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1、JournalofEconomicMethodology8:2,313–3372001RationalityasoptimalchoiceversusrationalityasvalidinferenceAlexViskovato¡AbstractWhileeconomicsdistinguishesitselffromtheothersocialsciencesbyitstreatmentofhumanactionasrational,itsnotionofrationalityisactuallybasedonaprofoundskepticismabou
2、tpeople’sabilitytoreason.ThisnotiongoesbacktoHume,accordingtowhom‘Reasonistheslaveofthepassions’.Hume’sbeliefthatpeoplecannotdeterminetheirpreferencesbyreasoningledtothenotionofrationalitybasedonrepresentation:peoplearerationalwhentheyareabletorepresenttheirpreferencesvividly,accura
3、telygaugingtheirintensity.StartingwithKant,philosophymovedtoanunderstandingofrationalityasvalidinference;cognitivepsychologistssimilarlyspeakofthesuperiorityofthe‘reason-based’modelofchoiceovertheeconomic‘value-based’one.EconomicsstayedwithHume’sconceptionbecausethelatterenabledthem
4、athematicalexpressionofarelationbetweenscarcities.Ifitistoproduceempiricallyadequatetheorieshowever,economicsmustfollowtheexamplesofphilosophyandpsychology.Keywords:rationality,choice,empiricism,reasoning,inference,Hume,Kant1INTRODUCTIONOnedi¤cultyofarhetoricalnaturefacedbyunorthodo
5、xeconomistsinvolvestheneoclassicalappropriationofthenotionofrationality.Peoplerarelyexhibittherationalityofhomoeconomicus,butwhenarealistically-inclinedeconomistpointsthisout,heisaccusedofbelievingthatpeopleare‘irrational’–apositionfewpeoplewouldliketobeplacedin–especiallyeconomists
6、.Thisproblemhaspersisted,becauseunorthodoxeconomistshavetendedtoacceptneoclassicism’snotionofrationality.Forexample,inintroducingrsthisnotionofboundedrationality,andthenhisdistinctionbetweenthesub-stantiverationalitystudiedbyeconomicsandtheproceduralrationalitystudiedbypsychology,ev
7、enHerbertSimonseemedtoadmit,bythetermino-logyhechose,thattheneoclassicalnotioncapturesthefull,mostdesirablekindofrationality(Simon1972,1976).Morerecently,TonyLawsonhasintroducedhisnotionofsituatedrationality,whichcanserveasthebasisofacritiqueofthemainstreamnotion,byindicatinghowpeop
8、lecanonlyberational
