Economic man’s rationality is founded precisely on everything that eludes his calculation
Evidence
So that economic man is situated in what we could call an indefinite field of immanence which,.on.the one hand, links him, in the form of dependence, to a series ofaccidents, and, on the other, links him, in the form of production, to the advantage of others, or which links his advantage to the production of the advantage of others. The convergence of interests thus doubles and covers the indefinite diversity of accidents. … The situation of homo reconomicus could therefore be described as doubly involuntary, with regard to the accidents which happen to him and with regard to the benefit he unintentionally produces for others. … So, we have a system in which homo reconomicus owes the positive nature of his calculation precisely to everything which eludes his calculation. — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1438
Categorization
- XREF: The paradox that rational calculation derives from incalculability prefigures Foucault’s later reading of Becker and human capital. — connects to: Economic theory is commonly assumed to map perfectly onto a constant reality — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 119; Economic rationality is founded on the unknowability of the whole economic process — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 1453; Any defensible theory of rationality must include a factual account of human beings — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 428
- DEEPTHINKING: The doubly involuntary, non-totalizable condition of economic man inverts the classical assumption that rationality requires mastery; the opacity of the world is what grounds calculation.
Broader Connections
- Economic rationality is founded on the unknowability of the whole economic process
#corroborates(0.85) — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics, 1453 - Any defensible theory of rationality must include a factual account of human beings
#expands(0.70) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 428