Standard economic theory models human action as rational maximizing. Most economists are dissatisfied with this "neoclassical" model. But no clear replacement has come along. Most economists recognize that rational maximizing is a reasonable assumption in certain cases. But they also recognize that these special cases, though important, are only some of the cases of interest to economists. The argument of this book, including the language-games framework of Chapter 5, may be useful to modern economists dissatisfied with the standard model.