Why does Aristotle say that "the art of acquiring property" is part of "the art of managing the household"? What does this suggest concerning the proper purpose and limits of acquisition?
What is he saying about the ownership of servants and slaves and such fabled mechanical devices as the "statues of Daedalus" and "tripods of Hephaestus"? What are the implications of such comments for such issues as the use of advanced mechanical technology and the existence of deeply subordinated social classes? In what ways are such comments relevant to life in modern technological societies?
What are the different purposes of instruments of production and instruments of action ? (Note: this distinction between production and action will be important to Hannah Arendt in "On the Rise of the Social").
According to his own definitions, is a slave an instrument of production or an instrument of action? Why? What does this suggest about ancient Greek perceptions of slaves and slavery?
Why does Aristotle state that "life is action and not production"? What does this imply regarding the purpose of human life?
Compare Aristotle's view of the purpose of plants and animals with what we find in Genesis. What does this imply regarding the role and behavior of humans toward other creatures in the natural order? How does this differ from the situation in Eden? Have the boundaries of the proper changed? Why?
How are the arts of getting wealth (chrematistics) and of household management (economics) related? How is the "natural art of acquisition" related to the art of "wealth-getting"? Are there different forms of wealth-getting?
According to Aristotle, what are the non-commercial modes of subsistence? In that view, is commerce necessary to secure a "bare livelihood" or even a "comfortable maintenance" (72)?
How does Aristotle define "true riches" and a "good life" (73)? What is the difference between "living only" and "living well" (75)?
Aristotle distinguishes between the use value of a commodity and its exchange-value. On what basis does he judge that the former is its "proper use"?
What is the natural motivation of exchange? At what point does that motivation cease to exist?
What is the nature of "retail trade"? How does it differ from barter? What problems does Aristotle find with "retail trade"? Do you see any connection here to Plato's talk, toward the end of the first dialogue of the Republic, of the boundlessness of the unjust person?
How does money come into being, in Aristotle's view? What is its initial purpose? How does that purpose change over time?What specific form of money does Aristotle believe to be associated with retail trade and wealth-getting? How does he incorporate the Midas myth into his understanding of money and its history?
According to Aristotle, how are some people led into becoming "absorbed in getting wealth"? What sorts of confusion and misunderstanding are such people victims of?
Why does Aristotle consider usury to be "unnatural" and particularly heinous? (Watch for what Dante, Aquinas, and Pound will have to say about usury).
What different sorts of exchange does Aristotle identify? How does he subdivide the "commerce"category? Do labor markets figure in his classifications?
What is the "third sort" of wealth-getting? Why does he suggest this is intermediate between the natural and the unnatural modes? What sorts of modern issues/concerns do these comments anticipate?
Why does Aristotle suggest that "philosophers can easily be rich if they like, but ... their ambition is of another sort ..."?
If we accepted Aristotle's views, how should we assess the motives and practices of modern capitalism?