In this inaugural letter from “Trial of the Pyx,” I will be tracking down citations to Thomas Aquinas and Ernst Kantorowicz found in Scott Ferguson’s 2018 book, Declarations of Dependence: Money, Aesthetics, and the Politics of Care. Ferguson, an assistant professor at University of South Florida with a background in film studies, is perhaps leading the charge to plant the flag of MMT in the academic humanities by making the chartalist story about money the basis of a political philosophy and social critique. This is an admirable goal… but one which would have been better served by a more careful attention to his own archive. As it is, he is careless when it comes to his presentation of Aquinas, and, in addition, he gets Kantorowicz quite backwards. In so doing, he presents a problem as though it were a solution. In pt 1 of this letter, I will evaluate the citation to Aquinas, and in pt 2 (coming soon) I will investigate his invocation of Kantorowicz.
Awake Thou Coward Majesty! Pt. 1
Awake Thou Coward Majesty! Pt. 1
Awake Thou Coward Majesty! Pt. 1
In this inaugural letter from “Trial of the Pyx,” I will be tracking down citations to Thomas Aquinas and Ernst Kantorowicz found in Scott Ferguson’s 2018 book, Declarations of Dependence: Money, Aesthetics, and the Politics of Care. Ferguson, an assistant professor at University of South Florida with a background in film studies, is perhaps leading the charge to plant the flag of MMT in the academic humanities by making the chartalist story about money the basis of a political philosophy and social critique. This is an admirable goal… but one which would have been better served by a more careful attention to his own archive. As it is, he is careless when it comes to his presentation of Aquinas, and, in addition, he gets Kantorowicz quite backwards. In so doing, he presents a problem as though it were a solution. In pt 1 of this letter, I will evaluate the citation to Aquinas, and in pt 2 (coming soon) I will investigate his invocation of Kantorowicz.