Re: non-tuism [was: sociology of economic knowledge]

[Robert Scott Gassler <rsgassle@xxxxxxxxx>]

Some references: 

> I originally found the term
> 'non-tuism' in Fritz Machlup's The Methodology of the Social
> Sciences. He defines it as caring about the one across the trade from
> yourself. If you buy a gift from Amazon.com for your boyfriend you are
> being non-tuistic. If you buy teriible paintings from your struggling
> artist brother, you are being tuistic. 

I think that the best neoclassical treatment of the economics of altruism
is still David Collard's Altruism and Economy. To him altruism
means caring about something other than your own consumption. 

For a wonderful feminist-Freudian analysis of homo economicus,
see Feiner, Susan. 1999.
?A Portrait of Homo Economicus as a Young Man,? Chapter 9 of
Woodmansee, Martha and Mark
Osteen, eds. 1999. The New Economic Criticism: Studies in the
Intersection of Literature and Economics. London and New York:
Routledge,
pp.193-209.

For autism in economics, see
www.paecon.net, but
promise me you will not open a discussion of the use of
"autistic". It's been done. 

Scott

At 23:20 9/06/05, Jim Devine wrote:
> non-tuism is 
> > "the assumption that individuals do not take an
> > interest in the interests of those with whom they
> > strategically interact. More particularly, the
> > assumption of non-tuism implies that the utility
> > function of each individual, as a measure of her
> > preferences, is strictly independent of the utility
> > functions of those with whom she interacts."
> > 
> > It's another one of those grand "simplifying"
> > assumptions that most economists probably don't even
> > know they're making. 
>
> non-tuism is the rule among those with autism, because their social
> connections with others is so weak. However, many _want_ to connect
> with others, whereas _homo economicus_ doesn't even want that.
> -- 
> Jim Devine
> "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way
> and let
> people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.

Robert Scott Gassler
Professor of Economics
Vesalius College of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Pleinlaan 2
B-1050 Brussels
Belgium

32.2.629.27.15