Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

This was the birth of (“economic man”).
According to this view, when people interact in the marketplace,
their intentions are transparent. They want always and only what
is in their own best self-interest. If they are buying something, they
want the most of it they can get for the smallest price. If they are
selling, they want to get the highest price possible.
This desire to maximize self-interest would be pointless if people
to get it. Fortunately, in this view, people are rational and are able to
out which is the most advantageous to us, and we choose that one.
We know what we want, we know when one option is better for us
than another, and we always choose the most favorable one.
If humans act according to this model of perfect rational selfinterest,
then economic interactions become mathematically
representable. We can draw supply curves and demand curves. We
When we see prices set below this equilibrium, economic forces
move prices up. When we see alternative products in the market
that are cheaper, we see the equilibrium point move down and
prices change.
Note that the classical picture of economics has the macro-level
of buyers and sellers in the marketplace. What happens in the
small—among individual producers, laborers, and consumers—
is predictable because they are all seeking only to maximize
their own self-interest. When we look at a great number of these
interactions together, the behavior of the economy in the large is
also directly determinable.
Thus, the classical view of economics is based on two primary
between people who always act rationally and in their own best
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