Consider the origins of debt and of crime. Both are as old as humanity. They inhere not so much in human nature (whatever that means), as in the nature of community itself.
Where community is absent, the mythical hermit depends on no one, owes no one, needs from no one, is at risk from no one. He (for in myth this figure is rarely a she) 1 may be at risk of starvation, and of the brutal hardship of bearing sole responsibility for his own health, welfare, shelter, and life. But he does not risk being in debt. He does not risk crime, for there is no one against whom he might trespass or who might trespass against him.
The moment one steps away from abject self-sufficiency, places trust in another human being, and becomes a member of a community, however, one risks both debt and crime.
The moment our ancient ancestors lent a tool or a ration of food to a neighbor, they became what today we know as creditors, at risk of never being repaid in full. The borrower became a debtor, at risk of being unable to repay his debt, regardless of how honest or sinister his intentions may have been at the outset.
So, too, is the concept of crime inherently communal, and not simply because there can be no victims in the absence of community. More significantly, the very idea of crime, as recognized and defined by any particular society, rests in the notion that ...