Economic thought of the Middle Ages as part of theology. Economic teachings of the ancient world. Economic teachings of Ancient Greece

1.2. Economic thought of the Middle Ages

Medieval Europe is Christian Europe. In the Middle Ages, almost all scientists and thinkers were dressed in cassocks, but this does not mean that economic thought did not develop during the early Middle Ages. Problems appeared that were unknown to the ancient world and required understanding. The sources of medieval economic thought include mainly theological works, where value judgments from the standpoint of Christian morality predominate. Medieval economic doctrines are characterized by a variety of scholastic judgments, an a priori, speculative nature, and sophisticated norms of religious and ethical nature. An important principle of proving the correctness of judgments in the Middle Ages was the reference to the authority of the texts of the works of church theorists.

the desire for wealth is vicious, since it interferes with the search for the Kingdom of God and is proof of the lack of true faith;

inequality of people is natural and eternal: “people are equal before divine grace”;

labor is the only source of existence (in the ancient world, labor was the lot of slaves).

The development of economic thought in the classical Middle Ages was greatly influenced by the so-called canonical doctrine.(In the 12th century, church scholars developed a code of laws called “Canon Law.”) The class interests of the feudal lords were decisive. "Code of Canon Law" compiled by a Bolognese monk Gratian, is the most important source reflecting the economic views of the canons, who considered land and labor to be the true factors of production, and therefore considered agriculture to be an occupation worthy of a Christian, and also did not approve of trade and usury.

The leading thinker of this period is considered F. Aquinas(1225–1274) - Italian monk of Dominican origin, professor at the Sorbonne, lectured in Paris, Cologne, Rome and Naples, declared a saint by the church. In his main work "Summa Theologica" F. Aquinas, taking into account the development of commodity-money relations, the growth of handicraft production, trade and usury operations, tries differently than the early canonists to explain the causes of social inequality in conditions of a more differentiated class division of society, to characterize “sinful phenomena.” He distinguishes two types of justice: justice in exchange, based on the equality of the goods exchanged, and justice in distribution, based on determining the fair share of each member of society in the social product, corresponding to the person’s position in society.

F. Aquinas adhered to the following key dogmas:

– condemned the desire for social equality, spoke about the need for class division of society;

– defended feudal rent and private property. He believed that owning property stimulates work activity and imposes certain responsibilities on the owner, in particular to engage in charity work;

- broke with natural-economic views, justifying the exchange. Recognized the need for money as a measure of value and a means of circulation. However, the pricing process depended on the status of the participants in the exchange (the doctrine of fair price);

– divided wealth into natural (fruits of the earth, crafts) and artificial (gold, silver);

– first gave the concept of profit as reward for risk; this contributed to the later idea that charging interest was justified by the lender's risk.

In the East in the Middle Ages, the subordination of economic views to religious ones increased even more, which was reflected in the attenuation in India of the so-called science of benefit (income) "Arthashastra".

Arab economic thought reached a high level of development in the Middle Ages. Many economic views of the Arab world were reflected in religious literature, primarily in Koran(translated meaning “reading”), namely:

the divine origin of property and social inequality, the sanctity of the very dependence of some on others;

the principle of inviolability of private property [inadmissibility of appropriating someone else’s property, entering a house without permission (thieves’ hands were cut off)];

payment of “purifying grace” as a national tax;

maintaining accurate weights and measures when performing trade operations;

Allah's prohibition on taking high interest rates.

Around 751, Muslim law “Sharia” (from the Arabic “ash-shar’a” - law) was formed, where legal and economic concepts were developed.

The pinnacle of economic thought in the medieval Arab world was the work of a prominent ideologist Ibn Khaldun(1332–1406). His life and work are connected with the Arab countries in northern Africa, where the state traditionally retained the right to own and dispose of land and levy high taxes on the income of the population for the needs of the treasury. The main work of Ibn Khaldun is called “The Book of Instructive Examples on the History of the Arabs, Persians, Berbers and the Peoples Who Lived with them on Earth.” In it he put forward concept of social physics, which called for a conscious attitude towards work, the fight against wastefulness and greed, an understanding of the objectivity of progressive structural changes in the spheres of the economy and the impossibility of property and social equality, and believed that Allah gave an advantage to some people over others. Ibn Khaldun also substantiated theory of social development, according to which society, developing cyclically, goes through three stages in its movement:

1) “wildness”, where people appropriate the fruits of nature by hunting and gathering:

2) “primitiveness,” in which a primitive economy appears in the form of agriculture and cattle breeding;

3) “civilization”, when crafts and trade develop, concentrating in cities.

Ibn Khaldun put forward the following main ideas:

society is a collective of producers of material goods. All use values ​​are created by human labor;

everything that a person acquires in the form of wealth is equivalent to the value of the labor invested in it;

fluctuations in prices for goods depend on the relationship between supply and demand (the development of crafts depended on the demand for handicrafts).

He also approached the issue of distinguishing between necessary and surplus product, the problem of exploitation (“the noble and rich enjoy the fruits of other people’s labor”).

Economic thought as a science

The emergence of humanity was almost immediately accompanied by the formation of economic ties. Even primitive tribes practiced gathering and hunting; a little later, exchange appeared. Agriculture and crafts contributed to the development of trade and the first accumulation of capital. The creation of wealth helped create production and specialization of labor. The leap called the “industrial revolution” accelerated the process of increasing complexity of economic systems and ultimately brought them to the modern level. In order to manage, understand and explore such structures, one needs extensive fundamental knowledge, which economic theory has become.

Note 1

She studies methods of meeting the needs of society, which tend to increase in conditions of limited resources and limited access to them.

It is customary to divide all science into two blocks:

• The first uses a normative approach, that is, it evaluates real events in practical life. It underlies the formation of applied disciplines with a narrow specialization.
• The second block is based on the study of facts and their interaction with each other, which laid the foundation for the theoretical direction.

It is worth noting that in economic theory it is customary to operate with macroeconomic and microeconomic quantities. Macroeconomics, as a part of science, appeared relatively recently. She examines large economic systems at the state and world level, analyzing aggregate indicators. Microeconomics examines the structures created by economic agents at a lower level of organization.

Science itself allows one to accumulate knowledge about relationships, institutions, and principles of constructing economic systems. Based on the obtained theoretical knowledge, practical recommendations are created to solve current and strategic issues. In addition, fundamental knowledge allows one to monitor trends in economic structures and make forecasts for their development.

Economy of the Middle Ages

The Middle Ages in economics have slightly different time boundaries than in history. This includes the period from the fall of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the great geographical discoveries, which led to the development of trade and the initial accumulation of capital. This period in history is considered a period of decline, when almost all spheres of socio-economic life declined to a minimum level. In addition, during this period there were major epidemics that claimed the lives of most of the population. The climate worsened, and there was a general cooling. This time period was marked by many brutal wars.

All this leads to a sharp decline in living standards, and hence to a demographic crisis. The population is switching to plant foods, the level of child and adult mortality is increasing, and overall life expectancy is decreasing. Compared to the flourishing of civilization in the ancient world, the early Middle Ages were marked not only by socio-economic, but also by cultural decline. At this time, there was an outflow of the urban population, people began to work on the land again and feed themselves through subsistence farming. Limited resources influence the beginning of crusades and the search for new methods of food and enrichment.

In the Middle Ages, a feudal system was formed, where there were three layers of the population:

• feudal lords or land owners who used hired or slave labor;
• peasants, who formed the majority of the population of that time, who worked on the land plots of the feudal lords;
• artisans and traders, who were the main taxpayers of that time.

