Abstract
The goal of this article is to show that instrumental rationality and utility that have been used in economics for many years does not work well. What is presented in the article is how significant the influence of utilitarianism has been on economics and why the economists get rid of humans? goals and motivations. It is shown in the article that the human who decides in present is absolutely different from the human who decides over time. Many economists neglected this problem because they wanted to have an effective and simple model. Becker?s economic method is presented as a dead end to which economics has been brought to. It is impossible to connect different selves of one human being by using the utility measure. The works of Schelling and Mill are used to explain this impossibility. The conclusion of this article is that instrumental rationality and utility have affected economics significantly. But, this simplified view on human nature is no longer valid. Hence, economics needs to think not only about the means but also about the human goals. Economics needs to rebuff relativism and show people how to achieve well-being. If we want to help people with their self-governance, we will have to choose reason over emotions.
Highlights
Neoclassical economics does not want to deal with human declarations, values, and motivations; it assumes that people are always rational, and they always maximize their utility
It does not want to choose between two different selves. This deceptive “no choice” between selves causes that economics, has an interest in the “short-term human” who is guided by pleasure-pain principle
Neoclassical economics does not want to know anything about human motivations; economists have more problems to predict human behaviors
Summary
Economics is the social science that is derived mostly from utilitarianism. We can even say that Bentham was one of the fathers of the contemporary economics. The difference between the choices is not a problem for economics because discounted utility model assumes that future is less important than the present for people. Neoclassical economists have known about the human problem with the maximization of utility in the long-run They did not want to discard the model of homo economicus because it was so effective; they only adjusted it because of the rising criticism. In Becker’s model, people behave in accordance with instrumental rationality, and they choose only means not the ends This is why the only important thing for Becker is a choice which takes place at the very moment. The most spectacular attempt in using this way of thinking is visible on the example of different addiction which he eagerly analyzed
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