The Elements of Economics

This paper is about the elements of economics, and addresses some challenging aspects of choice, theory, value, science and rationality. Choice is an invisibly projective necessity; we do not choose among known outcomes but only imagined projections thereof. We choose based on theories about how the world works; all of theory is selective, and therefore restrictively blind and silent on what is omitted. Choice is also an assertion of value, which concept has evolved through the years; the context of value responds to three questions: of value to whom, for what purpose, in what situation? The difference of things from goods is a matter of value. There are three notions of science: deductivism; empiricism; and realism. This paper rejects the first two for realism in a view of science as a personal process of search. Rationality in economics, as in _homo oeconomicus_, too often avoids the related roles of time and dynamics, not to mention the interdependence of all phenomena. Each of these challenging aspects of choice are worth our close attention.