Economic relations were built on rent, which had three forms:

• corvée or labor, which was based on the personal dependence of the peasant;
• cash rent, which allows you to maintain personal independence and make timely payments for the use of land;
• quitrent or rent in kind, which was payments to the feudal lord in food or in kind.

Crafts were strictly regulated. It was not allowed to deviate from established norms. In trade there was also control by trade guilds. Monks, soldiers, servants, scholars, and representatives of the law made up only three percent of the population.

Note 2

It is worth noting that the Middle Ages led to the formation of a traditional approach to the economy based on communal labor. From an economic point of view, that period can be called feudal.

Economic thought of the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, religion had a great influence on the minds of mankind. It is customary to consider the economic thought of that period from the point of view of the Arab East and the Islamic faith, as well as from the point of view of the Western European Christian approach. Theologians made up the educated circle of the population, therefore it was their works that formed the basis of the economic science of that time. At the same time, they often acted to please the current government, justifying inequality within society, and also supported usury, speculation and the expansion of commodity production.

Eastern culture was characterized by a traditional approach to farming and strong despotic power. Ibn Khaldun is considered one of the greatest scientists of that time, who examined the progress of society from primitive to civilized. However, he denied class and property equality even during the transition to a higher stage of social development. He considered the economic system at the city level, where the growth in the supply of necessary goods and luxury goods depended on the degree of prosperity of the locality itself. Moreover, prices for necessary goods had to decrease, and for luxury goods they had to increase. He considered money as part of the economic system, but proposed using only full-fledged coins made of precious metals. He assessed labor from the point of view of its usefulness, necessity and quantity.

Thomas Aquinas, who lived and worked in the thirteenth century, is considered the main thinker of the Western European Middle Ages. In the early stages, usury was considered a sin and an unequal exchange. However, towards the end of the medieval period, church canonists began to take a dual approach, as required by the stratification of society into rich and poor. The very division of the population into layers was justified by Aquinas from the point of view of divine conduct, and he also explained the division of labor.

Any exchange was considered equivalent and voluntary. Prices were considered fair and were not separated from the concept of value. Aquinas allowed the price to increase to generate income for the seller. He associates the appearance of money with a social conspiracy of people; the value of money should be established by state power.

Note 3

Usury was generally condemned, however, it was allowed if the speculative income was divided equally between the usurer and the seller.

Throughout most of the Middle Ages, economic thought was not formed as an independent branch of knowledge and developed within the framework of existing philosophical and legal systems. In that era, it was represented by two directions - secular and religious.

Secular direction – These are various legal documents regulating economic relations and aimed at imparting stable legal norms to everyday economic practice, protecting property and streamlining the sphere of distribution.

During the early Middle Ages, the economy was dominated by subsistence farming. By this time, the creation of various codes - “Pravda”: Visigothic, Burgundian, Salic, Ripuarian, Bavarian, Russian. These legal documents are monuments of economic thought. They reveal the main economic problems of the era: attitude towards the community, enslavement of peasants, organization of the feudal economy, etc.

The most complete information about economic development is presented in the legal documents of the Frankish state. At the beginning of the 6th century. under the king Clovis(481–511) a code of judicial customs of the Franks was compiled - "Salic truth". It reflected the processes of decomposition of the clan system and differentiation of society. The supreme owner of all communal land was then the community; the plots of individual families (allods) had not yet become private property. However, a number of articles of the law protected the individual economy of community members. Along with the communal economy, the existence of large private landownership, for example royal. The king's associates were given some privileges in contrast to the rest of the Franks. For example, "wergeld" - monetary compensation for the murder of a close associate was three times higher than for the murder of a simple Frank.

Later, the “Salic truth” was supplemented by “capitularies” - decrees or instructions of the Frankish kings. They reflected the further stratification of society, the ruin of the free peasantry, and the formation of feudal ownership of land. By the beginning of the 9th century, i.e. the period of the empire's existence Charlemagne, the most famous among them is "Capitulary on villas"(or in another translation " Capitulary on estates"). They affirmed the existence of serfs who paid rent to the feudal lord. An exemplary farm was considered to be one in which rent was collected in kind and all necessary types of economic activity were developed, reserves were created, only surplus production was sold, and only what was not produced on the estate was purchased. Legislative documents reflected the economic realities of the early Middle Ages.

Christianity played a leading role in the spiritual development of feudal Europe, therefore most social issues, including economic ones, were considered within the framework of theology. Economic thought during that period was developed by the clergy.

Religious direction – the second direction of medieval economic thought is characterized by the emergence of a large number theological works. Central to them was the problem of bringing economic practices into conformity with the divine plan. The economic views of theologians were closely intertwined with theology, in particular, with the solution to the question of the religious salvation of man. This salvation was not personal. Western European theology was convinced that it was impossible without the inclusion of man in society, which was a condition for overcoming his egoistic nature and subordinating him to a higher goal - the interests of the common good, i.e. benefits of society. Therefore, the concept of “common good” was the most important in all theologians’ reasoning. It is necessary to distinguish between the views of early and later medieval authors.

Early Christians, including Augustine the Blessed(354–430), bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and a famous theologian, in his works: “About the work of monks”, “About the city of God”, “Confession” – advocated the strict subordination of the earthly world to the divine commandments, overcoming the original sinfulness of man. Theologians of this period defended the ideal of poverty, asceticism, renunciation of earthly life, and advocated strict adherence to Christian morality. They considered hard physical and spiritual labor to be a manifestation of a righteous life.

In the VIII–IX centuries. Western Europe experienced a rise in culture and education. Christian thinkers became increasingly interested in the connection between theology and philosophy, the possibility of using the achievements of ancient and medieval thinkers to substantiate the religious dogmas formulated by that time by the church fathers. In such conditions it took shape scholastic philosophy (from the Greek Σχολαστικός - scientist, school).

One of the founders of scholasticism - John of Damascus(c. 675 - to 753) - famous Byzantine theologian who completed the formation of Orthodox dogmatics. In the theological and philosophical treatise "Source of Knowledge" he outlined and systematized the main theological and philosophical principles, based on Christian dogmas and Aristotle's logic. Thus, John of Damascus laid the foundations of the scholastic method. He was the first to formulate the position “philosophy is the handmaiden of theology,” which became widespread in the Middle Ages.

In Western Europe, one of the first scholastics was an Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin(c. 735–804), who was for some time an adviser and teacher to Charlemagne. Alcuin wrote theological treatises, textbooks on grammar, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, etc. From his point of view, man’s desire for God as the highest good was initially inherent in the human soul - faith is above all. However, human reason must be applied to systematize faith.

Having emerged at the end of the early Middle Ages, scholasticism reached its peak later. It was she who determined the development of economic thought in the era of the classical Middle Ages.

The rationalism of scholasticism was largely explained by the traditions of legal thinking based on Roman law. relied on him canon law (from Greek Kanon – norm, rule), which had a significant influence on the economic thought of the Middle Ages. Its norms regulated not only issues of church organization, but also family and property relations. The rules of canon law were developed in the 12th–14th centuries. In the middle

XII century monk Gratian from Bologna amounted to " Code of Canon Law", expanded and supplemented in 1582. Church lawyers (canonists) relied on the decisions of church councils and decrees of the popes, and the instructions of theologians.

