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Counter-figures of the world's modern mercantilization. aristotle, Karl Polanyi and Sumak Kawsay

Abstract:

In this paper, we aim to trace the economic and productivist logic that largely defined the development of Western Modernity. Therefore, we will turn to three figures which, although distant from one another in time, offer us a sharp counterpoint to the same logic through different approaches and in different contexts. In this regard, we believe that the economic philosophy of Aristotle, the critical intervention of Karl Polanyi, and certain forms of knowledge from the Pre-Hispanic cultural universe linked to the Quechuan notion of Sumak Kawsay represent three powerful counter-figures in this social and spiritual evolution brought about by the resounding triumph of the market economy and the vision of the world linked to it. Our aim is to show the common thread that underlies the three schools of thought which are so distant in time and geography, inasmuch as there are common elements running through them that could be deployed to formulate a precise drawing and critique founded on the excesses of this economic and productivist logic that is characteristic of modern market societies.