ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a historical genealogy of the neoclassical tradition as a tradition that views the economy from the perspective of the sphere of exchange. Neoclassical economics views the economy from the perspective of the sphere of exchange, as a nexus of mutually beneficial exchange relations, and whenever it articulates a theory of production it does so from this perspective. In order to establish the humanism of the exchange perspective, it will be helpful to recall the two foundational presuppositions of theoretical humanism. On the one hand, theoretical humanism presupposes that the human subject is a centered, rational, and autonomous self-consciousness. On the other hand, it presupposes the existence of a social order that would enable the harmonious reconciliation of the diverse interests and demands of these rational agents at the level of society. The post-Walrasian new information economics, in contrast, is much less optimistic about the flexibility of markets to accommodate less than perfect availability of information.
