To Be or Not to Be (Human): A Question of Economic Theories

This study explores how economic theories, particularly CEPAL structuralism, intersect with Lou Andreas-Salomé’s reflections on the human condition and chronic dissatisfaction. Moving beyond the reductionist figure of homo economicus, it examines how socio-economic and cultural structures shape both historical inequality and the subjective experience of incompleteness. The analysis argues that the relationship between objective structures and individual existence is marked by tensions and constraints, but also by creative and transformative potential. In this way, the study seeks to connect economic and existential dimensions in order to reflect on the paradox of human beings who, while objectifying themselves, endlessly pursue wholeness.