 The concept of meaning as the basis for a theory of economic rationalityAlexander Styhre () Chapter 1 in A Pragmatist Theory of Economic Reason, 2025, pp 2-33 from Edward Elgar Publishing Abstract: Mainstream economic theory stipulates that agents are incentivized to act on the basis of self-interest while simultaneously being responsive to social norms, laws, legislations, and other conditions that influence to what extent they achieve economic welfare, and thereby expresses a specific form of rationality. The chapter critically examines the logical consistency of the claim that such an idea of rationality would be “a given” – that is, as already so constructed, as this specific theory of economic rationality is neither logically consistent nor intuitively effective in responding to what is observed in real-world economies. Based on an analytical philosophy view of how rationality can presumably be construed – for example, as beliefs and actions assessed by interlocutors and judged as reasonable or not in what has been referred to as the space of reasons – it is argued that before anything can be treated as rational, it needs first to be intelligible, and second, meaningful. Keywords: Rationality; Practical reason; Economic theory; Management studies (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:23811_1 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing |
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