A Critique of the Development Process of the Thought of Economic Man in Conventional Economics

‘’Economic Man’’ is one of the basic assumptions of conventional economics. Historically, this basic assumption was introduced by classical economists and developed as a precise idea by neoclassical economists. Using an analytical method, this paper investigates and criticizes the development process of the thought of economic man in the conventional economics. The findings of this research show that, the idea of ‘’economic man’’ was first introduced by Adam Smith in the framework of a profit-seeker man. Then, inspired by Bantam’s ‘’hedonism’’, John Stewart Mill explained this idea and introduced it into the literature of economics in the form of a hedonistic man. Furthermore, giving this fundamental assumption a quantitative property, neoclassic economists, introduced the concept of ‘’calculative man’’. The stated concept of ‘’economic man’’ has many internal contradictions and has produced negative outcomes.