What are riches?
Feb 1, 2014 9:10:54 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2014 9:10:54 GMT -5
Sunk in the profundity of my ignorance I knew until now nothing of R. H. Tawney, according to Mr. Collini, who has written in this week specifically to say so, one of the most exemplary and admirable of Englishmen. He quotes this fine passage from Tawney's book Religion and the Rise of Capitalism:
That book, and several more, including one entitled The Acquisitive Society, are available from the Internet Archive.
The distinction made by the philosophers of classical antiquity between liberal and servile occupations, the mediæval insistence that riches exist for man, not man for riches, Ruskin's famous outburst, "there is no wealth but life," the argument of the Socialist who urges that production be organized for service not for profit, are but different attempts to emphasize the instrumental character of economic activities, by reference to an ideal which is held to express the true nature of man.
That book, and several more, including one entitled The Acquisitive Society, are available from the Internet Archive.