Human Interest : Usury from Luther to Bentham

Bradley, Arthur (2023) Human Interest : Usury from Luther to Bentham. Theory, Culture and Society. ISSN 0263-2764

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Abstract

This article revisits a set of classic political, theological and economic scenes in the (early) modern debate on usury from Luther to Bentham. To summarize, I argue that this theory of usury – which polemically mobilizes counter-Aristotelian tropes of the breeding, reproduction and husbandry of money – might also be read as a theory of what Foucault famously calls pastoral power. If this debate nominally concerns the ‘repeal’ of the ancient prohibition against money-lending at interest, I argue that what is really at stake here is the pastoral production of a new theory of the subject as ‘human interest’: a self whose allegedly intrinsic self-interest expresses itself paradigmatically through financial interest. In conclusion, I situate this genealogy of human interest within the larger history of the self-interested, capitalist and indebted subject from Hirschman, through Foucault, to Lazzarato.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Theory, Culture and Society
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3312
Subjects:
?? sociology and political sciencesocial sciences(all) ??
ID Code:
151334
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
03 Feb 2021 10:17
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
14 Feb 2024 01:30