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OIKONOMIA REDEFINED

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2013

DOTAN LESHEM
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Abstract

The paper argues that oikonomia was defined by the ancient Greek philosophers as a sphere in which man, when faced with excessive means, acquires a theoretical and practical prudent disposition in order to comply with his needs and so as to generate a man-made surplus that is to be found outside economy’s boundaries. In order to extricate this meaning, I focus on how the following categories are presented in ancient texts dedicated to the study of the oikonomia in its meaning of household management: i) oikonomia’s form of knowledge; ii) the essence of wealth and its end; and iii) the origin of the excess that appears in the economic sphere.

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Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , March 2013 , pp. 43 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2013

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References

REFERENCES

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Aristotle, . 1935. “The Eudemian Ethics.” In Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution: The Eudemian Ethics; on Virtues and Vices. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 198–478.Google Scholar
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Bryson, [1928]. In Plessner, Martin, ed., Der Oikonomikos des Neupythagoreers Bryson und sein Einfluss auf die islamische Wissenschaft. Heidelberg: C. Winter.Google Scholar
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Plato, Ps.. 1923. Eryxias. In Laistner, M. L. W., ed., Greek Economics. London: J.M. Dent, pp. 41–64.Google Scholar
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Amemiya, Takeshi. 2007. Economy and Economics of Ancient Greece. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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Baloglou, Christos. 2002. “Economics and Chrematistics in the Economic Thought of the Stoic Philosophy.” History of Economic Ideas 10 (3): 85–101.Google Scholar
Baloglou, Christos. 2009. “The Reception of Ancient Greek Economic Ideas by the Romans and their Contribution to the Evolution of Economic Thought.” In Caspari, Volker, ed., Theorie und Geschichte der Wirtschaft—Festschrift für Bertram Schefold. Marburg: Metropolis-Verlang, pp. 191–256.Google Scholar
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Carteldge, Paul. 2002. “The Ancient Economy (Economies) of Ancient Greece.” In Walter Scheidel and Sitta von Reden, eds., The Ancient Economy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 11–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, David J. 1991. Law, Sexuality, and Society: The Enforcement of Morals in Classical Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Cheryl Anne. 1998. Household Interests: Property, Marriage Strategies, and Family Dynamics in Ancient Athens. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Finley, Moses I. 1985. The Ancient Economy. London: Hogarth.Google Scholar
Fischer, Stanley, Rudiger, Dornbusch, and Schmalensee, Richard. 1988. Economics. Second edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Gordon, Barry. 1975. Economic Analysis Before Adam Smith: Hesiod to Lessius. New York: Harper and Row.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasebroek, Johannes. 1965. Trade and Politics in Ancient Greece. New York: Biblo and Tannen.Google Scholar
Humphreys, Sarah C. 1993. The Family, Women and Death: Comparative Studies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Isager, Signe, and Skydsgaard, Jens Erik. 1992. Ancient Greek Agriculture. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laistner, M.L.W. 1923. Greek Economics. London: J.M. Dent.Google Scholar
Lowry, S. Todd ed. 1992. Perspectives on the History of Economic Thought. Volume 7. Hampshire: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Lowry, S. Todd, and Gordon, Barry, eds. 1998. Ancient and Medieval Economic Ideas and Concepts of Social Justice. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Morris, Ian. 1994. “Review Article: The Athenian Economy Twenty Years after the Ancient Economy.” Classical Philology 89 (4): 351–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, Ian. 1999. “Foreword.” The Ancient Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. ix–xxxvi.Google Scholar
Morris, Ian, Saller, Richard, and Scheidel, Walter. 2007. “Introduction.” In Scheidel, Walter, Morris, Ian, and Saller, Richard, eds., The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nagle, Brendan. 2006. The Household as the Foundation of Aristotle’s Polis. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Natali, Carlo. 1995. “Oikonomia in Hellenistic Political Thought.” In Laks, Andre, ed., Justice and Generosity: Studies in Hellenistic Social and Political Philosophy: Proceedings of the Sixth Symposium Hellenisticum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 95–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, Cynthia B. 1998. The Family in Greek History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Perrotta, Cosimo. 2003. “The Legacy of the Past: Ancient Economic Thought on Wealth and Development.” The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 10, 2 (2): 177–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perrotta, Cosimo. 2004. Consumption as an Investment: The Fear of Goods from Hesiod to Adam Smith. London and New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polanyi, Karl. 1968. “Aristotle Discovers the Economy: Essays of Karl Polanyi.” In Dalton, George, ed., Primitive, Archaic, and Modern Economics. Garden City: Doubleday, pp. 78–115.Google Scholar
