idealism. He is pre-eminent, even among the Socratics, for this. All his economic thought is a direct outgrowth of it, and is shot through with its influence. Yet, despite this fact, he exhibits considerable insight into some of the basal principles of economics,[69] and his entire Republic is founded upon an essentially economic theory of society. He traces its origin to mutual need,[70] and makes little of the innate social impulse, so prominent in Aristotle’s analysis.[71] He is the predecessor of Aristotle, however, in opposing the social contract doctrine of the Sophists with its interpretation of law as mere convention, by a natural theory of social origins. To his thought, the very foundations of society are established in eternal justice. They are not the result of mere convention, nor altogether the work of inspired lawgivers, but a complex product of natural and artificial elements.[72]
VALUE
Strictly speaking, Plato’s contribution to a theory of economic value and a definition of wealth is practically nil. In his discussion of just price, he merely hints at the fact of exchange value. He implies that, since goods exchange according to definite proportions, they should have a common quality capable of measurement, and that just price corresponds to this.[73] He offers no suggestion as to the nature of this quality, except that, in stating that “the artisan knows what the value of his product is,” he seems to be thinking of labor, or cost of production, as the chief element in value.[74]
In other passages, he insists on the doctrine taught previously by Democritus,[75] and later by Xenophon and other philosophers, that so-called goods depend for their value upon the ability of the possessor to use them rightly.[76] This idea is represented in modern thought especially by Ruskin.[77] The theory is, of course, true of absolute value, and, in a sense, even of economic value, in that “all exchangeableness of a commodity depends upon the sum of capacity for its use.”[78] It cannot be made a criterion of economic value, though the allied idea, implied by Plato and urged by Ruskin, that the innate quality of the thing, its capacity for good or harm, is a real element in economic value, is being recognized today. This is evident in the increasing hostility toward such so-called commodities as opium and intoxicating liquors. Since we have begun to define political economy in terms of human life rather than in terms of property, Ruskin’s definition of wealth is more acceptable: “the things which the nature of humanity has rendered in all ages, and must render in all ages to come … the objects of legitimate desire.”[79]
WEALTH