The Theory of the Individual in Economics : Identity and Value

The concept of the individual and his/her motivations is a bedrock of philosophy. Economics, though, is guilty of taking this hugely important concept without questioning how we theorise it. This superb book remedies this oversight.;Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Preface and acknowledgments; 1 Framing the issues; 1.1 Modernism as dualism: origins of the modernist concept of the individual; 1.2 Contemporary critiques of the modernist conception of the individual; 1.3 Individuals in economics; 1.4 Orthodox economics and heterodox economics; 1.5 Plan of this work; PART I Orthodox economics; 2 The atomistic individual; 2.1 Locke's legacy; 2.2 The evolution of the atomistic individual conception; 2.3 The requirements of atomism; 2.4 Methodological individualism and reductionism: a last-ditch defense? Cover Title Copyright Contents Preface and acknowledgments 1 Framing the issues 1.1 Modernism as dualism: origins of the modernist concept of the individual 1.2 Contemporary critiques of the modernist conception of the individual 1.3 Individuals in economics 1.4 Orthodox economics and heterodox economics 1.5 Plan of this work PART I Orthodox economics 2 The atomistic individual 2.1 Locke's legacy 2.2 The evolution of the atomistic individual conception 2.3 The requirements of atomism 2.4 Methodological individualism and reductionism: a last-ditch defense? 2.5 Game theory to the rescue?2.6 What kind of individual? 3 Reidentification: preferences and human capital 3.1 The standard pure preferences view of the individual 3.2 Reidentification à la Locke and in the pure preferences account 3.3 Locke's critics 3.4 The Butler-Hume critique applied to the neoclassical view 3.5 The time allocation conception of the individual 3.6 New problems 3.7 Individuation reconsidered 4 Individuation: multiple selves 4.1 Single versus multiple utility functions 4.2 Internal preference structures 4.3 Endogenously changing preferences. 4.4 A unity of selves or a plurality of selves?5 After the fall: the machinery of choice 5.1 Mind as a computer 5.2 Economics as cognitive science 5.3 After the fall PART II Heterodox economics 6 The embedded individual 6.1 The legacy of Marx and Durkheim 6.2 Social theory's structure-agency models of the individual and society 6.3 Social psychology's self-referent behavior and individual self-concept 6.4 The socially embedded individual conception in economics 6.5 The socially embedded individual conception 7 Individuation: collective intentionality. 7.1 Collective intentionality analysis7.2 Collective intentionality and the structure-agent framework 7.3 A revised view of individual economic behavior 7.4 The individuation of embedded individuals 7.5 Individuation in the atomistic and socially embedded individual conceptions 8 Reidentification: capabilities 8.1 Sen's capability framework 8.2 The capability framework applied to the reidentification of embedded individuals 8.3 The embedded individual conception as an ideal conception 8.4 Sen's thinking about the individual versus the embedded individual conception. 8.5 Concluding remark on the atomistic and embedded individual conceptions9 Before the fall: value in economics 9.1 Facts and values 9.2 Welfarism, utilitarianism, and the atomistic individual conception 9.3 Normative reasoning and the socially embedded individual conception 9.4 Individual identity as a normative concern 9.5 A classical world 10 Revisiting the issues 10.1 Ontology in economics 10.2 Individual identity in economics and personal identity 10.3 Two historical traditions 10.4 Significance Notes References Index. The concept of the individual and his/her motivations is a bedrock of philosophy. All strands of thought at heart come down to a particular theory of the individual. Economics, though, is guilty of taking this hugely important concept without questioning how we theorise it. This superb book remedies this oversight.The new approach put forward by Da