Well-being demonetized/ complementary perspectives from psychoanalytic theory

Résumé

In Economics individuals are modeled by their immutable preferences over stochastic streams of (physical and abstract) commodity bundles, consumed/experienced by themselves and others. Moreover, the stochastic process by which past and current choices affect future constraints and period-by-period tastes is assumed to be transparent to the individual. A complementary view of the human as dynamic and dialectic rather than immutable-preference maximizing is depicted by a coherent thread of thought in psychoanlaytic theory, suggesting a non-consequentialist view of well-being. We will elaborate this view in the thought of Hans Loewald, Donald Winnicott and Heinz Kohut and discuss the implications for a potentially richer conception of individual well-being in the economic and political arenas.