We often do not realize that deep down economics is a battleground of competing anthropologies: implicit or explicit theories of human nature, selfhood and subjectivity, and unspoken beliefs about how we understand ourselves and our place in the world. In this podcast, we bring together researchers from different disciplines that study economic phenomena, systems, agency and behavior, ranging from historians and political philosophers to economic anthropologists and development economists, to scrutinize the protagonist of their discipline: who is the Real Homo Economicus? What kind of creature are they? What drives their choices and behaviors? Are we still talking about the same creature?

Erwin Dekker

To get the conversation started we use an experimental method: the Mythlab method. We use stories as a probe into economic thinking and silent beliefs about the underlying anthropologies. In each episode we give our two guests the same story and see how they each respond to it, and explore assumptions and associations in a playful way. 

 The first episode delves into the Parable of the Leaky Jars, a thought experiment on two persons engaged with the project of filling a number of vessels with precious liquids. One of them has intact vessels; the other works with broken jars. Who do we identify with in this story? Who do we want to be? And to what extent does this story reflect the human condition? We will talk about these questions with Ingrid Robeyns and Erwin Dekker.

Ingrid Robeyns; photo by Keke Keukelaar

Dr. Ingrid Robeyns is a political philosopher, holding the Chair in Ethics of Institutions at the Ethics Institute of Utrecht University. (https://www.uu.nl/staff/IAMRobeyns)

Dr. Erwin Dekker is historian of economics, working as Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center, at George Mason University in Virginia, USA. (https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/scholars/erwin-dekker)

Hosted by Dr. Tazuko van Berkel [https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/tazuko-van-berkel#tab-1]. Edited and mixed by Connor McMullen.

Mythlab team: Dr. Erik Bähre, Dr. Aiste Celkyte, Prof. dr. Lisa Herzog, Connor McMullen, Dr. Sara Polak.

The Mythlab-project is funded by the Dutch Young Academy. The Dutch Young Academy (https://www.dejongeakademie.nl/en/default.aspx) is a platform of fifty inspired academics who conduct research, advise, share knowledge and bring people together, and who do all this while taking a special interest in young scientists and scholars.

References:

The Parable of the Leaky Jars is taken from Plato’s Gorgias 488e-499e (380 BCE). 

The story:

Imagine two people, somewhere in time and space. Imagine that both of these people have a number of jars or vessels, containers. And suppose that both persons are engaged with the same project of filling these vessels with precious liquids: wine, oil, honey, milk. Each of these liquids is rare and hard to come by and it takes a great deal of strenuous work to get them.

The first person has taken proper care of their vessels, their jars are intact. Their job is an arduous one—it’s time- and energy-consuming—but at the end of the day, their vessels are filled and full and he can rest easy. It’s a lot of hard work, but they do get it done. The first person has a finite job.

The second persons has neglected their vessels. In their quest for more content, they have forgotten to take care of the containers. The jars are cracked and flawed. Every time they pours in liquid, it leaks away, keeping them busy night and day. The second person has an infinite job; they will never be done.

Who are you in this story?