Reflections on Commercial Life

Rating:
Summary: Excellent collection of human arrival at commerce
Review: Commerce IS Western society and has been since our Puritan founders disclosed divinity in the ethos: work hard. From Calvinism, we have developed the Gila Monster (as John Steinbeck puts it) called capitalism, and now it develops and controls us, dollar for dollar.

Patrick Murray gives us a guided tour of commercial life via classical and contemporary texts: Aristotle reminds us of the purpose of money in commercial exchanges as well as our contradiction in the form of usury (using money to "breed" money, collect interest). Aquinas allows us refuge from usurious sin by examining consumable forms of capital (money) and non-consumable forms of capital (like an apartment for rent). Then, there's John Locke's labor and Invisible Hand, David Hume's luxury, and probably most importantly, Karl Marx's Capital.

After Marx, the book takes an interesting shift into Weber's "spirit of capitalism," Bataille's examination of gifts, Weil's "bigness," and others.

This is one of the most important books I have ever read. The social form peculiar to commercial society is, like language, so close to us that we often can't see it. Even recommending this book, I am asking you to participate in a commercial exchange: you SELL your labor power to your employer; "they" give you a wage and keep the excess value you've produced; you BUY this book, read it, and suddenly understand how it all works.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent collection of human arrival at commerce
Review: Commerce IS Western society and has been since our Puritan founders disclosed divinity in the ethos: work hard. From Calvinism, we have developed the Gila Monster (as John Steinbeck puts it) called capitalism, and now it develops and controls us, dollar for dollar.

Patrick Murray gives us a guided tour of commercial life via classical and contemporary texts: Aristotle reminds us of the purpose of money in commercial exchanges as well as our contradiction in the form of usury (using money to "breed" money, collect interest). Aquinas allows us refuge from usurious sin by examining consumable forms of capital (money) and non-consumable forms of capital (like an apartment for rent). Then, there's John Locke's labor and Invisible Hand, David Hume's luxury, and probably most importantly, Karl Marx's Capital.

After Marx, the book takes an interesting shift into Weber's "spirit of capitalism," Bataille's examination of gifts, Weil's "bigness," and others.

This is one of the most important books I have ever read. The social form peculiar to commercial society is, like language, so close to us that we often can't see it. Even recommending this book, I am asking you to participate in a commercial exchange: you SELL your labor power to your employer; "they" give you a wage and keep the excess value you've produced; you BUY this book, read it, and suddenly understand how it all works.