ABSTRACT
To the knowledge bequeathed us by past thinkers only nuggets may be added. In the theory discussed, there is little that has not been somehow known. Marx's labour theory can be reformulated in life-based terms, with due reference to the behavioural part. Our aggrandizement argument is clear in Smith's ‘invisible hand’ parable. And the story goes further back. In the fourth century bc, Xenophon finished his Oeconomicus as follows: ‘The gods give tyranny over unwilling subjects, I think, to those who they believe deserve to live a life in Hades like Tantalus, who is said to spend the whole of eternity in fear of a second death’ (Pomeroy, 1994: 211). This is how the legend went: while alive, from his fear of dying, Tantalus was overcome by greed. In order to appease the gods into letting him live longer he took the life of his own son and served them his flesh. But the gods knew. So, besides condemning him to be in eternal fear of dying, they also made him try to reach the fruits that were abundant around him and always kept receding from him. In Greek, the word for abundance is α-φθovíα, which means lack of envy. And there is also the myth of our Fall — of our expulsion from the Garden of Eden, to eat bread by the sweat of our brow, for seeking the knowledge of life: of conquering death.
