Nikolaus Egel

Greed – let us follow Aristotle – destroys justice and thus the political foundation on which a society is based, which is why for Aristotle it is not only "a part of badness, but all badness". For this reason, he condemns in the strictest terms those who strive for more – the pleonektes, the greedy – because they want more than they deserve (in relation to the other citizens), which is why they are unjust and destructive to society:

"On the one hand, those who violate the law (paranomos) are considered unjust, and on the other hand those, who want more than they are entitled to (pleonektes), i.e. who have an attitude of inequality. [...] Since now the unjust wants to have more, he will have to deal with goods, not with all goods, but with those to which outer happiness (eutychia) and misfortune (atychia) refer, thus with goods which as such are always goods, but not in every case for every man. People ask for them in prayers and chase after them. However, they should not do this, but rather they should ask that the things that are goods in themselves are also goods for them, and then choose these.”

For Aristotle, greed – pleonexia – Is the highest form of injustice and thus the worst of all vices, because it endangers the existence of a political community. This is especially true when leading political officials are greedy and place particular interests above the common good.

At the Unviersity of Pavia in collaboration with the Roger Bacon Seminar of the SISMEL www.sismelfirenze.it  www.rogeriusbacon.com

Micrologus Library 64: Roger Bacon’s Communia Naturalium. A 13th-Century Philosopher’s Workshop. Edited by P. Bernardini and A. Rodolfi, 2014, pp. viii-224 · isbn 978-88-8450-573-6 · Bros. · € 48,00  www.sismel.it