Myth #7: The Myth of Measurement

The mantra that inspires healthcare systems is: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” The measuring process is closely related to the epistemological ideal of modern science. This has been developed through a world simplification, which is considered useful to disclose principles that work under surrounding reality. The search for natural laws carries a distinctive component: phenomena are not accepted as they are, but they are instead transformed through abstraction and experimentation. What is considered as real is the result of abstraction and experimentation. This attitude, however, entails that some reality aspects are sacrificed in their variety and entirety. In economics, especially in the rational choice theory, the world, where we make decisions and judgments, is not real, but outward and accidental. In its stead, we find abstract constructions of expected utility maximization and pursuit of self-interest.