Pomeroy, Sarah B. 1984. “The Family in Classical and Hellenistic Greece.” Trends in History 3 (3): 9–26.Google Scholar
Pomeroy, Sarah B. 1997. Families in Classical and Hellenistic Greece: Representations and Realities. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, Betsy Barker, ed. 1997. Ancient Economic Thought. London and New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robbins, Lionel. 1935. Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science. Third edition. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd.Google Scholar
Saxonhouse, Arlene W. 1992. Fear of Diversity: The Birth of Political Science in Ancient Greek Thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Scheidel, Walter, and Reden, Sitta von. 2002. “Introduction.” In Walter Scheidel and Sitta von Reden, eds., The Ancient Economy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saller, Richard. 2005. “Framing the Debate over Growth in the Ancient Economy”. In Morris, Ian and Manning, J. G., eds., The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Swanson, Judith Ann. 1992. The Public and the Private in Aristotle’s Political Philosophy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Trever, Albert Augustus. 1916. A History of Greek Economic Thought. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Tsouna-McKirahan, Voula. 2007. The Ethics of Philodemus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Zoepffel, Renate. 2006. Aristoteles, OIKONOMIKA. Schriften zu Hauswirtschaft und Finanzwesen. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aristotle, . 1934. The Nicomachean Ethics, translated by Rackham, H.. Aristotle. Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Volume 19. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle, . 1935. “The Eudemian Ethics.” In Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution: The Eudemian Ethics; on Virtues and Vices. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 198–478.Google Scholar
Aristotle, . 1944. Politics, translated by Rackham, H.. Aristotle. Aristotle in 23 Volumes. Volume 21. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bryson, [1928]. In Plessner, Martin, ed., Der Oikonomikos des Neupythagoreers Bryson und sein Einfluss auf die islamische Wissenschaft. Heidelberg: C. Winter.Google Scholar
Callicartidas, . 1987. “On the Felicity of Families.” In Sylvan Guthrie, Kenneth, ed., The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library: An Anthology of Ancient Writings which Relate to Pythagoras and Pythagorean Philosophy. Grand Rapids: Phanes Press, pp. 235–237.Google Scholar
Didymus, Arius. 1999. Epitome of Stoic Ethics, edited by Pomeroy, Arthur J.. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.Google Scholar
Philodemus, . 1906. Philodemi Peri Kakion liber decimus, edited by Jensen, Christian. Leipzig: B.G. Teubner.Google Scholar
Plutarch, . 1878a. “Banquet of the Seven Wise Men.” In Plutarch’s Morals. Volume II. Translated from the Greek by Several Hands. Corrected and revised by William W. Goodwin, with an Introduction by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Five volumes. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., pp. 4–41.Google Scholar
Plutarch, . 1878b. “Of the Love of Wealth.” In Plutarch’s Morals. Volume II. Translated from the Greek by Several Hands. Corrected and revised by William W. Goodwin, with an Introduction by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Five volumes. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., pp. 294–305.Google Scholar
Aristotle, Ps.. 1910. “Economics Book I.” In Walford, Edward, ed., The Politics and Economics of Aristotle. London: G. Bell & Sons, pp. 289–303.Google Scholar
Plato, Ps.. 1923. Eryxias. In Laistner, M. L. W., ed., Greek Economics. London: J.M. Dent, pp. 41–64.Google Scholar
Xenophon, . 1994. Oeconomicus: A Social and Historical Commentary, with a new English translation by Sarah B. Pomeroy. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Amemiya, Takeshi. 2007. Economy and Economics of Ancient Greece. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andreau, Jean. 2002. “Twenty Years after Moses I. Finley’s The Ancient Economy.” In Walter Scheidel and Sitta von Reden, eds., The Ancient Economy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 33–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arendt, Hannah. 1958. The Human Condition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Asmis, Elizabeth. 2004. “Epicurean Economics.” In Obbink, Dirk, Fitzgerald, John T., and Holland, Glenn S., eds., Philodemus and the New Testament World. Leiden: Brill, pp. 133–176.Google Scholar
Austin, M. M., and Vidal-Naquet, P.. 1977. Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece: An Introduction. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Baeck, Louis. 1994. The Mediterranean Tradition in Economic Thought. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Balch, David L. 2004. “Philodemus, ‘On Wealth’ and ‘On Household Management’: Naturally Wealthy Epicureans Against Poor Cynics.” In Obbink, Dirk, Fitzgerald, John T., and Holland, Glenn S., eds., Philodemus and the New Testament World. Leiden: Brill, pp. 177–196.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baloglou, Christos. 1998. “Hellenistic Economic Thought.” In Lowry, S. Todd and Gordon, Barry, eds., Ancient and Medieval Economic Ideas and Concepts of Social Justice. Leiden: Brill, pp. 105–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baloglou, Christos. 2002. “Economics and Chrematistics in the Economic Thought of the Stoic Philosophy.” History of Economic Ideas 10 (3): 85–101.Google Scholar
