Presentation: Medieval Economic Rationalities

Abstract

The question of rationality has been present in the humanities and social sciences since the 19 th century and it is at the same time inescapable and full of pitfalls. It finds its highest expression in the study of economics, supposedly the ideal domain in which the rational actions of homo economicus flourish. Until a few years ago, it seemed rather difficult to identify this economic and rational man before the modern era. New perspectives in textual and material culture analysis, post colonial studies, and advances in econometrics, even if they didn't quite foster the triumph of the idea of a medieval homo economicus, have considerably undermined the primitivist approaches associated with the Middle Ages. However, this important historiographical turning point has not yet