- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Why people do what they do thread

Posted by: Samuel Day Fassbinder ( Citizens for Mustard Greens, USA ) on September 06, 1999 at 23:25:52:

In Reply to: *Ahem* again posted by Gee on September 06, 1999 at 19:25:18:

First Gee offers this explanation of action in "self-interest":

: It matters in the context that the person undertaking whatever action believes it to be in his/her self interest. You decide the value and act upon it.

SDF: Then he discusses pompous-asses:

: Just as the pompous asses who think humankind are 100% shaped by environment

SDF: i.e. "context" and "value" ?

: and have no 'human nature' whatsoever.

SDF: "Human nature" says nothing about human behavior, and neither do terms such as "self-interest" and "maximizing utility." We could say that rocks behave in their self-interest when they sit there.

Such terms serve as elaborate dodges, to avoid saying something of importance about why people behave the way they do, when they are used in the context of assumptions such as RD's that "The free market/enterprise is based on the assumption of each following their own self interest" and yours, that "You have previously stated that stateless socialism is also based upon self interest" -- neither sentence says anything of importance about why people would behave thusly under socialism, capitalism, or if they were rocks.




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