The Transmutation Of The Economic Man And The Analysis Of Its Meaning

Economic Man is the core concept and theoretical beginning of the economics. The transmutation of the hypothesis as a historical process has experienced 4 stages: pre-classical period,classical period,neoclassical period and the period of broad economic man. The thinkers of the Renaissance , Hobbes Thomas, Mandeville and David Hume had provided abundant theoretical support, and Adam Smith gave it a systematic argument. And then, while Jeremy Bentham provided a psychological basis of this hypothesis, Nasssau Senior and John Stuart Mill provided a methodological basis for the use of this hypothesis. And then, the first generation Marginal Utility scholars such as William Stanley Jevons,Leon Walras and the second generation Marginal Utility scholars such as Alfred Marshall and the Neo-classical Synthesis School proved the hypothesis harshly in formalization by the mathematical analysis. After the World WarⅡ, with the development of psychology, the hypothesis received harsh criticism. It motivated the new economists represented by James Buchanan and Gary S. Becker rectified some harsh hypotheses of the neo-classical economics based on certain latest research achievements, reunited the non-economic factors into the analytical model of the Economic Man, tested the applicability of the model to the extensive human behavior systematically.There are three basic principals in Economic Man hypothesis: the first is the self-interests principal, the second is the rational principal, and the third is that under the guarantee of the efficient laws and system, the behaviors of economic man pursuing the maximum of private interests would enhance the public interests unconsciously and effectively and the key study on this point is the"invisible hand"theory. These three principals is a whole. When we want to understand the Economic Man hypothesis, something is must to be sure .That at first, self-interest,selfish and altruism are strictly different in theory. And second, the economic ration is different from the philosophical ration, economic ration refers to a mode of behavior, judged by the inference of pursuing private interests and is a concept of means—-ends and the later is the capacity of human to seek truth or a certain epistemological stage to approach truth. However, the economic ration and the philosophical ration are closely related. Thirdly, the"invisible hand"was put forward by Adam Smith and it has been elaborated and developed by the Neoclassical Synthesis School and Australian School in two different ways, while it also received plenty criticisms.Since its appearance, the Economic Man hypothesis has been fully exposed to controversy, but, as the basic point of theoretical analysis of economics, it has significant thinking value, and it doesn't conflict with Marxist political economics. It also has great significance for us to inherit and develop Marxist political economics and construct socialist economic theory. At the same time, we should keep our eyes open that the economic man is not almighty, there are still some questions in the economics that based on this hypothesis.