Ancient Greek Philosophers on Economics

FAIN: HB-257208-18

Etienne Helmer
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus (San Juan, PR 00925-2512)

Preparation of a book-length study about ancient Greek philosophy and economics.

This award will support completion of research started five years ago on ancient Greek philosophers on economics, producing a scholarly book on this understudied but decisive topic. My claim is that the ancient Greek approach to economic issues is not a prescientific or immature one as it has been unduly viewed up so far, but a philosophical one, based on specific methods, problems and concepts. The purpose of the Greek philosophers on economics was to understand not only economic issues but also their significance for human life, raising questions rather than providing us with explanatory scientific tools. Ancient Greek economics was not a mere profit-oriented skill but an art and a thought dealing with the management of our needs, with all their ethical and political implications. This book will benefit both anthropological studies on ancient Greece and contemporary reflections on what economy is and means.

Media Coverage

BMCR 2022.05.16 Oikonomia: philosophie grecque de l’économie (Review)
Author(s): Aiste Celkyte
Date: 5/16/2022
URL: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2022/2022.05.16/

CLEMENS Lou, « Étienne Helmer, Oikonomia. Philosophie grecque de l’économie, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2021, 200 p. », Revue de philosophie ancienne, 2022/2 (Tome XL), p. 273-291 (Review)
Author(s): Lou Clemens
Publication: Revue de Philosophie Ancienne
Date: 11/29/2022

Étienne Helmer, Oikonomia. Philosophie grecque de l’économie Classiques Garnier, 2021, 200 p. (Review)
Author(s): Franck Prêteux
Publication: Gaia. Revue interdisciplinaire sur la Grèce archaïque
Date: 7/22/2022
URL: https://journals.openedition.org/gaia/2633?lang=en

Associated Products

Philosophers on Marriage: An Aspect of Ancient Classical Greek Thought on Economics (Article)
Title: Philosophers on Marriage: An Aspect of Ancient Classical Greek Thought on Economics
Author: Etienne Helmer
Abstract: What did the classical Greek philosophers think about domestic economy, and especially about the conjugal relationship as a fundamental dimension of the oikos? The purpose of this paper is to compare the differences and the overlaps on this topic among the philosophers of the Classical Period – Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, and also Pseudo-Aristotle – in their texts that deal with domestic economy. If all of them examine the driving principle of the conjugal union, its nature and its purpose, they do not consider them in the same way. However, all agree, though with notable differences, in understanding this aspect of the domestic economy as a process of building the bodies of the members of the city. Marriage, as an important aspect of domestic economy, is revealed as the mediating institution between the biological sphere and the political sphere.
Year: 2018
Primary URL: http://www.periodicos.letras.ufmg.br/index.php/nuntius_antiquus
Access Model: open access
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Nuntius Antiquus
Publisher: School of Letters of the Federal University of Minas (Brazil)

Ancient Greek Philosophers on Economics (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Ancient Greek Philosophers on Economics
Author: Etienne Helmer
Abstract: The purpose of my research is to portrait the ancient Classical and Hellenistic philosophy on economics. Such a project presupposes, first of all, to examine the prejudice according to which ancient philosophy on economics is either inexistent or embryonic. Many texts, on the contrary, show the interest of ancient thinkers on economic phenomena. I intend to show that the ancient Greek economic thought does not take the form of the autonomous science of which we are today familiar, but obeys another form of coherence and another rationality, based on philosophy. The thesis on which this project is based is the following: if the ancient economy is no doubt, according to the term of K. Polanyi, "embedded" in the other institutions of the social life, in particular the moral and political institutions, this integration, far from signifying the dissolution of the economy in other practical spheres, means on the contrary its practical and theoretical centrality for a large number of classical Greek and Hellenistic philosophers.
Date Range: October-November 2018
Location: EHESS (Paris, France)
Primary URL: http://www.anhima.fr/spip.php?page=recherche&recherche=Helmer

Philosophie antique de l'économie / Ancient Philosophy on Economics (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Philosophie antique de l'économie / Ancient Philosophy on Economics
Author: Etienne Helmer
Abstract: The purpose of my talks is to portrait the ancient classical and hellenistic philosophy of economics. Such a project presupposes, first of all, to distance from the prejudice according to which ancient philosophy does not deal with economics or does it in an insignificant way. My claim is, on the contrary, that ancient thought on economics is based on philosophy rather than on science. The assumption on which my project is based is the following: if the ancient economy is no doubt, according to the term of K. Polanyi, "integrated" (embedded) in the other institutions of the social life, in particular the moral and political institutions, this integration, far from meaning the dissolution of economy into other practical spheres, rather means instead its practical and theoretical centrality for a large number of Greek philosophers of the classical and hellenistic periods.
Date Range: September-Decembre 2018
Location: EHESS (Paris, France)
Primary URL: http://www.anhima.fr/spip.php?page=recherche&recherche=Helmer

Oikonomia. Philosophie grecque de l'économie (Book)
Title: Oikonomia. Philosophie grecque de l'économie
Author: Etienne Helmer
Abstract: Against a long tradition of interpretation, this book shows that the few philosophical texts of classical Greece dealing with oikonomia or domestic administration are decisive for understanding what economy is.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://classiques-garnier.com/oikonomia-philosophie-grecque-de-l-economie.html
Access Model: Subscription only
Publisher: Garnier
Type: Other
ISBN: 978-2-406-1066
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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