Τὸ Μέσον and the Crisis of Limit: Aristotle, Neoliberal Subjectivity, and the Metaphysics of Excess

Purpose: This article examines when economic and technological expansion ceases to serve worthwhile human purposes. It develops a critical reconstruction of Aristotle’s account of practical wisdom, flourishing, and purposive acquisition to evaluate contemporary imperatives of continuous optimisation. Design/methodology/approach: The article combines close interpretation of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Politics with conceptual reconstruction and critical engagement with contemporary accounts of neoliberal subjectivity, social acceleration, and digital mediation. It distinguishes Aristotle’s explicit claims from the contemporary normative framework developed from them. Findings: Aristotle’s distinction between context-sensitive practical judgment and potentially unlimited wealth acquisition supports a qualified criterion of proportionality: further expansion requires justification by the human ends it serves. This does not entail opposition to growth, technology, or persistent desire. The framework also requires attention to deprivation, agency, distributive justice, and the possibility that some limits are oppressive. Practical implications: The framework invites institutions and technology designers to evaluate performance metrics in relation to substantive user and social goals, rather than treating increased activity, engagement, or accumulation as inherently beneficial. Originality/value: The contribution is a philosophical - anthropological synthesis of Aristotelian practical judgment and purposive acquisition with existing critiques of indefinite optimisation. Ontological claims are presented as qualified interpretations, not as empirical findings or a universal theory of capitalism.