In the XIII–XIV centuries. had a huge influence on the development of scholasticism and canonical doctrine Thomas Aquinas(1225–1274), who was later canonized. His pen belonged "Sum of Philosophy" And " Summa Theologija". In his opinion, reason brings a person closer to true faith. It is from these positions that in the main work "Summa Theology""Thomas Aquinas developed Catholic dogmatics. Along with the most general questions of the existence and nature of God, he also considered practical problems of everyday life: how a person should live, recognizing himself as an executor of the divine plan. At the same time, he noted that real things and phenomena are not always perfect, not always accurately and fully express God's providence, their essence, norm.Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the world around us, identify the true essence of things and phenomena, and determine the norms of human behavior that correspond to the divine plan.

Society must be built in accordance with divine laws ("natural law", arising from the nature of things) and laws established on the basis of agreement between people ("conditional law"), which are a kind of adjustment of divine laws in accordance with a certain historical situation.

These laws were subject to a strict regulatory framework - the requirement to comply with them and thereby act fairly. The concept of “fair” (fair price, fair reward, fair distribution, etc.) was central to medieval economic views. Compliance or conformity with divine or conventional laws was considered fair.

The ideas of Thomas Aquinas had a powerful influence on the views of later canonists, in particular on their understanding of the problem of the “just price”. Nicolas Oresme(c. 1323–1382), a famous representative of scholasticism, made a certain contribution to the development of economic thought. He owns one of the first purely economic works "Treatise on the origin, nature, law and varieties of money." N. Oresme saw money as a tool invented by people in order to make the exchange of goods more convenient. Gradually, noble metals began to act as money. This became possible due to their natural properties - homogeneity, divisibility, preservation. Thus, N. Oresme made an attempt to substantiate the metal theory of money. He opposed the deterioration of coins, believing that this negatively affects the economic development of the country, as it leads to the depreciation of cash savings and disorganizes credit.

At the origins Reformation stood in Germany Martin Luther(1483–1546), Doctor of Theology, Augustinian monk, who in 1517 posted 95 theses against indulgences on the door of the church in Wittenberg. M. Luther outlined his economic views in the book "On Trade and Usury."

One of the founders of Protestantism is a Frenchman John Calvin(1509–1564), having emigrated to Switzerland, led the reform movement in Geneva and became its de facto ruler. Geneva became one of the religious centers of the Reformation. In his main work "Instruction in the Christian Faith" J. Calvin explained that property is sacred, it belongs to God, who entrusted it to people, therefore, a person must take care of every coin, every nail.

Item. The main subject of study in the era of the European Middle Ages was man, his place in the new economic system and economic relations that took shape and developed under the conditions of a feudal economy based on inequality and non-economic coercion.

Methodology and method. In the 9th–11th centuries. in Western European thought has finally taken shape scholastic methodology. Scholasticism does not seek to find the truth; it is believed that it has already been given to people, both at the level of faith and at the level of the human mind. Scholasticism sees its main task in the presentation and proof of truth using reason, and, above all, correct conclusions; it strives to provide rational justification for religious dogmas and make them more accessible.

The basis of scholastic methodology is formal logic, which allows, based on given premises, to draw conclusions, abstracting from reality, applying only the laws and rules of thinking. Typically, a conclusion on any issue is derived by identifying differences in opposing theses, pros and cons, contained in the Bible, the works of the church fathers and ancient philosophers.

The main method of theologians was normative, Therefore, in economic thought, the main attention was paid to the norms of economic behavior from the point of view of Christian morality, and not to the analysis of economic phenomena. Theologians widely used a methodological approach called patristics: establishing the rule “it must be so.”

Note that the authors' reasoning was mainly a priori, speculative character and were built on the basis of often very sophisticated logic. An important element of evidence was a reference to the Holy Scriptures or the works of the church fathers.

Features of the study include the dual nature of assessments of any phenomena. It is connected with the fact that the world seemed to theologians to be a divine creation, but corrupted by original sin. Therefore, in all worldly phenomena, theologians sought to find traces of both divine light and earthly sinfulness.

• Charlemagne (742–814) – Frankish king from 768, emperor from 800.
• There is also another, Latinized, spelling of his name - Thomas Aquinas. He was the youngest son of Count Landolf Aquinas, and was brought up at the school at the Benedictine Abbey of Montecassino. At the age of seventeen he joined the Dominican mendicant order, studied with Albertus Magnus, then taught in Paris and various cities in Italy. Distinguished by his gentleness, patience and generosity, Thomas Aquinas received the nickname doctor angelicus(angelic doctor).
• Patristics is a term denoting a set of theological, philosophical and political-sociological doctrines of Christian thinkers of the 2nd–8th centuries, the so-called church fathers (pater - father): Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Naziantine, Augustine the Blessed, Leontius of Byzantium, Boethius, John of Damascus.

Western Europe

In the 5th century n. e. Under the onslaught of Germanic tribes, the slave-owning Western Roman Empire fell and barbarian kingdoms formed on its territory. These states had an economic and political organization that was incomparably simpler than the empire, and the remnants of the tribal system were clearly visible in it. The Romano-Germanic synthesis, which took place over a large part of Western Europe, ultimately led to the emergence of large feudal land ownership and the main classes of medieval society - feudal lords and peasants dependent on them.

It should be noted that not only the early, but even the developed Western European Middle Ages (XI - XVII centuries) did not leave us any serious theoretical works on economics. However, this does not mean that economic thought did not develop in the early Middle Ages. During this period, economic problems appeared that were unknown to the ancient world and which required their own understanding.

Historical documents of the early Middle Ages reflected problems related to the decomposition of the community and the genesis of feudalism (attitude to the community and enslavement of the peasantry, the economic organization of the early feudal estate, the economic possibilities of natural production, etc.). The most complete interpretation of these issues is contained in sources relating to the Frankish kingdom.

Thus, the question of attitude towards the community was reflected in the famous “Salic Truth” - the code of customary law of the Salic Franks, compiled under Clovis (481-511) and subsequently supplemented by capitularies of other kings. The compilers of the Salic Truth recognize the supreme right of the community to arable land and protect the sovereignty of the community from attacks by alien elements.

At the same time, the compilers of the Salic Truth were forced to reckon with the fact of the disintegration of the community and the development of private farming on its lands. Therefore, this legal monument contains laws protecting the individual economy of the Franks (the titles “On fence theft”, “On various thefts”, “On arson”, “On damage caused to a field or any fenced place”, etc.). Recognizing the presence of remnants of tribal relations (as evidenced, in particular, by the title “On Reipus”), “Salic Truth” at the same time reflected the process of their gradual elimination. Thus, the compilers included in this collection of laws the title “On a Handful of Land,” according to which wealthy relatives could refuse to pay fines for their poor relatives. The title “About one who wishes to renounce kinship” allowed for the possibility of leaving a large family.

The most important source on the history of economic thought of the early Middle Ages is the “Capitulary on Estates,” published at the beginning of the 9th century. Charlemagne or his son Louis the Pious. From this monument one can judge the economic views and economic policies of the feudal patrimonial lords. The compiler of the “Capitulary” proceeds from the fact that the owner of the estate is the monopoly owner of the land, and the estate must serve his “own needs.” It is very characteristic that the “Capitulary” does not mention the community, since by this time it had ceased to be a form of land ownership.

The ideal of farming for the compiler of the Capitulary is subsistence farming. Formulating the principles of exemplary housekeeping, he ordered the collection of taxes in kind and the creation of reserves. Judging by the Capitulary, the feudal lords believed that surpluses should be sold and products that were not produced on the estate should be bought.

