Talk:Homo economicus

I'm not trying to be snarky here, but isn't that line of reasoning about the circle of preference a bit fallacious? When you compare three different qualities of a car, you aren't saying that each car is better than the other, only that each car has a quality that is better. So there's no actual loop, right? In other words, if A(1) > B(1) and B(2) > C(2) and C(3) > A(3) this does not mean that A > C. Lurker 19:47, 11 January 2008 (EST)
 * Maybe the example can be improved, but it shows how "real world" comparisons can work that way. There are more subjective things where it would all be the same quality - like "sounds better than" or "Tastes better than".  I thought by using "concrete" examples it would be clearer, but they were ones I just came up with off the top of my head.  I'll try to think of a better example if I can. human  20:44, 11 January 2008 (EST)
 * I don't know if it's what you were going after, but I changed it to better explain the loop thing. And, um, I got a little carried away and added some more criticisms. Lurker 14:41, 15 January 2008 (EST)
 * Sure, it's fine. My a/b/c version was clumsy anyway.  Thanks for the extra commentary as well! human  14:56, 15 January 2008 (EST)
 * I started writing and I think I channeled my socialist econ prof. He absolutely hated the economic man and positive economics in general. Lurker 14:58, 15 January 2008 (EST)