Global Journal of Human Social Science, E: Economics, Volume 22 Issue 2

The ideas of a primordial state can be positive or negative. In the antiquity, Hesiod saw a golden age as the first world age, which was followed by a silver, a bronze and an iron age. In the order of precedence, then, a descent is evident, as he saw the latter, his own, marked by brutalization of morals. Cervantes' Don Quixote sees in the Golden Age an epoch of innocence, in which the words "mine" and "thine" were still unknown, there was no deceit, but truth, simplicity and peace prevailed. He wants to restore this time through his chivalrous deeds. Juan Luis Vives, in De causis corruptarum artium (1531), emphasizes that man, although created for the community, is, because of his self-love, "severe and harsh against others, which would be the cause of the greatest disturbances in life, since everyone would gather together as much as he could either by his ingenuity or his physical powers, for himself and for his own advantage. " 59 Hobbes criticizes the Aristotelian conception of man as a zoon politikon . For the fact that this situation has been overcome, Vives blames the introduction of justice, which put a stop to greedy hands and kept injustice away from coexistence. Here, a position is indicated that wishes to overcome a dangerous state of nature characterized by antagonistic interests by introducing socially guaranteed justice. The most prominent representative of this position in the 17th century is Hobbes, whose negative evaluation of the state of nature will therefore be presented in more detail below. 60 According to Aristotle, man's goal is eudaimonia (bliss), which can only be achieved in the polis. Therefore, Aristotle concludes, man is a communal being from his goal, i.e., from his nature. 61 To this Hobbes counters: if men were by nature political beings, then by their nature, i.e., by birth, they should be able to form a society with suitable, contractually established rules for living together. According to Hobbes, this is not the case since people would be born as children who lack the reasonable insight into the meaning of such contracts. Because only education leads to this reasonable insight, man is not by nature a communal being . 62 Hobbes also has a different conception of happiness than Aristotle. For him, it does not consist in the tranquility of a contented mind. "For there is no such finis ultimus (ultimate end) or summum bonum (highest good) as is mentioned in the books of the ancient moral philosophers [meaning Aristotle]. Happiness is a constant progression of desire from one object to another, the attainment of one being always only the way to the next. " 63 Thus, Hobbes is not concerned with the morally good life, but with bare survival. In this respect, his doctrine of the state of nature can be seen as the anthropological basis of his doctrine of the state. Humans, he argues, are comparable to mushrooms that have sprouted from the earth without any obligation on the part of one to the other . 64 But this is not to be imagined as paradise or as a golden age, but as a state of permanently threatening violent death, as a state of war of everyone against everyone, in which life is lonely, miserable, unpleasant, animalistic and short. Gluttony, competition, and scarcity of goods ensure that everyone is a wolf to everyone else. 65 The French Enlightenment thinkers of the 18th century also view the state of nature negatively. In Le mondain (1736), Voltaire makes fun of those who mourn old times, be it a golden age or the pastoral world of the Astrée . He himself prefers his present: "J'aime le luxe, et même la mollesse, / Tous les plaisirs, les arts de toute espèce, / La propreté, le goût, les ornements : / Tout honnête homme a de tels sentiments. [...] Le superflu, chose très nécessaire." In Hobbes, then, the state of nature turns out to be unnatural and something to be overcome. 66 Voltaire imagines the state of nature without property as a time of poverty and ignorance: "Ne connaissant ni le tien ni le mien. / Qu'auraient-ils pu connaître ? ils n'avaient rien, / Ils étaient nus ; et c'est chose très claire / Que qui n'a rien n'a nul partage à faire. / [...] Il leur manquait l'industrie et l'aisance : / Est-ce vertu ? c'était pure ignorance. " 67 And when Voltaire imagines Adam and Eve, the image is not very flattering: "Avouez-moi que vous aviez tous deux / Les ongles longs, un peu noirs et crasseux, / La chevelure un peu mal ordonnée, / Le teint bruni, la peau bise et tannée. [...] Le repas fait, ils dorment sur la dure : / Voilà l'état de la pure nature." 68 Therefore, in the article "luxe" of his Dictionnaire philosophique , Voltaire also praises the invention of the scissors for hair and fingernails as well as that of the shirt. Summing up, he says elsewhere : "On a déclamé contre le luxe depuis © 2022 Global Journals Volume XXII Issue II Version I 49 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2022 E Economy between Necessity and Luxury. Business Ethics from Antiquity to Early Modern Times 59 Juan Luis Vives, Über die Gründe des Verfalls der Künste. De causis corruptarum artium, Emilio Hidalgo-Serna (ed.), München, Fink, 1990, p. 553-555 60 De cive (1.2.); cf. Benedikt Wolfers, Geschwätzige Philosophie. Thomas Hobbes’ Kritik an Aristoteles, Würzburg, Königshausen & Neumann, 1991, p. 61 61 Aristoteles, Politik, Eugen Rolfes (Übers.), Hamburg, Meiner, 1995, p. 4 (1252a) 62 Thomas Hobbes, Vom Menschen. Vom Bürger, Günter Gawlick (ed.), Hamburg, Meiner, 1966, p.76 63 Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Hermann Klenner (ed.), Hamburg, Meiner, 1996, p. 80. Cf. Iring Fetscher, Der gesellschaftliche „Naturzustand“ und das Menschenbild bei Hobbes, Pufendorf, Cumberland und Rousseau, in: Schmollers Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft, 80. Jahrgang, II. Halbband, 1960, p. 641-685, here p. 683 64 Thomas Hobbes, Vom Menschen. Vom Bürger, Günter Gawlick (ed.), Hamburg, Meiner, 1966, p. 82 65 Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Hermann Klenner (ed.), Hamburg, Meiner, 1996, p. 104 66 Voltaire, Le mondain, in: Les oeuvres complètes de Voltaire 16, Voltaire Foundation, Oxford, 2003, p. 295-313, here p. 295-296 67 Voltaire, Le mondain, in: Les oeuvres complètes de Voltaire 16, Voltaire Foundation, Oxford, 2003, p. 295-313, here p. 296-297 68 Voltaire, Le mondain, in: Les oeuvres complètes de Voltaire 16, Voltaire Foundation, Oxford, 2003, p. 295-313, here p. 298-299