The economic policy of the Frankish kings was strongly influenced by the church and the economic views of the papal curia and episcopate. Thus, justifying the need to help the poor and at the same time pursuing its own material interests, the church demanded that parishioners pay tithes. This requirement was reflected in the legislation of Charlemagne (768-814). In the “Saxon Capitulary” (last quarter of the 8th century), for example, he ordered “everyone, according to the commandment of God, to give to the churches and clergy a tenth of their property and earnings.” The obligation of everyone to pay church tithes was justified by the fact that “all Christians, without exception, must return to the Lord part of what He gave to everyone.”

Throughout the Middle Ages, the church waged a hypocritical fight against charging interest on loans. Already in the early Middle Ages, she managed to spread a negative attitude towards interest in society and achieve the publication of laws prohibiting usury. The negative attitude of royal power towards charging interest was manifested, in particular, in the laws of Charlemagne. Thus, one of them spoke of the prohibition “to give anything for the purpose of growth. Not only spiritual, but also secular Christians should not demand interest on loans.” According to the legislator, usury is unacceptable because charging interest “is a demand for what was not given...”, therefore, “the most legal thing would be to take from the debtor only the amount of the loan...”. Charlemagne stated that “whoever, during the harvest or vintage, buys grain or wine not out of need, but out of greed, buys, for example, a measure for two deniers and waits for the time when he can sell it for four deniers or more ”, receives “criminal profits”.

The problems that are reflected in sources on the history of economic thought of the Frankish kingdom are, to a greater or lesser extent, addressed in documents characterizing socio-economic relations in other Romanesque countries of Western Europe (in the Ostrogothic and Visigothic kingdoms, in the state of the Lombards).

The development of feudal relations in England occurred more slowly than in France, Italy and Spain. The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms did not inherit Roman forms of exploitation, as a result of which the community turned out to be more stable here. One can judge economic views in the Anglo-Saxon period, first of all, from legal sources. The most important of them are the Code of Law of the Kentish king Ethelbert (beginning of the 7th century), the “Truth” of King Ine (c. 690), the “Truth” of the Wessex king Alfred (second half of the 9th century), as well as the works of the monk and chronicler Bede the Venerable (672 or 673 - approx. 735).

Anglo-Saxon sources reflected the process of social differentiation of the peasantry and the strengthening of royal power. Trying to disguise the fact that royal power protected the interests of the feudal lords, the Venerable Bede put forward the idea that kings cared about the well-being of the entire people. However, he was forced to recognize the division of society into poor and rich.

Sources from the Anglo-Saxon period also provide insight into the attitude of royalty to trade. On the one hand, the kings, considering trade one of the main sources of treasury income, patronized trade operations, and on the other, tried to regulate them.

The canonical doctrine, which was developed by church lawyers and interpreters of church law, had a great influence on the economic thought of the Middle Ages. The canonists also interpreted economic issues, often from the standpoint of the ancient tradition and the views of Aristotle. The founder of the school of canonism is Augustine the Blessed (354 - 430). His main works: “On the Blessed Life” (386) and “Monologues” (387). He considered commercial and usurious capital, like excessive wealth, a sin. Money, according to Augustine, is only a means of facilitating and accelerating exchange transactions.

The economic thought of the classical Middle Ages developed on the basis of church law, and its ideas were systematically interpreted and developed in the treatise “Summa Theologica” written by the Italian monk Thomas Aquinas (Aquinas) (1225-1274). In this treatise, he examined a number of problems relevant to his time. Based on the “dogmas of Aristotle,” Thomas Aquinas justified the social inequality of people, defended private property, and idealized natural farming. But at the same time, he broke with natural-economic views and justified exchange. His work reflected specific issues of commodity production. The most important of these is the issue of “fair price”. Thomas Aquinas considered the basis of exchange to be the equality of utility of the things exchanged. The expression of this principle for him is the “fair price,” which he explained in the form of the “amounts of labor and costs” necessary for the production of goods. There is a superficial resemblance here to the labor theory of value, but it is deceptive. Aquinas’s formulation of the problem of “fair price” was of an ethical and normative nature and was based on the class concept of justice. With this interpretation, the labor moment played a conditional role.

In his treatise, Thomas Aquinas also considered other attributes of a commodity economy. In his interpretation of money, he adhered to the nominalistic theory of its origin and recognized its necessity as a measure of value and a means of circulation. His attitude towards usury and trade suffered from inconsistency. On the one hand, he condemned usury, and on the other, he substantiated the decency of lending operations carried out by the church. He condemned trading for the purpose of making a profit, but in general he justified it. Cases when an item can be sold for more than the price for which it was purchased:

If there have been some improvements in the thing;

The owner suffered losses for transportation and storage;

Risk of loss of consumer qualities.

Thomas Aquinas was the first to coin the term “Entrepreneurial Risk”.

Table I. Comparison of the views of the early (Augustine the Blessed) and later (Thomas Aquinas) canonists

In the first half of the 16th century. In Western and Central Europe, a broad social movement developed, anti-feudal in its socio-economic and political essence, religious (anti-Catholic) in its ideological form. Since the immediate goals of this movement were the “correction” of the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, the transformation of church organization, and the restructuring of the relationship between church and state, it came to be called the Reformation. The main center of the European Reformation was Germany.

Supporters of the Reformation were divided into two camps. In one, the propertied elements of the opposition gathered - the mass of the lower nobility, the burghers, and part of the secular princes, who hoped to enrich themselves through the confiscation of church property and sought to use the opportunity to gain greater independence from the empire. All these elements, among which the burghers set the tone, wanted the implementation of fairly modest, moderate reforms. In another camp, the masses united: peasants and plebeians. They put forward far-reaching demands and fought for a revolutionary reorganization of the world on the basis of social justice.

The German theologian Martin Luther (1483-1546) stood at the origins of the Reformation and was the largest ideologist of its burgher wing. It was he who formulated those religious and political slogans that initially inspired and united almost all the champions of the Reformation in Germany.

One of the starting points of Lutheran teaching is the thesis that salvation is achieved solely by faith. Each believer is justified by it personally before God, becoming here, as it were, his own priest and, as a result, no longer needing the services of the Catholic Church (the idea of ​​\u200b\u200b“omnipriesthood”). The opportunity for believers to be internally religious and to lead a truly Christian lifestyle is ensured, according to M. Luther, by the worldly order.

In general, the evolution of M. Luther’s activities and teachings occurred in such a way that elements of burgher narrow-mindedness, narrow-class political utilitarianism, and religious fanaticism grew in them, which significantly hampered the further development of the Reformation.

Among the most prominent ideologists and influential figures of the Reformation was John Calvin (1509-1564). Having settled in Switzerland, he published there the theological treatise “Instruction in the Christian Faith” (1536). The core of Calvin's work is the dogma of divine predestination. According to J. Calvin, God predetermined some people to salvation and bliss, others to destruction. People are powerless to change the will of God, but they can guess about it by how their life on earth develops. If their professional activity (predetermined by God) is successful, they are pious and virtuous, hardworking and obedient to the authorities (established by God), then God favors them. From the dogma of absolute divine predestination, for a true Calvinist, stemmed, first of all, the duty to devote himself entirely to his profession, to be the most thrifty and zealous owner, to despise pleasures and wastefulness.

The radical reform of the structure of the church carried out by J. Calvin was also pro-bourgeois in nature. Church communities began to be headed by elders (presbyters), usually elected from the richest laymen, and preachers who did not have a special priestly rank, who performed religious functions as official duties.

