BA150 – Flashcard
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Plato (428-347BC)
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Western Philosophy questions whether or not democracy can work examines: nature of justice, nature and aquisition of power, and the values that people ought to live by.
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Plato: From The Republic
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he is telling a story about a conversation Socrates had with some disciples; Plato's work is divided into his writings based on Socrates' philosophy (Socrates wrote nothing) and his own later philosophy.
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Plato: Constraint needed to make people behave.
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lack of power
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Plato: Division of labor needed to make a city work.
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...Everyone specialize.
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Plato: A "true" state meets needs; an unhealthy one develops when people want luxury.
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wants>needs
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Plato: An unhealthy city grows beyond its means and needs what other cites/states have.
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Infatuation with wants over needs. Once have abundance, move to production for wants.
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agora
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marketplace
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servitor
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servant
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Plato: What insights about the human spirit does the story about Gyges provide?
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Man will do wrong when he has the power. Men do right only when they have no power in society. Doing good has no benefit for the individual personally. EX: who are you when no one is watching?
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What was the process Plato described for the development of an economy?
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Everyone needs to specialize in something.
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What is the fundamental key to that process?
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Specialization
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Why did money and merchants develop in this economy?
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B/c they didn't want to waste the time of the producers.
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What did Plato feel was the natural end of this process?
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War is inevitable, wants=more land to provide, wants=war.
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Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
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a Greek philosopher and scientist, a student of Plato who spent 20 years at the Lyceum, Plato's university. He regarded the world as made up of individuals belonging to fixed natural kinds or species. Aristotle also argued for the existence of a divine being, which he believed is perfect and the aspiration of all things in the world because all things desire perfection. Echoes of his thought can be found in Thomas Aquinas' writing which we will study later
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Aristotle: The "natural" art of money-making: household management
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limited necessary concerned with provision of food attend to men human excellence virtue of freedom
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The unnatural or improper methods of money-making: retail and usury
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wealth and property have no limit unnecessary acquisition of inanimate objects excellence of property virtue of slaves
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The concept of things having use value and acceptable exchange value; things have unacceptable exchange value
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intrinsic
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(adj.) belonging to someone or something by its very nature, essential, inherent; originating in a bodily organ or part
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viz
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namely
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subordinate
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rank or order as less important or consider of less value
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censure
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to criticize harshly
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Aristotle - How does Aristotle differentiate between the art of household management and the art of making money?
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natural vs unnatural
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How does he feel about each?
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he feels unnatural is unneccesary and not honorable.
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Which is more like the "art" suggested by Thoreau?
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Natural household managment
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What is usury and what did he feel about that?
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interest collected on loans. he feels this is the most unnatural.
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Ayn (rhymes with "mine") Rand (1905-1982)
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An American novelist, philosopher and controversial figure in 20th-century literary and philosophical debate. Rand believed that human beings must live for themselves, neither sacrificing any part of their natures or goals to other people, nor bending others' wills to their own. Rand was also a firm atheist. Every book Rand published in her lifetime is still in print. So far, copies sold total more then twenty million. Her vision of man and her philosophy for living have changed the lives of thousands of readers and launched a philosophic movement in American culture
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Ayn: From the Atlas shrugged
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The "money" speech by Francisco d'Anconia: Atlas Shrugged is a novel that imagines a world in decline because money and personal effort are vilified, where government functionaries take money away from hard-working capitalists and give it to "moochers and looters." This was a thinly veiled refutation of communism. When, at a cocktail party, Francisco is excoriated by a fellow guest, who says he is a depraved product of money, he makes this famous speech.
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Ayn: Individual rights
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We are all metaphysical in some way, reality exists independnt of us, knowledge must be testable, and we are all self-interested organisms.
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Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think
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self made man, the ultimate product
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Ayn: Non-interference
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No violence.
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Ayn: Productive achievement as a noble activity
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money is the noble medium of exchange
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Ayn: Unlike Faust, man doesn't live to work; he works to live
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Willing to work for their money.
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scourge
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(v) to whip, punish severely; (n) a cause of affliction or suffering; a source of severe punishment or criticism
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pander
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play up to another's desires and weaknesses
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How does Rand describe money and its motivation?
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Money is the means of survival
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How does she describe the love of money?
