ABSTRACT
Modern economic theories obscure social relations between human beings, that is, between oneself and the other. It is striking that Aristotle formulates his theory of political economy as a representation of the relationship between oneself and the other in the everyday life of a community. For Aristotle the basis of civic friendship is the sharers' need for each other: "need holds a community together as if it were a single entity". Aristotle's representation of inequality in exchange contradicts modernity's dogma that everyone is equal and treated equally. Aristotle describes the experience of the poor. Aristotle's proposal encourages superior parties to practise the virtue of generosity towards their other, the "lesser" or "outdone" members of their community. This chapter attempts to construct an Aristotelian Social Welfare Function (SWF) based on this analysis that maximizes social welfare as reciprocity.
