In European politics,the issue of neo-liberalism is both dominant and contested.This political position has a foundation in an influential economic theory.This economic variant of a universal theory of human behaviour...In European politics,the issue of neo-liberalism is both dominant and contested.This political position has a foundation in an influential economic theory.This economic variant of a universal theory of human behaviour is known as‘economic imperialism’.It is very influential in the other social sciences as well.The‘rationalchoice-model’(RCM)is frequently employed to explain social phenomena.The RCM,formally speaking,is the approach of neoclassical economic theory.By scrutinising some presuppositions of economic imperialism,it becomes clear,however,that this approach cannot offer a universal theory of human behaviour.These considerations are not a criticism of economic rationality as such but of a specific interpretation of this rationality,namely that of economic imperialism.Although basic ideas of the RCM are criticised within the discourse of economics itself,such criticism has a primarily empirical nature.By contrast,this article develops a reflexive argument that concerns the framework of the RCM itself.RCM starts from assumptions that it does not justify,or is even unable to justify.Two of these assumptions are discussed in-depth:the givenness of preferences and the quantifiability of utility.It turns out that preferences of rational beings are not merely given but continuously evaluated.Moreover,preferences qua goals of action have a non-quantitative character:they are constituted by values.Values make up the foundation of(quantifiable)goods or preferences in the economic sense.展开更多
文摘In European politics,the issue of neo-liberalism is both dominant and contested.This political position has a foundation in an influential economic theory.This economic variant of a universal theory of human behaviour is known as‘economic imperialism’.It is very influential in the other social sciences as well.The‘rationalchoice-model’(RCM)is frequently employed to explain social phenomena.The RCM,formally speaking,is the approach of neoclassical economic theory.By scrutinising some presuppositions of economic imperialism,it becomes clear,however,that this approach cannot offer a universal theory of human behaviour.These considerations are not a criticism of economic rationality as such but of a specific interpretation of this rationality,namely that of economic imperialism.Although basic ideas of the RCM are criticised within the discourse of economics itself,such criticism has a primarily empirical nature.By contrast,this article develops a reflexive argument that concerns the framework of the RCM itself.RCM starts from assumptions that it does not justify,or is even unable to justify.Two of these assumptions are discussed in-depth:the givenness of preferences and the quantifiability of utility.It turns out that preferences of rational beings are not merely given but continuously evaluated.Moreover,preferences qua goals of action have a non-quantitative character:they are constituted by values.Values make up the foundation of(quantifiable)goods or preferences in the economic sense.
