Abstract
This final chapter on economic limits begins by considering the problem of greed in modern economic life within capitalism as the key problem that needs to be addressed. It discusses the importance of the limiting virtue of contentment here for counteracting greed. The second section develops a positive vision for the role of economics in the good life. It is called “home economics,” as it seeks to recover something of Aristotle’s idea of oikonomia as centering on the home (oikos), but also contributing to the common good of the particular communities to which one belongs. What we need, it is contended, is a way of living our economic life that contributes to our being properly at home in the world, rather than causing alienation (or not-at-home-ness). This also requires recovering a sense of the dignity of work. The third and final section discusses the practice of the Sabbath (as a specific form of leisure) as providing an important limitation on work, while also in a crucial sense completing our work, and it suggests its relevance for everyone, regardless of religious beliefs. This discussion will also provide a fitting conclusion to the book, since it returns us to the discussion with which the book began: the two fundamental existential stances—the choosing-controlling stance and the accepting-appreciating stance—and the proper relationship between them.