Practical wisdom and economic models of choice -- Is there anything economics cannot do? The need for a background account -- Practical wisdom, or thinking about what to do -- Objective functions and the goals of human action -- Risk, uncertainty, and contingency -- Virtue, or self-government in decision making -- Putting it all together: the synthetic character of practical wisdom -- Where does practical wisdom reside? -- An economics mindful of larger worlds
Summary
In a unique undertaking, Andrew Yuengert explores and describes the limits to the economic model ofthe humanbeing. He develops a careful accoun of human action and motivation known as a "background account" that is both non-mathematical and comprehensive. Approximating Prudence provides an alternative account of human choice, to which economic models can be compared. Yuengert emphasizes those aspects which are most likely to contrast with the economic account of choice: the nature of the ends of practical wisdom; the necessity to act in highly contingent environments; practical wisdom as virtue; the synthetic character of choice; and the unformulability of practical wisdom. He then presents a clear account of practical wisdom, emphasizing those aspects which resist mathematical modeling. Economists have attempted in the past to explain human choice based on the boundaries of practical wisdom, but this book will map the limits of those economic models