A distinctive feature of the Calvinist doctrine is the cruel religious intolerance it contains towards any other views and attitudes, especially towards peasant-plebeian heresies.

Calvinist ideology played a significant role in history. She significantly contributed to the accomplishment of the first bourgeois revolution in Western Europe - the revolution in the Netherlands and the establishment of a republic in this country. On its basis, republican parties arose in England, and especially in Scotland. Together with other ideological trends of the Reformation, Calvinism prepared the “mental material” on the basis of which in the 17th-18th centuries. a classic political and legal worldview of the bourgeoisie emerged.

East

The economic ideas of the Arabs were inextricably linked with the changes that took place in Arabian society. In Arabia, feudal relations arose as a result of the decomposition of primitive communal relations in most of the peninsula and the crisis of the slave system. In ancient times, in Arabia (in the south) there were states where slavery played a certain role. However, the bulk of direct producers were represented by free community members engaged in agriculture based on artificial irrigation.

The peculiarities of the physical and geographical conditions of the Arabian Peninsula, the predominance of deserts and semi-deserts determined the existence and development of nomadic and transhumance cattle breeding. A process of property stratification took place within the tribes. During the migrations, many families settled in oases, establishing ownership of the land.

In Arabia, the transition to feudal production relations and the creation of a single state coincided with the emergence of a new monotheistic religion - Islam. The head of the first pan-Arab state, Muhammad, bore the rank of prophet, exercising both secular and spiritual power. This combination of secular and spiritual principles left its mark on all subsequent development of Muslim countries, on ideology, historiography, jurisprudence, economic thought, etc.

The economic thought of the Arabs during the emergence of the early feudal state was reflected in the Koran and the biography of Muhammad. The Koran (translated into Russian as “reading”) contains the sermons of Muhammad, his statements on certain issues in the period 610-632. These sayings were recorded by his companions and were compiled together after his death. The earliest surviving copies of the Koran date back to the turn of the 7th - 8th centuries.

Most often, Muhammad mentions the rich and the poor, addresses the problems of wealth and inequality, and tries to explain inequality. However, the main idea is the divine origin of property and social inequality. It was Allah who allegedly gave “an advantage to some over others in their lot in life.

In the Koran, land is declared to belong to God and not everyone can count on receiving it or retaining land ownership. But the Koran affirms the principle of the inviolability of private property, emphasizing the inadmissibility of appropriating other people's property, entering other people's houses “from the back” or entering without permission. The thieves faced severe punishment; they were to have their hands cut off “as retribution for what they had acquired.” Although Muhammad condemns the stingy, who love wealth, gold, silver, nevertheless, he shows great concern for the preservation of wealth, opposes wastefulness, excessive spending of funds, and calls for frugality. The faithful are advised not to eat “the property between themselves in vain” and not to give it to judges, for “it is criminal to eat part of the property of people,” but to give to a relative “what is due to him,” and to the poor and to the traveler.

All believers were obliged to spend part of their property “in the path of God”, paying cleansing alms. Almsgiving in the understanding of the Koran is not ordinary, voluntary charity. This is a kind of uniform taxation of all those who have converted to Islam, charity elevated to the level of a general religious and national obligation.

The Koran repeatedly addresses the issue of usury. Muhammad in every possible way frightened the moneylenders with reward from Allah, and attributed the prohibition of taking a high interest rate to Allah.

As a result of their conquests (632 - ca. 751), the Arabs created a vast empire, which included various lands and peoples. The initial regulations adopted under Muhammad and recorded in the Koran became the basis for the further development of legal and economic concepts. In addition, jurists turned to hadiths - legends about the actions and statements of Muhammad in order to sanctify their actions or interpretations in his name. The collection and interpretation of hadith became an important element in the development of both law and economic concepts. Muslim law “Sharia” (from the word “shar” - law) was formed on the basis of three sources: the Koran, hadith and customary law.

One of the fundamental problems developed by Islamic law was the problem of property. Muslim law developed detailed rules for land taxation.

In the caliphate from about the 9th century. Land ownership of Muslim charitable institutions, mosques, religious schools, etc. arose - waqfs. Every Muslim could transfer part of his lands or other property to mosques and establish a waqf. In the final version, waqfs became inalienable and free from state tax.

Muslim jurists recognized the difference between the value of a product and the declared price. The right of first refusal for the purchase of real estate, the conclusion of pledge agreements, the registration of trading partnerships based on trust, and companies were developed in detail. Associations of merchants to conduct large trade operations were widespread throughout the Muslim world. When concluding large transactions, they resorted to checks and bills of exchange. Cashless trading was beneficial to all participants in the transaction. It was possible to receive cash from checks throughout the territory of the caliphate.

The largest thinker of the caliphate period, whose works treated various economic problems, was the outstanding lawyer Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ibrahim al-Ansari (731-798). He was an adherent of the Hanafi school of law. In 782, Abu Yusuf was appointed to the position of qadi (judge) in Baghdad and was the first to receive the title of chief qadi. Abu Yusuf wrote several works, but the only book that has survived to this day is “Kitab al-Kharaj” (“Book of Taxes”), which he compiled at the request of Caliph Harun al-Rashid. The main goal pursued by Abu Yusuf was to provide the caliph with practical guidance in resolving various issues related to economic policy. Abu Yusuf justified the transition of the state to a new system of taxation, different from the times of conquest.

The Arab thinker Ibn Khaldun (Abu Za-id Abd ar-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Hadrami) (1332-1406) was born in Tunisia and came from a noble family. In 1382, he left the Maghreb, going to Egypt, where for 20 years he took an active part in scientific and political life, tried to fight the corruption of the judicial apparatus, but to no avail. He opposed those feudal strata whose policies led to a general decline in the economy and stagnation of social life.

Ibn Khaldun strictly distinguished between consumer goods and property. He considered human labor to be the main source of income and wealth, for “all income is equivalent to the value of expended human labor. Ibn Khaldun paid special attention to the complex labor associated with operations of various types, emphasizing that “if there were no labor, there would be no subject.” He directly linked the development of crafts, arts and science with the growth of labor productivity.

Fluctuations in prices for any product, according to Ibn Khaldun, depended on supply and demand. Those who sell cheap goods suffer losses from low prices. However, “of all goods, bread is the one for which a low price is desirable, because the need for it is universal.”

Ibn Khaldun's thoughts on the value of goods are important. Trade, the act of buying and selling, should be based on the principle of equal exchange, when equal amounts of labor expended are equated.

The great historical merit of Ibn Khaldun lies in the fact that he put forward the concept of value, ahead of all the ancient thinkers of his time. For him, “most of what a person accumulates and from which he derives direct benefit is equivalent to the value of human labor.” Everything that a person “acquires in the form of wealth - if these are handicraft products - is equivalent to the value of the labor invested in it,” and “the cost of income is determined by the labor pumped in, the place that this product occupies among other types of products, and its necessity for people.” . In this case, for Ibn Khaldun, the equalization of goods acted as a form of equalization of labor. However, he did not establish the difference between value and price. The cost of goods also included the cost of raw materials, means of labor, and the cost of labor of producers of intermediate goods. As Ibn Khaldun wrote, some crafts “include the labor of other crafts; Thus, carpentry uses wood products, weaving uses yarn, and thus the labor in both of these crafts is greater and its cost is higher. If objects (are not created) by handicraft labor, then their value must include the value of the labor through whose expenditure they were made, for if there were no labor, there would be no object.” However, Ibn Khaldun was unable to reveal the mechanism of simultaneous creation of new value and the inclusion of already existing value created by the labor of other people.

In the works of Ibn Khaldun, the problem of money occupies an important place. He emphasizes that money is the basis of income, savings and treasures, and also acts as a measure of value. Ibn Khaldun advocates for the circulation of full-fledged money in the state and denounces alchemists who tried to obtain gold artificially. He denounced not only counterfeiters, but also spoke out against rulers who repeatedly officially reduced the content of gold and silver in coins.

Rus

During the period of decomposition of the primitive community among the Eastern Slavs, which occurred in the 4th-6th centuries, the dominance of arable farming and settled cattle breeding gradually became more and more noticeable. Crafts and commodity exchange are becoming more developed. From the 6th century Large landowners own fortified dwellings. They widely use the labor of servants - people captured during wars, acquired as a result of purchase or enslaved. In the IX-XII centuries. the process of enslavement and enslavement of smerds (peasants) by landowners intensified. While the bulk of rural workers consisted of servants and purchasers (obliged to process the debt taken - “kupa”), labor rent (corvée) prevailed. As community smerds were included in the system of feudal exploitation, product rent (in-kind rent) began to play an increasingly important role; by the 11th century. has become dominant. And the patrimonial boyar himself, the hereditary owner of the land, acquires the right to judge dependent people and manage them.

In the IX-XI centuries. Eastern Slavs unite into the ancient Russian state - Kievan Rus. It is clear that the top of society, its ruling class of feudal lords, needed a strong state. It was this that ensured the resolution of internal and external problems, the maintenance of obedience to the exploited masses, the protection of borders, the expansion of territory, and the development of international trade.

Rus' of this period is one of the powerful and authoritative states of Europe. The steady growth of productive forces was accompanied by a further division of labor and the growth of cities (Kyiv, Chernigov, Novgorod, Pereslavl, etc.), and the development of crafts. Cities became centers of trade and cultural relations.

Economic thought has not yet become an independent branch of ideology. But it was already an integral part of social thought. Treaties of princes, charters and chronicles, church literature and oral folk art to one degree or another illuminate the economic life, life and economic policy of the Kyiv princes. Ancient chronicles provide a fairly complete picture of tax and trade policies, the nature of agriculture and the social status of the population.

To understand the specifics of the development of economic thought at the very early stage of Russian history, a very valuable source, the first ancient Russian code of laws, is “Russkaya Pravda”: a unique code of feudal law of the 30s. XI century, operating until the XV century.

“Russian Truth” reflected the practical level achieved by economic thought by this time. It recorded the process of feudalization of the state and consolidated feudal exploitation. She gave a legal definition of natural economy, property relations, protection of the property rights of the feudal nobility to serfs, land, the right to levy taxes, and duties in kind. It contained norms of trade and protection of the interests of Russian merchants, mentioned “trade” (domestic market), “guest” (foreign trade), etc.

Although "Russian Truth" is attributed to Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054), many of its articles and even sections were adopted after the death of the prince. He actually owns only the first 17 articles of the legal monument.

Fierce struggle between smerds and feudal lords, popular uprisings of the late 60-70s. XI century demanded that Russkaya Pravda be supplemented with a number of articles called the Yaroslavich Pravda. The main meaning of this part of the code is the protection of the property of the feudal lord and his estate. “The Truth of the Yaroslavichs” tells about the structure of the estate itself, with its center in the princely or boyar courtyard with their mansions, houses of those close to them, stables, and barnyard. The estate was managed by the fireman (“firehouse” - house), the princely entrance was in charge of collecting taxes.

The main wealth of the estate is the land on which the scum, serfs, and servants worked. The princely boundary was guarded with an extremely high fine. The management of rural work was entrusted to the ratay (arable land) and village elders, who controlled the work of slaves and smerds, respectively. Craftsmen supplemented the number of patrimonial workers.

"Pravda Yaroslavich" abolished blood feud. However, the range in payment for the murder of different categories of the population increased noticeably. This certainly reflected the role of the feudal state in protecting the lives and property of the feudal lords.

The legal consolidation of the right to inherit lands that were received “from the father” (patrimony) at the congress of princes in 1097 in the city of Lyubech actually became the beginning of the process of feudal fragmentation of Kievan Rus and a new stage in the development of socio-economic thought. At the congress, the “Yaroslavich Truth” was approved.

At the beginning of the 12th century. A popular uprising broke out in Kyiv. For four days, the courts of princely rulers, large feudal lords and moneylenders were burned and destroyed.

Vladimir Monomakh (1113-1125) was called to the grand-ducal throne. A definite concession to the masses was the “Charter of Vladimir Monomakh” - another part of the “Russian Truth”. The Charter streamlined the collection of interest by moneylenders, improved the legal status of merchants, and regulated the registration of servitude.

The “Charter on Res” (interest) of this time fixed a somewhat underestimated, in comparison with the previously used, ruinous, interest rate for moneylenders on loans provided. This determined the legal basis for credit operations and improved the position of the merchants. Thus, a person who borrows at 50% per annum is obliged to pay this interest only for two years, and in the third year he becomes free from all debt.

The fight against feudal oppression also found expression in “urban heresies.” So, in the XIV-XV centuries. In Novgorod and Pskov, among the urban artisans “strigolniks” (cloth makers), a movement arose that opposed not only the exactions of the clergy, but also against social inequality in general.

Feudal strife, which extremely weakened the Russian state, largely contributed to the Mongol-Tatar domination of the 12th-late 15th centuries. The country was subjected to significant material and moral testing. Before the Tatar-Mongol yoke, Russian economic thought was the most progressive. After the overthrow of the Golden Horde, Rus' in its development lagged behind Europe by the 2nd century. The desire for political centralization of the country was necessary and obvious to all layers of Russian society. The center of unification became Moscow during the period of Ivan Kalita (1325-1340).

The economic thought of this difficult stage reflected the desire of the Moscow princes to unite, subjugate an increasing number of feudal, boyar, monastic and church estates, as well as the process of further enslavement of the peasants.

Under Ivan III (1462-1505), the formation of the state under the rule of the Moscow princes was basically completed. Over the century, the territory of the Moscow State increased more than 30 times.

Closely related to the struggle for the unification of the country was the formation of local land ownership. In the second half of the 15th century. Ivan III widely granted land to the feudal lord on the condition of service to the sovereign and inheritance exclusively along with service. Thus, the expansion of the local system created the preconditions for the enslavement of the peasants.

And in 1497, the Code of Laws was published - the first all-Russian collection of laws. Its release legislated for a system of centralized state power, a command form of government. The Code of Law strengthened the enslavement of the village, giving peasants a period of refusal from landowners - one week before and one week after St. George's Day (November 26), when it was possible to change from one owner to another. At the same time, the peasant was obliged to pay the feudal lord a certain amount of “elderly”, i.e., an amount of money for the use of the yard (outbuildings and housing).

The emergence of a centralized state headed by Moscow princes and the elimination of feudal fragmentation revived the economic and political life of the country. Widespread trade and craft urban development developed. The mining industry and cannon casting developed. International trade relations were established.

Economic thought of the first half of the 16th century. - the threshold of the reforms of the 50s - especially manifested itself in the works of a talented publicist of that time, nobleman Ivan Semenovich Peresvetov. The works he wrote actually set out the program of reforms proposed to Ivan IV the Terrible.

Speaking in favor of a centralized state, I. Peresvetov, in his own way, breaks with the isolation of the natural economy. His proposals to transfer governors, judges, and serving nobility to salaries and to hand over all income and taxes to the treasury certainly gave scope for the development of commodity-money relations and eliminated the obstacles facing the formation of an all-Russian market. Subsequently, Ivan IV heeded the advice of I. Peresvetov. In fact, the principles of his economic policy were aimed at strengthening the unity of the Russian state, strengthening the autocratic power of the tsar, and completing the feudalization of the countryside.

Among the church literature that defended the interests of the local nobility, the works of the former priest of the Moscow palace church Hermolai-Erasmus (mid-16th century) are of particular interest. Most of his works are devoted to theology and morality, but they also raised social issues. He was an opponent of the boyar centrifugal tendencies aimed at weakening the unity of the Russian state. At the same time, Erasmus advocated the independence of the church from the state and argued for the superiority of spiritual power over royal power. His views on wealth reveal moral condemnation; the source of enrichment is seen in the feudal lords’ appropriation of other people’s labor. Erasmus sharply condemned the enrichment of merchants and moneylenders. The religious terminology of Erasmus’s reasoning did not exclude his sympathy for the peasants and his intention to weaken the serfdom yoke that lay on them.

In his work “The Ruler and Land Surveying of the Tsar,” which was the first special economic and political treatise in Russia, he gave advice to the Tsar: how to guide the government, how to take into account and measure land. His recommendations were aimed at reducing and legislatively establishing the size of peasant duties (in order to put an end to the arbitrariness of the feudal lords), establishing a certain procedure for the receipt of funds in the royal treasury, streamlining yam duties, and changing the land measurement system. Ermolai-Erasmus believed that a peasant, dependent on a feudal landowner, should give him only 1/5 of the natural product he extracts and at the same time should be exempt from all monetary payments, both to the landowner and to the royal treasury. To obtain the funds needed by the sovereign, he proposed to allocate a certain amount of land in different parts of the country, while cultivating it the peasants, dependent on the sovereign, should also give 1/5 of the harvest to the royal treasury. This was significantly less than what peasants paid in the mid-16th century. to landowners in the form of rent. While remaining in the position of a defender of natural economy, Erasmus at the same time assumed that landowners and the king would have the money they needed by selling products received from peasants on the market to city residents. Proposing to free the peasants from the yam duty, he wanted to assign it to the city merchants, who get rich by buying and selling goods. But the trading people of the cities should be exempt, in his opinion, from duties and other payments. Of course, the importance of these measures should not be overestimated. They did not abolish feudal oppression, but they could still reduce the severity of exploitation and eliminate its extremes.

The reform of the land measurement unit proposed by Erasmus also had the goal of relieving the peasants of the burdensome costs associated with the work of the royal land surveyors. Erasmus also expressed interesting considerations regarding the allocation of land and peasants to the nobles. He recommended interpreting this allotment only as material support for the service of the nobles to the state, tying the local nobility to the sovereign, and the highest allotment of land should not be eight times larger than the lowest. Ermolai-Erasmus understood the demands of the time, since fiefs and estates were becoming smaller. His proposals were contrary to the interests of the boyars. Erasmus avoided the issue of monastic land ownership. This was his tacit support for the monasteries.

Although Ermolai-Erasmus condemned the presence of large feudal lords in huge land holdings and wealth, his economic views did not go beyond the framework of serfdom. He considered, for example, the feudal exploitation of serfs and their carrying out duties in favor of the state as a normal phenomenon. In his interpretation of a number of economic problems, Erasmus was a realist, and sometimes a utopian, especially in projects for protecting the interests of the peasantry. It was impossible to reconcile the economic and political interests of the nobles and peasants, because they were of a class antagonistic nature. Erasmus did not understand this. It cannot be definitely stated that Ivan the Terrible in his policy was guided by the ideas of Erasmus, but nevertheless, some of the tsar’s economic reforms (expansion of the local system) are consonant with his projects. Erasmus acted as an ideologist of the local nobility and created works that are an original monument of Russian economic thought. The principles of the economic policy of Ivan the Terrible (1547-1584), aimed at completing the feudalization of the countryside, strengthening the unity of the Russian state, and strengthening the autocratic power of the tsar, deserve attention.

The compilers of a new set of laws - the Code of Laws of 1550 - took the Code of Laws of Ivan III as a basis and made changes to it: the right of peasants to move on St. George’s Day was confirmed, the payment for the “elderly” increased, the right to collect trade duties was transferred to the state. With the formation of a centralized state, a system of national taxes and duties arose, the main burden of which fell on the shoulders of the peasants.

In the system of economic measures of Ivan IV, the reform of large land ownership stands out. The main meaning was to change the ratio of its forms. The boyar aristocracy was weakened, and the position of the serving nobility, dependent on the tsar, was strengthened. In 1565-1584. The oprichnina (part of the boyar lands) was introduced, the owners of which became a formed army, distinguished by its cruelty not only to the boyars, but also to the broad masses of the urban and rural population.

The state created by Ivan the Terrible retained its established traditions even under his closest successors - Fyodor Ivanovich (1584-1594) and Boris Godunov (1598-1605).

At the end of the 16th century. taking into account the interests of the feudal lords, “reserved summers” were introduced (prohibition of St. George’s Day in certain years), scribes, patrol and boundary books were compiled (the entire population was included in special books and the exact affiliation of the peasant to his owner was established). In 1597, a decree was issued on a five-year period for searching for fugitive peasants. Slaves were assigned to their master for life.

Not only feudal lords, but also officials and merchants became owners.

The path to the subsequent development of economic thought and new transformations of the 17th - early 18th centuries was prepared.

The formation of feudalism had its own characteristics in each country. A common feature was the seizure of communal land and the creation of estates belonging to noble feudal lords. There was a consolidation of land and workers into private ownership - serfs, who, in addition to their allotments, had to cultivate the land of the feudal lord. The Middle Ages developed, unlike Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, with great difficulty. There is an explanation for this - the Catholic Church became the successor to the ideas of Greek and Roman philosophy and economics.

Formation of economic doctrines in the Middle Ages

Ideas about the economic thought of the Middle Ages have reached our time thanks to written sources. They are based on the works of thinkers of the Ancient world. To better understand the process of the emergence and development of economic thought, it is necessary to take into account the political and economic state of the state.

The very concept of “economic thought” covers a huge range of views and judgments. This includes the ideas of ordinary citizens, the religious view with its influence on economic relations, the work of outstanding scientists of the time and the political and economic laws of the ruling elite. To understand how economic thought was formed in the Middle Ages, it is necessary to start with the Ancient World, since these eras are inextricably linked. Historians consider the economic thought of the Middle Ages as part of theology, since, along with the nobility, the clergy managed the state and relations within society.

Ancient world

The technical equipment of primitive society was primitive and so low that a person could not always feed himself and his family members. People were forced to live in communities, since one family was not able to exist. It makes no sense to talk about economic thoughts during this period of social development, since there was only one thought - to survive. The economic thought of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages began to emerge at the junction of these historical eras, during the period of the emergence of classes and the formation of states.

The emergence of classes

After the beginning of the use of iron and the appearance of tools made from it, labor productivity increased several times, a surplus appeared, which is commonly called surplus product, which a person could use at his own discretion. It was iron tools that led to the emergence of artisans who did not cultivate the land or sow grain, but always had it.

