The Morality of Leisure Time and Wealth
The morality of prevalent business owners taking off the day to toy around with their luxuries or take extravagant trips abroad is continuously under fire; how can a multimillionaire feel comfortable lounging around when there is an entire working class?
Economics is the study of the allocation and use of scarce resources; it is the analysis of human choice when applied to the fulfillment of desires.
Since economics deals with human desire, whether it be needs or wants, incentives are at the forefront of the field: what benefit do I gain from acting?
For example, every voluntary transaction is incentivized. If you are the consumer, you might be gaining an item or a skill, or receiving the satisfaction of the purchase. If you are the seller, you might be making a profit, expanding your businesses recognition and/or reputation, or receiving the satisfaction of the sale.
One of the most fruitful incentives of producing capital is the ability to set aside more time towards working out, spending time with family, or developing ideas.
As Robin Waterfield writes in Plato of Athens,
“Perhaps the most important aspect of Plato’s outer life is that he was wealthy. He came from a wealthy family, and he remained wealthy all his life… Plato’s wealth was all too good: it gave him leisure time. Philosophy would be poorer if Plato had been poor.”
The majority of philosophy rests on the shoulders of Plato, the undeniably most influential philosopher. Despite the lack of philosophical foundation at the time, Plato developed some of the first dialogues on meta-ethics, political philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, amongst many other topics.
Thanks to Plato’s wealth, thousands of individuals across the globe are able to access his works, develop their own works, and enlighten their owns lives; he stands as a symbol of economics and the necessity that incentives play in the creation of beneficial economies.
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Stay curious!
