To tackle economic rationalism, we must understand its framework. It is common for critics of economic rationalism to attack economics as being only about money, to argue that economic rationalists do not care about people, quality of life, ethics or values. But, from the economic rationalists' perspective, what they are doing is more noble than most people expect. In their view, they are deeply immersed in the task of trying to improve the lot of the species. They are on a quest to find the best way to improve our material well-being.

Economic rationalism is an offshoot of a school of economic thought called ‘neo-classical economics’. I will explain its key ideas and then pinpoint where economic rationalism leaps off. For simplicity I'll refer to neo-classical economics as ‘economics’.

Economics immerses itself in the problem of how to use society's resources to deliver the highest possible standard of living. Economics identifies the problem as one of scarcity. The problem is that, as a society, we have a finite pot of resources. Those resources are defined as our natural resources, human labour, technology and all of the capital (the buildings, roads, machines and factories) we have already built. The problem of scarcity is how to use these resources to deliver the highest possible standard of living. It is a question of how to employ them to provide the food, shelter, medical services, movies, cars and holidays we want most.