The Austrian Economics Wiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:Principle of non-aggression

2011-02-16T14:05:11Z

84.60.206.225: Created page with "''"Aggression" is defined as the "initiation" of physical force against persons or property'' : Okay. Who is able to explain why it should be only physical force. Why no libel o..."

''"Aggression" is defined as the "initiation" of physical force against persons or property''

: Okay. Who is able to explain why it should be only physical force. Why no libel or brand piracy? --[[Special:Contributions/84.60.206.225|84.60.206.225]] 08:05, 16 February 2011 (CST)

Action

2011-02-16T13:51:08Z

84.60.206.225: Acting Man lesson

Human '''action''' is purposeful behavior.

The science of [[praxeology]] and its best developed subdivision, [[economics]], is based on an analysis of the implications of this fundamental truth.<ref name="Mises_action">Ludwig von Mises. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap1sec1.asp "1. Purposeful Action and Animal Reaction"], Chapter 1. Acting Man, ''[[Human Action]]'' online edition, referenced 2009-05-01.</ref><ref name="Rothbard_action">Murray N. Rothbard. [http://mises.org/rothbard/mes/chap1a.asp "Chapter 1-Fundamentals in Human Action"], ''[[Man, Economy and State]]'', online edition, referenced 2009-05-01.</ref>

==Action==
Paraphrased, '''action''' is will put into operation, aiming at ends and goals, the ego's meaningful response to stimuli and to the conditions of its environment, a person's conscious adjustment to the state of the universe that determines his life. All human beings act by virtue of their existence and their nature as human beings.

An '''end''' is everything which men aim at. A '''means''' is everything acting men consider as such.

In order to act, man must have more than unachieved ends: he must also expect that some action will enable him to attain them. A man may have a desire for sunshine, but if he realizes that he can do nothing to achieve it, he does not act on this desire. He must have certain ideas about how to achieve his ends. Action thus consists of the behavior of individuals directed towards ends in ways that they believe will accomplish their purpose. Action requires an image of a desired end and “technological ideas” or '''plans''' on how to arrive at this end.

The individual actor is faced with an environment that he would like to change in order to attain his ends. Man can work only with the elements that he finds in his environment, by rearranging them to bring about the satisfaction of his ends. The environment may be divided into two parts: those elements which he believes he cannot control and must leave unchanged, and those which he can alter (or thinks he can alter) to arrive at his ends. The former may be termed the '''general conditions''' of the action; the latter, the '''means''' used.

Every act must therefore involve the employment of means by individual actors to attempt to arrive at certain desired ends. The general conditions cannot be the objects of any human action; only the means can be employed in action.<ref name="Rothbard_action" />

===Action and Time===
All human life must take place in [[time]]. When a human being decides to act, his goal, or end, can be finally and completely attained only at some point in the future. If all ends could be reached immediately, there would be no need to act.

For any given action, we can distinguish among three periods of time involved: the period before the action, the time absorbed by the action, and the period after the action has been completed. All action aims at rendering conditions at some time in the future more satisfactory for the actor than they would have been without the intervention of the action.

A man’s time is always [[Scarcity|scarce]]. He is not immortal; his time on earth is limited. Each day of his life has only 24 hours in which he can attain his ends. Furthermore, all actions must take place through time. Therefore time is a means that man must use to arrive at his ends. It is a means that is omnipresent in all human action.

A fundamental implication is the '''[[uncertainty]] of the future'''. If man knew future events completely, he would never act, since no act of his could change the situation. This uncertainty about future events stems from two basic sources: the unpredictability of human acts of choice, and insufficient knowledge about natural phenomena. Man does not know enough about natural phenomena to predict all their future developments, and he cannot know the content of future human choices. All human choices are continually changing as a result of changing valuations and changing ideas about the most appropriate means of arriving at ends. This does not mean, of course, that people do not try their best to estimate future developments. Indeed, any actor, when employing means, estimates that he will thus arrive at his desired goal. But he never has certain knowledge of the future. All his actions are of necessity speculations based on his judgment of the course of future events. The omnipresence of uncertainty introduces the ever-present possibility of error in human action. The actor may find, after he has completed his action, that the means have been inappropriate to the attainment of his end.<ref name="Rothbard_action" />

===Action as Exchange===
Action is an attempt to exchange a less satisfactory state of affairs for a more satisfactory one. What gratifies less is abandoned in order to attain something that pleases more. The benefit of an action is its ''psychic revenue'' or [[profit]]. The next-best alternative, that is abandoned, is the [[price]], its [[value]] is called the [[cost]].<ref name="Mises_exchange">Ludwig von Mises [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap4sec4.asp "4. Action as an Exchange"] Chapter IV. A first analysis of the category of Action, ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2009-05-11.</ref><ref name="Rothbard_action" />

The exchange may be ''autistic'', not involving another person, or it may be ''interpersonal''. Interpersonal exchange is also called [[trade]].

===Actors as individuals===
Human action can be only undertaken by individual “actors.” Only individuals have ends and can act to attain them. “Societies” or “groups” have no independent existence aside from the actions of their individual members. Thus, to say that “governments” act is merely a metaphor; actually, certain individuals are in a certain relationship with other individuals and act in a way that they and the other individuals recognize as “governmental.” This does not mean that the collective institution itself has any reality apart from the acts of various individuals. Similarly, an individual may contract to act as an agent in representing another individual or on behalf of his family. Still, only individuals can desire and act. The existence of an institution such as government becomes meaningful only through the actions of those individuals who are and those who are not considered as members.<ref name="Rothbard_action" />

===What is not action===
Human action is purposeful behavior, unlike those observed movements which, from the point of view of man, are not purposeful. These include all the observed movements of inorganic matter and purely reflexive types of human behavior, that are simply involuntary responses to certain stimuli. Human action, on the other hand, can be meaningfully interpreted by other men, for it is governed by a certain purpose that the actor has in view. The purpose of a man’s act is his end; the desire to achieve this end is the man’s motive for instituting the action.<ref name="Rothbard_action" />

All human beings act by virtue of their existence and their nature as human beings. We could not conceive of human beings who do not act purposefully, who have no ends in view that they desire and attempt to attain. Things that did not act, that did not behave purposefully, would no longer be classified as human.<ref name="Rothbard_action" />

==Links==
* [http://www.apriorist.de/modx/hauyf/ ''Human Action'', chap. I. ''Acting Man'' online lesson]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Economic concepts]]

Human Action

2011-02-16T13:42:05Z

84.60.206.225: Undo revision 7526 by Huckelberry (talk)

{{Italic title}}{{rightTOC}}

'''''Human Action''''' is the magnum opus of [[Ludwig von Mises]], first published in 1949. It defined a large part of present [[Austrian Economics]].

<blockquote>"It is true that economics is a theoretical science and as such abstains from any judgment of value...Science never tells a man how he should act; it merely shows how a man must act if he wants to attain definite ends."<ref name="humanaction_intro_3">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec3.asp Introduction], 3. Introduction, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-05.</ref></blockquote>

== Part One: Human Action ==

===I. Acting Man===

<blockquote>''Main Article: [[Action]].''</blockquote>

The science of human action is called [[praxeology]]. Human action always involves [[opportunity cost]] and it is always ''purposeful''. <ref name="humanaction_ch1sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap1sec1.asp I. Acting Man], 1. Purposeful Action and Animal Reaction, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref>

* [http://www.apriorist.de/modx/hauyf/ ''Acting Man'' online lesson]

===II. The Epistemological Problems of the Sciences of Human Action===

[[Ludwig von Mises]] takes the [[logical deductive]] approach to economics, as opposed to the [[empirical]] (or the [[logical positivist]] approach). Economic problems cannot be solved [[empirically]] because renunciation and long-term planning can not be seen. Humans act to attain definite ends--and economic phenomena can be understood as such.

<blockquote>"[[Praxeology]] is a theoretical and systematic, not a historical, science...It aims at knowledge valid for all instances in which the conditions exactly correspond to those implied in its assumptions and inferences. Its statements and propositions are not derived from experience. They are, like those of logic and mathematics, ''[[a priori]]''."<ref name="humanaction_ch2sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec1.asp II. Epistemological Problems of Human Action], 1. Praxeology and History, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref></blockquote>

Like geometry, [[praxeology]] is not subject to disproof. This method may be called ''methodological apriorism''.<ref name="humanaction_ch2sec2">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec2.asp II. Epistemological Problems of Human Action], 2. The Formal and Aprioristic Character of Praxeology, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref>

