Thomas Aquinas's bonum arduum applied to economics: towards a lexicon assuming scarcity and risk

Pierre Januard ()
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Pierre Januard: PUST - Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas Angelicum, PHARE - Philosophie, Histoire et Analyse des Représentations Économiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

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Abstract: The expression bonum arduum, which designates a future good that is difficult but possible to obtain, and which is used by Thomas Aquinas to describe the object of hope, does not appear in his economic texts. However, John Paul II refers to Aquinas in Laborem exercens as considering work to be a bonum arduum, thus opening the way to an economic application of the expression. Further investigation of Thomas's lexicon of economic activity shows that bonum arduum fills a lexical gap and is particularly well suited to describing the economic good, a rare good whose exchange is risky and takes place over time.

Keywords: Thomas Aquinas; labour; scarcity; risk; time (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-04-01
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