ABSTRACT
Today’s Western societies and their mainstream notion of development have their roots in a system of thought and a related system of values quite different from Aristotle’s. One of the major differences lies in their conception and valuation of the ‘infinite’ or the growth ‘without end’. In
the paradigmatic world of the Socratic School and with Aristotle in particular, unlimited growth was unthinkable and the economization of society and its values was seen as a corruptive trend and thus a sign of coming decadence. It is our thesis that the economic canon of modern times is positioned at the anti-pole of Aristotle’s paradigmatic world. This means that Aristotle’s economic canon cannot be seen as a foundation of modern economics.
