Greed signifies "inordinate or insatiate longing, especially for wealth: avaricious or covetous desire". It is closely associated with envy and embodies desire for power over others. There is an old Latin proverb which translates: "Poverty is in want of much, avarice of everything,'' implying that needs and desires have a very different effect upon society.
In his essay "On love of wealth" Plutarch in the 1st century AD distinguishes between "natural wealth", that is, whatever is necessary for daily living, and "non-natural wealth", which means acquisitions surplus to necessities. He notes that "money cannot buy peace of mind, greatness of spirit, serenity, confidence, and self-sufficiency". The alarming feature of greed is that, while drink allays thirst and food hunger, the craze for possessions never reaches the point of satisfaction, and demands more and more.
Philosophers and economists throughout history have not been backward in finding good reasons for human greed. David Hume in his essay "Civil liberty" (1776) refers to "Avarice, the spur of industry", as if it were a driving force in the advance of civilisation.
The psychologist William McDougall in 1908 remarked that "the instinct of acquisition must have forwarded (if not created) accumulation of material wealth necessary for progress of civilisation." He commented that the desire for mere possession of goods was a strong motive for the accumulation of capital, and that the desire for wealth, unlike other things, never achieved satisfaction. "How few men are content with the possession of what they need for the satisfaction of all other desires than this desire for possession for its own sake!" Close to the right of property comes the emotion of jealousy, which McDougall says is "the affective aspect of the instinct of ownership at a level so deep and intimate that no control of it is possible."
If we are wise, we shall take note that our present society is becoming madly greedy, from the individuals who become besotted with gambling chances to the huge corporations which are no longer content with reasonable profits but must double them every year, come what may. Children demand what they see in the hands of others, and come across in the advertisements. Keeping up with the Joneses is no longer regarded as a quirk, but as necessary to maintain social status. So we are fast getting to a state where no one can relax with inspiring music or intriguing literature, but must be out in the marketplace trying to pull a fast deal over the neighbours.
I am reminded of the blunt statement of the philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev ("The destiny of man", l937): "From the Christian point of view the principle of absolute unlimited ownership of material things and economic goods is altogether wrong and inadmissible. . . . The right of property is justified by its creative result."