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No. Science (AKA free-market capitalism) is based on pure reason.
Like I said, I don't accept reason as an absolute. I view it more as a tool that allows us to answer those questions that are capable of being answered. All empirical science is based on human perception, and human perception is limited by man's senses and the observable universe. So, in that sense, scientists are taking it on faith that their view of the universe reflects its true state. And economics is a long way from being a pure science, because humans don't always perform as expected, nor, perhaps, should they:
[W]e find that the more a cultivated reason applies itself with deliberate purpose to the enjoyment of life and happiness, so much the more does the man fail of true satisfaction. And from this circumstance there arises in many, if they are candid enough to confess it, a certain degree of misology, that is, hatred of reason, especially in the case of those who are most experienced in the use of it, because after calculating all the advantages they derive, I do not say from the invention of all the arts of common luxury, but even from the sciences (which seem to them to be after all only a luxury of the understanding), they find that they have, in fact, only brought more trouble on their shoulders. rather than gained in happiness; and they end by envying, rather than despising, the more common stamp of men who keep closer to the guidance of mere instinct and do not allow their reason much influence on their conduct.
From Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals, by Immanuel Kant
The only rational way to judge social rulesets is by the principle of evolutionary competitive advantage - a ruleset that leads to the greatest long-term economic growth (that is the greatest fulfillment of materialistic wants) is the most desirable. Those economic laws are not an arbitrary construct - like fundamental laws of physics, they exist whether you believe in them or not.
I get nervous whenever someone uses a word like "only," because that implies there is absolutely NO other rational means to judge social rulesets. I'm all for maximizing happiness and living the good life, just as long I do it morally and ethically. It's also "good" if I aid my community not simply as a byproduct of supplying a good or service, but also because I maintain a sense of altruism. Anyway, maybe the most desirable existence is not in amassing large quantities of material goods, but in the simple life of living with a few basics. Personally, I think I would do just fine living in a tropical paradise loaded with mangoes, pineapples, coconuts, and throngs of gorgeous, exotic women adorned with nothing but fragrant tuberose leis. :mrgreen: