Project description
Ancient philosophical perspectives on oikonomia and their legacy
Ancient texts on household and wealth management ('oikonomia') reveal how Greek and Roman philosophers understood economic life in relation to ethics, politics, family, gender roles and the environment. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Oikosophia project will offer the first integrated historical-philosophical study of ancient oikonomia through works by Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, pseudo-Aristotle and Philodemus of Gadara, as well as the letters from the Pythagorean women (falsely attributed). The project will reconstruct the foundations and the diachronic development of philosophical thought on ancient economic issues while also examining how these texts later influenced modern thinkers such as Marx, Strauss and Latouche. Oikosophia will connect ancient philosophy with contemporary debates on property, wealth, family, environmental ethics and gender studies.
Objective
This project investigates the philosophical approach to ancient 'oikonomia' through an analysis of classical texts on household management and their influence on modern philosophy. It aims to explore key thematic issues such as the definition of 'household,' the roles of family members, and the treatment of women, children, and slaves in property management. It will examine conceptions of wealth, its limits, and measurement, the role of money and the ancient philosophers' disposition towards it, as well as the ethical and political implications of economic positions, both private and public, and the philosophical perspectives on nature and on the environment behind economic choices.
The project will trace how these ancient conceptions have been integrated into subsequent philosophical thought and contemporary discussions, including environmental ethics, circular economy, and degrowth. Key texts to be analyzed include Xenophon's ‘Economics,’ economic passages in Plato's ‘Republic’ and ‘Laws’, the critique of chrematistics in Book I of Aristotle's ‘Politics’ (from which Marx's critique of the capitalist system originates), the letters of the Pythagorean women (falsely attributed), dealing with the concept of oikos, the evolution of peripatetic ideas in ps.-Aristotle's ‘Oeconomicus’, and the Epicurean philosophical perspective behind economic management in Philodemus of Gadara's ‘Oeconomicus’. The research will be further informed by the study of how these ancient texts have been interpreted by modern thinkers, from Marx to Strauss and Latouche.
By employing an interdisciplinary and diachronic approach that integrates philological, philosophical, and historical methodologies, the project aims to explore the philosophical, ethical, political, and social dimensions underlying each vision of ancient economics and to assess their enduring impact on subsequent philosophical thought, broadening the perspective to political sciences, gender studies and feminist philosophy.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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00185 Roma
Italy
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