===III. Economics and the Revolt Against Reason===

[[Mises]] dismisses the [[Historical School]], [[Hegel]] and [[Marx]] with it. In discussing the "bourgeois logic" and "bourgeois mentality" of [[Marx]], [[Mises]] is able to attack [[polylogism]] in general. There does not exist multiple logics, only differing interests and their logical conclusions--whether they are spurious or well-founded. [[Mises]] states with regard to the [[Historical School]], "History, in due time, will arrange everything for the best. It does not need the advice of mortal men."<ref name="humanaction_ch3sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap3sec1.asp III. Economics and the Revolt Against Reason], 1. The Revolt Against Reason, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref>

<blockquote>''See [[German Idealism]].''</blockquote>

===IV. A First Analysis of the Category of Action===

<blockquote>''Main Article: [[Value]]''</blockquote>

All actions are directed toward goals, aims or ends. The end, speaking generally, is always to remove a ''felt uneasiness''. Means are the ways by which we approach an end. Things in the world, when applied to our ends, become means and are commonly referred to as [[goods]].<ref name="humanaction_ch4sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap4sec1.asp IV. A First Analysis of The Category of Action], 1. Ends and Means, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref> Means are [[scare]], like time and oil.

Actions are reflective of our ''scale of [[values|value]]''. All things equal, we satisfy wants of higher [[value]] to us, and leave unsatisfied wants of lower [[value]] to us. Things in the world have no intrinsic [[value]], our actions give things [[value]].<ref name="humanaction_ch4sec2">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap4sec2.asp IV. A First Analysis of The Category of Action], 2. The Scale of Value, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref>

Given that every action is an attempt to establish a more satisfactory state of affairs, viz., to remove a ''felt uneasiness'', all actions are in a sense an [[exchange]]. We [[exchange]] one state for another, hopefully better, state. Lastly, value judgments arrange wants, but do not measure them. They are expressive of sequence and order rather than of measurement and weight.<ref name="humanaction_ch4sec4">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap4sec4.asp IV. A First Analysis of The Category of Action], 4. Action as Exchange, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref>

===V. Time===

Time is a [[praxeological]] category: all action is in time and is subject to time.<ref name="humanaction_ch5sec2">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap4sec4.asp V. Time], 2. Past, Present and Future, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-07.</ref>As humans, our time is [[scare]] and we must economize it accordingly. Our scales of [[value]] and therefore our actions are always with reference to time. As we will see later, time is important in the determination of [[interest]] and consumption.<ref name="humanaction_ch5sec3">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap5sec3.asp V. Time], 3. The Economization of Time, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-07.</ref>

===VI. Uncertainty===

All action is speculative. We never know exactly what will occur. The natural sciences make it possible to foretell results from specific actions. They do not make the future predictable.<ref name="humanaction_ch6sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap6sec1.asp VI. Uncertainty], 1. Uncertainty and Acting, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-08.</ref> But, [[Mises]] tells us, probability is a primary concern of [[praxeology]].

He distingushish between two types of propability: [[class probability]] and [[case probability]].

<blockquote>"''[[Class probability]] means'': We know or assume to know, with regard to the problem concerned, everything about the behavior of a whole class of events or phenomena; but about the actual singular events or phenomena we know nothing but that they are elements of this class."<ref name="humanaction_ch6sec3">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap6sec3.asp VI. Uncertainty], 3. Class Probability, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-08.</ref></blockquote>

For example, car insurance works on the premise that with a large pool of policies, they can use class probability to decide upon an approriate premium given the ''class probability'' of accidents. But, they know nothing about the probability of the individual policy holder getting into an accident.

<blockquote>"''[[Case probability]]'' means: We know, with regard to a particular event, some of the factors which determine its outcome; but there are other determining factors about which we know nothing."<ref name="humanaction_ch6sec4">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap6sec4.asp VI. Uncertainty], 4. Case Probability, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-08.</ref></blockquote>

For example, foreign policy experts may make predictions about the settlement of foreign disputes. They are well informed but it is impossible for them to predict the outcome perfectly because they can not grasp all the data and all the opinions of individuals shaping decisions. Therefore, the may know some of the factors that will shape the future, but never perfectly.

