Corey Abel and Leslie Marsh Contra Economism

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"But the non-instrumental enjoyment of another’s company is the rejection of the entire worldview of economic trade-offs, and is not reducible to it. An economist can understand the activity of friendship in economic terms, but in doing so, he has stripped it of the meaning friendship has for friends. It is like understanding sex as a form of exercise, or marriage as a contract for sex. To understand humans as self-interpreting beings, one has to understand their self understanding, what activities and relationships mean to them." (In Nell, Guinevere Liberty. 2014. Austrian Economic Perspectives on Individualism and Society: Moving beyond Methodological Individualism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan: 131)

Comments

  1. Samson Corwell2:33 AM

    How is the book?

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    Replies
    1. gcallah6:31 PM

      A mixed bag: some of the essays are fine, some not so good. My review will be out in a few months.

      Delete
  2. Samson Corwell5:26 PM

    How widespread of a thing is this, though? I'm very critical of this behavior, people who think they can extend the field beyond it's parameters, but it never struck as coming from anyone other than small subset of individuals with already bizarre views.

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