Joint Self- and We-Interests Lead to an I-Thou Interest Expressed as a Distinct Entity

(Date last updated: 12/06/99. You are at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA).

TO MAN THE WORLD IS TWOFOLD, in accordance with his twofold attitude. The attitude of man is twofold, in accordance with the twofold nature of the primary words which he speaks. The primary words are not isolated words, but combined words. The one primary word is the combination I-Thou. The other primary word is the combination I-It; wherein, without a change in the primary word, one of the words He and She can replace It. Hence the I of man is also twofold. For the I of man is also twofold. For the I of the primary word I-Thou is a different I from that of the primary word I-It. . . . Primary words do not describe something that might exist independently of them, but being spoken they bring about existence. Primary words are spoken from the being. If Thou is said, the I of the combination I-Thou is said along with it. If It is said, the I of the combination I-It is said with it. The primary word I-Thou can only be spoken with the whole being. The primary word I-It can never be spoken with the whole being (Buber, 1958 translation, p. 3).

Metaeconomics contends that Buber's:

• I-Thou overlays with the same phenomenon as the Distinct Entity, a concept offered by Khalil (1990).
• I-It overlays with the usual practice of the self-interest concept in standard microeconomics.
• I-It (I-He or I-She versions) overlay with the null type of sociality (Fiske, 1992) that is often presumed in the practice of microeconomics/ market theories.

Metaeconomics suggests the third word pair: I-We connoting an altruist.

Metaeconomics then posits three distinct states of I-Interest for a human with respect to economic actions:

• In a distinct state of I-It
• In a distinct state of I-We
• In a distinct state of I-Thou

It is in the latter state from which a distinct entity emerges, taking command over actions beyond both self-interested (I-It) and altruistic (I-We) behavior: The metaeconomics model is an intrapersonal model of self-command.  It is the I on which the theory is focused, and not on the interpersonal or on the collective. The individual always pursues the I-Interest, a richer concept than the idea of pursuing the self-interest due to the latter generally including only the I-It state of interest expressed by individuals..

References: Buber, Martin. I and Thou (translated by R.G. Smith from the German version, Ich and Du). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958. Fiske, A.P. "The Four Elementary Forms of Sociality: Framework for a Unified Theory of Social Relations." Psych. Rev. 99,4 (1992): 689-723. Khalil, E. L. “Beyond Self-Interest and Altruism.” Econ. and Phil. 6 (1990): 255-273.

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