Craftsmen made goods, the use of which allowed farmers to reap larger harvests and improve their quality of life. Trade relations began to emerge. In addition to artisans, people appeared who were engaged in science and art. In short, the economic thought of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages arose precisely at the time when commodity-money relations began to appear in a total natural economy.

There was a division of society into classes, the poor and the rich appeared who wanted to get even more goods and products. They needed to appropriate other people's surpluses. This required a certain mechanism of violence. The state began to emerge.

The emergence of the first states

The stratification of society into classes, the emergence of nobility, and the disintegration of the community led to the formation of states. There was the emergence of various forms of ownership: communal, state and private. This is what made a person think, compare, analyze, which led to the emergence of judgments that became the basis of the economic thoughts of the Middle Ages. A characteristic feature of ancient states was slavery. The emergence of early civilizations and the emergence of the first states occurred in areas with a hot climate, mainly in areas with fertile soil and water. These were the valleys of the rivers: Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, Ganges.

Monuments of ancient economic thought

Ancient Egyptian documents have survived to our time: “The Instruction of the King of Heracleopolis to his son Merikara” (XXII century BC), “The Speech of Ipuser” (XVIII century BC), the Code of Laws of Babylonia (XVIII century BC). ). Issues of state structure and management, usury, protection of property rights, bribery, corruption, reasons for the reduction in tax revenues to the treasury, rules of leasing and hiring, etc. were discussed here.

Economic thought of ancient China

Confucius is a Chinese thinker who lived in 551-479 BC. e. said that only calm and hard work brings wealth to the inhabitants of the state, as well as prosperity to the ruler and the country. Work must be supported by family and community. The thinker attached great importance to the latter. He considered the patriarchal family to be the basis of a stable socio-political system. The main task of the ruling elite is the prosperity of the population, the distribution of agricultural work, and a reasonable tax limit. He assigned a large role to the nobility and believed that the state should take care of them.

The authors of the collective treatise “Guanzi” (IV - III centuries BC) considered all material wealth to be wealth. Gold, as a measure of wealth, was assigned the role of money. The main thing for the prosperity of the country is work and peace of mind to produce products. To do this, the state needs to regulate bread prices. For its development, it is necessary to have sufficient reserves of grain and to give farmers preferential loans at low interest rates.

Antiquity

In short, the economic thought of the Middle Ages used the basic principles of ancient thinkers, in particular ancient ones. During the slave system, as in subsequent forms of states, there were two main economic goals - to collect as many taxes as possible and to fight treasury plunderers (treasury thieves). Concepts such as money, goods, and the use of moral and material incentives to increase the productivity of slaves appeared. The structure of the state and its management aroused great interest among thinkers.

Along with the existing communal property, private and state property arose. Social relations have changed. The economic thought of Antiquity and the Middle Ages is closely related, since many economic laws and concepts of Ancient Greece were subsequently used by the Catholic Church and its thinkers.

Xenophon (430-354 BC)

The founder of ancient economic thought was Xenophon, who first used the term “economy” in his treatise “Domostroy”. It meant the science of home economics. The thinker studied the division of labor, described two properties of goods, from the point of view of consumer and exchange value. He defined two functions of money - a means of accumulation and circulation.

Plato (428-347 BC)

In his work “The State,” Plato described a project for the ideal structure of the country, in which he assigned an important role to aristocrats and the military. They, not having property, are supported by the state to which it belongs. The philosopher is critical of private property, for which, in his opinion, an acceptable maximum should be established. Anything gained beyond this is confiscated to the state. The most important sector of the economy is agriculture.

Aristotle (384-322 BC)

In his two main works, “Politics” and “Nicomachean Ethics,” he describes the structure of an ideal state. Its goal is the common good of the inhabitants. He had a positive attitude towards slavery, defining slaves as tools of labor. Society, in his opinion, should be divided into slaves and free citizens. Labor - mental and physical. Each class uses certain methods of management, using its own savings.

He considered agriculture, crafts and small trade to be economic activities. They are seen as an object of state concern. Wealth is acquired in two ways: natural activity (economic) and unnatural activity (chrematics). He classified usury and large-scale trade as chrematistics.

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages were characterized by great influence of the church on the state. Aristotle's ideas regarding economics were placed within the rigid framework of dogma. The laws in the church were called canons, with the help of which medieval economic thought was expressed. Philosophical reflections on economics were replaced by theological and canonical statements that did not require proof or reflection. This applied to both European and Asian countries where Islam dominated.

European Middle Ages

An essential feature of the Middle Ages was the dominance of the church in the governance of Europe and in their economic life. Despite church conservatism and a negative attitude towards everything new, it was theologians who put forward doctrines that reflected the main episodes of economic life: relations between subjects, their driving forces, the main points of the creation and distribution of goods.

Thomas Aquinas

A significant author of economic thought in the Middle Ages is Thomas Aquinas (13th century). He was an Italian monk. His treatise “Summa Theologies” is the only work of its kind in which all economic categories of the Middle Ages are assessed - moral and ethical. He was part of the school of canonists founded by Augustine the Blessed in the 5th century.

The early canonists were opposed to profit and usurious interest, considering it a sin as a result of the appropriation of someone else's labor. They were in favor of establishing fixed fair prices. They opposed trade in large volumes. They had a negative attitude towards the loan.

The methodological guides for them were the texts of the Holy Scriptures. They treated economic characteristics from the point of view of moral and ethical standards. To these principles, the later canonists, who included F. Aquinas, added the principle of duality of assessments. Briefly, the economic thought of the Middle Ages can be formulated:

• The division of labor, in their understanding, is divine providence, with the help of which class division and human inclination to one or another profession occurred.
• Fair prices, as F. Aquinas, a representative of the economic thought of the European Middle Ages, understood them, are prices set by the feudal nobility in the territory under their control. This dogma replaced the concept of market price.
• Wealth, from the point of view of the early canonists, is a sin, but F. Aquinas already claims that with the action of “fair prices” it is possible to accumulate moderate wealth, which is no longer a sin.
• Trading profits and usurious interest, rejected by the early canonists, are condemned by F. Aquinas, accepted, but on the condition that the income received was not an end in itself, but acted in the form of a well-deserved payment for costs, which included risk.
• Does not recognize money from the point of view of receiving usurious interest, but recognizes it as a means of circulation and a measure of value.

Muslim Middle Ages

Feudal states initially arose in the East (III-VIII centuries), their appearance in Western Europe occurred two centuries later (V-IX centuries). Power in the states of the Middle Ages was concentrated in the hands of large feudal lords and the clergy. They condemned usury and economic commodification. Ibn Khaldun (14th century), who lived in the Maghreb, located in northern Africa, is considered a significant representative of the economic thought of the Muslim Middle Ages. Since the 7th century, Islam spread here. Just as in European states, the clergy, together with the nobility, took an active part in the life of Muslim countries and influenced their economic development.

In a number of specific ways, the economic thought of the European Middle Ages differed from Asian thought. This was explained by the fact that trade in Asian countries was always treated with respect and it was believed that this type of activity was pleasing to God. Even the Prophet Muhammad was initially involved in this type of activity. The state reserved significant land and collected burdensome taxes.

Ibn Khaldun assumed that the flourishing of all types of economic activity would lead to the flourishing of the state. His attitude towards taxes was that he believed that the lower the taxes, the more prosperous the state would be. He treated money with respect and believed that it was a very important element of life. They must be made exclusively of gold and silver. But the most important thing in the doctrine is its assertion that the evolution of society should go from primitiveness to civilization.