Baloglou, Christos. 2009. “The Reception of Ancient Greek Economic Ideas by the Romans and their Contribution to the Evolution of Economic Thought.” In Caspari, Volker, ed., Theorie und Geschichte der Wirtschaft—Festschrift für Bertram Schefold. Marburg: Metropolis-Verlang, pp. 191–256.Google Scholar
Berry, Christopher J. 1994. The Idea of Luxury: A Conceptual and Historical Investigation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biddle, Jeff. 2003. “Research Styles in the History of Economic Thought.” In Samuels, Warren J., Biddle, Jeff E., and Davis, John B., eds., A Companion to the History of Economic Thought. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 1–10.Google Scholar
Billigmeier, Jon-Christian. 1984. “Studies on the Family in the Aegean Bronze Age and in Homer.” Trends in History 3 (3): 9–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carteldge, Paul. 2002. “The Ancient Economy (Economies) of Ancient Greece.” In Walter Scheidel and Sitta von Reden, eds., The Ancient Economy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 11–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, David J. 1991. Law, Sexuality, and Society: The Enforcement of Morals in Classical Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Cheryl Anne. 1998. Household Interests: Property, Marriage Strategies, and Family Dynamics in Ancient Athens. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Finley, Moses I. 1985. The Ancient Economy. London: Hogarth.Google Scholar
Fischer, Stanley, Rudiger, Dornbusch, and Schmalensee, Richard. 1988. Economics. Second edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Gordon, Barry. 1975. Economic Analysis Before Adam Smith: Hesiod to Lessius. New York: Harper and Row.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasebroek, Johannes. 1965. Trade and Politics in Ancient Greece. New York: Biblo and Tannen.Google Scholar
Humphreys, Sarah C. 1993. The Family, Women and Death: Comparative Studies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Isager, Signe, and Skydsgaard, Jens Erik. 1992. Ancient Greek Agriculture. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laistner, M.L.W. 1923. Greek Economics. London: J.M. Dent.Google Scholar
Lowry, S. Todd ed. 1992. Perspectives on the History of Economic Thought. Volume 7. Hampshire: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Lowry, S. Todd, and Gordon, Barry, eds. 1998. Ancient and Medieval Economic Ideas and Concepts of Social Justice. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Morris, Ian. 1994. “Review Article: The Athenian Economy Twenty Years after the Ancient Economy.” Classical Philology 89 (4): 351–366.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, Ian. 1999. “Foreword.” The Ancient Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. ix–xxxvi.Google Scholar
Morris, Ian, Saller, Richard, and Scheidel, Walter. 2007. “Introduction.” In Scheidel, Walter, Morris, Ian, and Saller, Richard, eds., The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nagle, Brendan. 2006. The Household as the Foundation of Aristotle’s Polis. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Natali, Carlo. 1995. “Oikonomia in Hellenistic Political Thought.” In Laks, Andre, ed., Justice and Generosity: Studies in Hellenistic Social and Political Philosophy: Proceedings of the Sixth Symposium Hellenisticum. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 95–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, Cynthia B. 1998. The Family in Greek History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Perrotta, Cosimo. 2003. “The Legacy of the Past: Ancient Economic Thought on Wealth and Development.” The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 10, 2 (2): 177–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perrotta, Cosimo. 2004. Consumption as an Investment: The Fear of Goods from Hesiod to Adam Smith. London and New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polanyi, Karl. 1968. “Aristotle Discovers the Economy: Essays of Karl Polanyi.” In Dalton, George, ed., Primitive, Archaic, and Modern Economics. Garden City: Doubleday, pp. 78–115.Google Scholar
Pomeroy, Sarah B. 1984. “The Family in Classical and Hellenistic Greece.” Trends in History 3 (3): 9–26.Google Scholar
Pomeroy, Sarah B. 1997. Families in Classical and Hellenistic Greece: Representations and Realities. Oxford: Clarendon Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, Betsy Barker, ed. 1997. Ancient Economic Thought. London and New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robbins, Lionel. 1935. Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science. Third edition. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd.Google Scholar
Saxonhouse, Arlene W. 1992. Fear of Diversity: The Birth of Political Science in Ancient Greek Thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Scheidel, Walter, and Reden, Sitta von. 2002. “Introduction.” In Walter Scheidel and Sitta von Reden, eds., The Ancient Economy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saller, Richard. 2005. “Framing the Debate over Growth in the Ancient Economy”. In Morris, Ian and Manning, J. G., eds., The Ancient Economy: Evidence and Models. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Swanson, Judith Ann. 1992. The Public and the Private in Aristotle’s Political Philosophy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Trever, Albert Augustus. 1916. A History of Greek Economic Thought. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Tsouna-McKirahan, Voula. 2007. The Ethics of Philodemus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Zoepffel, Renate. 2006. Aristoteles, OIKONOMIKA. Schriften zu Hauswirtschaft und Finanzwesen. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar