Unsettling the metaphysics of neo-classical micro-economic and management thinking

Neo-classical economics and management theory is driven by a conception of self and self-interest that is formally expressed as utility maximization. Such theory is increasingly under attack, but not in ways that recognize its Cartesian metaphysical ground as the problem. An exposition of the role of Descartes' dualistic ontology in underwriting the “self” of self-interest suggests new avenues of escape both from the inconsistencies often pointed out between the behavior dictated by utility maximization and that observed in actual experience, and from the problem entailed by trying to analyze business and economic phenomena in ethically neutral ways.