Ayn Rand Philosophy, Objectivism, Science, Self-interest

[MadMojoMonkey]

Because, frankly, if the theory of economics starts with, "People are batshit crazy and random, but we need to figure out how to be more awesome in this morass while being also batshit crazy and random." then I can at least agree with the first principles.

[wufwugy]

Because, frankly, if the theory of economics starts with, "People are batshit crazy and random, but we need to figure out how to be more awesome in this morass while being also batshit crazy and random." then I can at least agree with the first principles.

The assumption is that actions come from preferences. Maybe somebody can have batshit crazy or random preferences, but the claim of rationality is that it's the preference being acted upon.

How can you resolve that "maximize their utility" essentially means "do whatever they feel like doing?"

Utility is preference. Maximized utility would be always acting on preference. The basic assumption of rational behavior is that people always act on preference.

I won't argue against rationality being a poor choice of word. I mean, since it's confusing, there's the proof in the pudding right there that it's a poor choice of words. The reason the discussion of rationality emerges on this forum is somebody points out an example of dumb or inefficient behavior and says that's evidence against the assumption of rationality. I say this isn't evidence against rationality because the dumb or inefficient behavior was still based on preference.