Economics and the Public Good

John Antonio Pascarella earned his Ph.D. in Political Theory at the University of North Texas, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Utah State University.

Very few people who write about the Ethics or Politics focus on the economic aspect of Aristotle’s work. Scholars want to talk about happiness and virtue, the contemplative life and friendship, Aristotle’s treatment of regimes and so on. John Antonio Pascarella talks about all those things, but also frames them in terms of a theme that’s clearly there in Aristotle’s work but that has remained largely invisible until now. It’s about time someone did it.

• IntroductionChapter 1: The Problem of the Money-Making Art in Aristotle’s PoliticsChapter 2: Liberating Household Management and Political Life from Money-makingChapter 3: Choice and the Intellectual Foundations of Politics and EconomicsChapter 4: Choice and the Limits of Self-sufficiency as a Political and Economic EndChapter 5: Political Philosophy, Pleasure, and the Good ThingsChapter 6: Friendship and the Natural Foundations of Politics and EconomicsChapter 7: Justice, Pleasure, and the GoodChapter 8: Justice, Economic Exchange, and FriendshipChapter 9: Economics’ Need for Political PhilosophyConclusion