Is Medieval Economic Thought ‘Ecological’? The Case of Thomas Aquinas

In a famous 1967 article, Lynn White predicted the coming climate crisis and attributed responsibility for it to the medieval conception of man and nature. Indeed, the protection of natural resources was not a concern of medieval authors; yet Thomas Aquinas's economic thought resonates with what we could today call an ecological approach to economic activity in at least two respects. On the one hand, such activity is characterised by sobriety, being directed towards the satisfaction of the need for necessary goods, the achievement of moderate gains and the enhancement of local supply. On the other hand, we note the unity of the process of satisfying needs, which begins with the reception of what the earth produces and the choice of the place of settlement according to the fertility of the land, and then develops into human economic activity oriented towards exchange. Justice in such exchange cannot be reduced to matters of justice in social relations, but concerns the conformity between the achievement of the satisfaction of needs and what is at its principle, namely the land provides.