Life forms and capitalism

Formes de vie et capitalisme

Valérie Charolles ()
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Valérie Charolles: LACI - Laboratoire d'anthropologie critique interdisciplinaire - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - LAP - Laboratoire d’anthropologie politique – Approches interdisciplinaires et critiques des mondes contemporains, UMR 8177 - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LAP - Laboratoire d’anthropologie politique – Approches interdisciplinaires et critiques des mondes contemporains, UMR 8177 - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: This article re-examines Sen's (1977) and Arrow's (1987) criticisms of the postulate of rationality and focuses on the consequences of this postulate for life forms, as analyzed by Floyd (2020). It emphasizes the role played in life forms by figures and their connection to facts, and the resulting displacement of the enigma of the relation between words and things. It questions the choice of a maximizing (or optimizing) agent that turns out to be lethal for living organisms. Finally, the article sets out to show that this representation of the economic agent is not solely an epistemological issue. Homo economicus, as anchored in life forms by economics, thus appears not only as a rational fool (Sen), but also as a dead calculator, which corresponds fairly well to the definition of a computer.

Keywords: Sen Amartya K; Arrow; Rational Fools; Dead Calculator; Rationality; Maximisation; Homo oeconomicus; Life Forms; idiot rationnel; calculateur mort; maximisation; formes de vie (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-06-03
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Published in Diogène : Revue internationale des sciences humaines, 2024, n° 281-282 (1), pp.139-155. ⟨10.3917/dio.281.0139⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04717441

DOI: 10.3917/dio.281.0139

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