The Polytheistic Condition: Incomparable Assets and Special Currency

In this paper we intend to rethink and to reinforce the arguments of the authors who critique the mainstream economic theories and the rational choice theory. We start asserting that a fundamental anthropological condition of the choice is the incomparability of many alternatives and that in this situations the subject chooses without being able to give any adequate comparison judgments. Then we show that these choices, even if not deriving from any rational processes, and not being measurable in terms of utility, can be made for “good reasons”. Such incomparability roots in the polytheistic condition of the subject, in which numerous action criteria coexist conflicting with each other. We also elaborate a conceptual framework investigate the cases in which more institutional logics are combined, as well as the cases in which such logics mingle with each other. In the last part of the paper, rethinking the theories of Richard Thaler and Viviana Zelizer, we try to propose an explanation of the presence and diffusion of “special currencies” in economic life circuits.