Talk:Homo economicus

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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)