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1.1.4. The Primacy of Action.


D.1. The Primacy of Action: All ends that matter in Economic analysis are ends bearing significance for actions, and thus, actions have primacy in Economics. 


E.1. By proposing that we are dealing with Ends which have significance for our actions, it is emphasized that Economics is concerned with practice, its subject matter is not imaginary idealism, but it is essentially rooted in our practical issues. It is practice, or actions, which result from the relative scarcity of substitutable means given the multiple ends which have significance for our actions that we are studying. Hence, by emphasizing the Ends which have significance for our actions, this definition excludes, for once and for all, any utopian discussion, any idealism, presuppositions or conjectures impossible to implement etc from our field. Economics is, and ought to remain, a subject dealing with issues which affect men and thereby their actions. 


E.2. Likewise, we are also not dealing with such ends which have no potency for actions. For instance, whereas everyone wants to be wise, fewer prefer to labor towards this end, and many do not - we are not interested in wants without potency of action. Thus, any generalization, or any ideal, or a utopian presupposition, a mere want of something is excluded, once and for all, from the focus of an Economist, which does bear no significance for actions of agents we study. And by doing so the logical necessity of it demands that an Economist must deal with issues in practice, and not with suppositions. 


Remark: 1.1.2 to 1.1.5 are all observations based on study of full text of essay, and are implicit in essay Robbins, L. (2007). An essay on the nature and significance of economic science. They deserve to be separately mentioned for clarity. 

Reference: Robbins, L. (2007). An essay on the nature and significance of economic science.

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