Ancient and Medieval Economic Ideas and Concepts of Social Justice
Keywords: The history of ideas is full of attempts to construct a conceptual apparatus to facilitate discussions of the workings of economic structures and of justice in interpersonal relations, cultural institutions and the social order. The aim of this volume is to provide up-to-date summaries of such ideas on economic issues and social justice which have been brought forward in each historic period from antiquity to early modern times. The emphasis is on the Near Eastern and Mediterranean background of western European culture from the world of the Old Testament and the ancient Greeks through to Spanish scholasticism and its offshoots in the Spanish Americas down to the 18th century. The 13 contributing scholars have each in his or her own way investigated the actual surviving writings from their specialist periods, along with their own or other modern interpretations. The essays presented here do not pretend to argue for a particular definition or concept of economic science or to determine its origins nor to define social justice, but rather to draw attention to the ideas of writers from the past that relate to relevant concepts in modern discussions of economic activity and social obligations. It has been brought to our attention that in a chapter in this volume ''Later Scholastics: Spanish Economic Thought in the XVIth and XVIIth Centuries“ by Francisco Gómez Camacho direct reference and citation of the works of other scholars is often inconsistent and in some cases totally lacking. While we do not believe that it was the intention of the author of the article to misappropriate other persons' material, we do admit that the chapter does not meet standards currently expected of an academic publication. We regret any misappropriation of another author's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions in our publications and will remain vigilant to prevent this recurring in the future. We give notice that the chapter has been retracted and will not appear in any future editions of the book.