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to love money is to know that it is know and love the fact that it is the creation of the best power within you. Lovers of money are willing to work for it, they are deserving.
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Why did she feel that money was the "barometer of a society's virtue?
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The way money is used in a society can tell how doomed that society is.
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Adam Smith (1723-1790)
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was a Scottish-born philosopher and economist who wrote The Wealth of Nations (1776) and is commonly referred to as the father of classical economics. Smith was appointed commissioner of customs in Edinburgh in 1778. He served in this capacity until his death. In 1787, he was also named lord rector of the University of Glasgow.
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Smith's Wealth of Nations
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represents the first serious attempt in the history of economic thought to separate the study of political economy from the related fields of political science, ethics, and law. In this work Smith established the principle of the "invisible hand": every individual in pursuing his or her own good is led, as if by an invisible hand, to achieve the best good for all and therefore any interference with free competition by government is almost certain to be injurious. The Wealth of Nations has served as a guide to the formulation of governmental economic policies.
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Pro-free market
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Self-interest, free trade, division of labor, invisible hand.
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Anti-government regulation of markets, although not anti-government in general
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Government should only provide protection(army), provide justice and peace, maintenance of infrastructure....
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Anti-trade barriers
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That there shouldn't be a lot, we should trade little.
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Definition of what we today call gross domestic product (the wealth of a nation) = the exchangeable value of all a nation produces
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annual revenue of every society is alwasy precisely equal to the exchangeable value of the whole annual produce of its industry.
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The invisible hand - the value of self-interest
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Law of unintended purposes. The economy will take care of itself.
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A free market grows the pie for all
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Division(specialization) of labor. labor changes wealth.
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Self interest leads to the exchange of goods which leads to a division of labor which leads to the growth of wealth.
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not locking anyone out, it is in self interest to invest near home(like Toyota plants). Self interest leads to profits; market force will push commerce in best interest of society; ultimately benefit society; self interest assumed in free market. Increased competition. Competition leads to lower prices; all this creates jobs. labor increases wealth
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affectation
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unnatural or artificial behavior, usually intended to impress
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artificer
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a skilled or artistic worker
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usury
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the practice of lending money at exorbitant rates
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How does Smith's ideas mirror Plato's?
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specialization/division of labor
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What did Smith feel about regulation? How does the "invisible hand" work?
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Is against it. Invisible Hand.
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What is Smith's view about barriers to foreign trade?
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That there shouldn't be a lot, we should trade little.
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How does that relate to everyday business activity?
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We need it. Also not one country can specialize in any one thing, so need other countries to get best product.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
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was an American essayist, poet, and a leader of the philosophical movement of Transcendentalism. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Seven of his ancestors were ministers, and his father, William Emerson, was minister of the First Church (Unitarian) of Boston.
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Wealth from Essays and Journals
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The poem tells the story of evolution and consequences of development. Pay particular attention to the last 6 lines of the poem. The prose describes Emerson's views on wealth.
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Need for all men to be producers; views regarding who should be wealthy
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Work- "know how to earn a blameless livelihood" "Every man is a consumer and out to be a producer" Add to the common wealth
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The basis of wealth (application of mind to nature)
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Effect of poverty; explicit and implicit meaning of money
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When you're poor, it makes you do anything to get the money- you're immoral and Deceiving.
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Measures of Economy and the rule of Impera Parendo
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Relationship Thoreau
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profligacy
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reckless wastefulness
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voracity
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Greediness
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impera parendo
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know when to stop
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keener
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more intense; strongly felt or perceived
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avarice
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extreme greed for material wealth
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What were the messages Emerson communicated in the poem at the beginning of his essay?
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advent of business and the spread of commercialization in society. Must stay within the limits of natures law.
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What was Emerson's definition of a merchant and how can this be generalized to all business activity?
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Nature is an outgrowth of God, business is an outgrowth of nature, therefore, business is an outgrowth of God. Comparative advantage: nations first have it, china: labor us: technology. People have it as well ie brains, common sense, athletes.
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How did his views mirror Thoreau's?
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They both were trancendelents. Both
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What were Emerson's view on the acquisition of wealth?
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Property
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Why did he believe that business was a game of skill?
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How do his views reflect those we read in Rand's work?
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What are the five measures of an economy he describes?
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