Forgot your password?  
Related Topics

Less Is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty: An Anthology of Ancient and... Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 6 Summary

This Study Guide consists of approximately 35 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Less Is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty.
This section contains 253 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page)
Purchase our Less Is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty: An Anthology of Ancient and... Study Guide

Chapter 6 Summary and Analysis

Desire/Greed, Necessity/Need

The Ten Thousand Things

In his writings, Jean Rousseau (1712-1778) speaks of the happiness of the family when it is independent and untethered to the rest of society. A family can subsist within itself, providing enough food and clothing and shelter for its small number of members. However, once mass production begins to provide everything and takes away the responsibility of providing for himself from man, he has the leisure time to dream about all the many things he wants and suddenly realizes he needs.

In 1840, Jeremy Taylor writes that the status we miscall poverty is actually more appropriately defined as nature. Nature metes out to all men the proportion of possessions he needs. The poor man feels fortunate when he receives the discarded clothes of the rich man who thinks the clothing is too old and tattered to wear. The same item is perceived entirely differently...
(read more)

This section contains 253 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page)
Purchase our Less Is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty: An Anthology of Ancient and... Study Guide
Copyrights
Less Is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty: An Anthology of Ancient and... from BookRags and Gale's For Students Series. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.
Follow Us on Facebook