For [[Mises]], we make decisions with incomplete knowledge. To say it again, all action is speculative in character. To this difficulty in decisions, specifically in social cooperation where selection occurs, competition serves as a function to select the most able person for specific positions. It assigns every member of society to the position where they best serve society.<ref name="humanaction_ch6sec6">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap6sec6.asp VI. Uncertainty], 6. Betting, Gambling, and Playing Games, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-08.</ref>

===VII. Action Within the World===

Each person possesses one scale of valuations, which is visible through action.<ref name="humanaction_ch7sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap7sec1.asp VII. Action Within The World], 1. The Law of Marginal Utility, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-13.</ref> Goods and modes of action are chosen based on their utility, or their causal relevance for the removal of felt ''uneasiness''.<ref name="humanaction_ch7sec1"></ref> Here [[Mises]] discusses the [[paradox of value]]: why is ''gold'' more valuable than ''iron''? Despite the many uses of iron, gold is valued more on the market because of its value in exchange. Iron may have more technological prospects or ''objective use-value'' but it lacks ''subjective use-value'', that is, gold is valuable in exchange due to scarcity, appearance and its tradition as a form of money. [[Mises]], however, dismisses the question as one which never occurs in reality.<ref name="humanaction_ch7sec1"></ref>

The [[Law of Marginal Utility]] is implied by the category of action: If a supply increases from quantity ''n'' to ''n + 1'' the extra unit provides less utility than unit ''n''. This is because ''n'' is satisfying a more urgent want than unit ''n + 1''. Conversely, unit ''n + 1'' is satisfying a want less urgent than ''n'' because we satisfy more urgent wants first by their definition. Unit ''n'' is satisfying the more urgent want, ''n + 1'' is satisfying a less urgent want. Therefore, the [[law of marginal utility]], "does not deal primarily with the [[value]] of things, but with the [[value]] of the services a man expects to get from them."<ref name="humanaction_ch7sec1"></ref>

"[[Labor]]," says [[Mises]], "is preferred to leisure only insofar as the yield of [[labor]] is more urgently desired than the enjoyment of leisure."<ref name="humanaction_ch7sec3">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap7sec3.asp VII. Action Within The World], 3. Labor as Means, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-13.</ref> Work involves disutility. To this note, [[labor]] is more scarce than other material factors of production:

<blockquote>"In our world there is no abundance, but a shortage of manpower, and there are unused material factors of production, i.e. land, mineral deposits, and even plants and equipment."<ref name="humanaction_ch7sec3"></ref></blockquote>

Labor saving devices reduce want, they do not bring about "technological unemployment." Man economizes both labor and material factors.<ref name="humanaction_ch7sec3"></ref>

Action is successful it it produces the intended result: it produces the product. The human mind directs [[action]] with a purpose and production is creative. It is not something physical, natural, and external; it is a spiritual and intellectual phenomenon. All material actions within the world are a product of the mind. "In this sense," [[Mises]] tells us, "[[praxeology]] can be called a moral science."<ref name="humanaction_ch7sec4">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap7sec4.asp VII. Action Within The World], 4. Production, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-13.</ref>

== Part Two: Actions Within the Framework of Society ==

<ol style="list-style-type:upper-roman;" start="8">
<li> Human Society</li>
<li> The Role of Ideas</li>
<li> Exchange Within Society</li>
</ol>

== Part Three: Economic Calculation ==

<ol style="list-style-type:upper-roman;" start="11">
<li> Valuation Without Calculation</li>
<li> The Sphere of Economic Calculation</li>
<li> Monetary Calculation as a Tool of Action</li>
</ol>

== Part Four: Catallactics or Economics of the Market Society ==

<ol style="list-style-type:upper-roman;" start="15">
<li> The Market</li>
<li> Prices</li>
<li> Indirect Exchange</li>
<li> '''Action in the Passing of Time'''</li>
For humans considering [[action]], time matters: there is a ''too late'' and a ''too early''. [[Time preferences]] affect all action (see [[Value]]).<ref name="mises_action_in_passage_of_time_2">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap18sec2.asp XVIII. Action in the Passing of Time], 2. Time Preference as an Essential Requisite of Action, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-04.</ref>

Postponements of consumption, or [[saving]], is always embodied in concrete goods. "The act of saving," [[Mises]] tells us, "always has its counterpart in a supply of goods produced and not consumed...Man's savings are always embodied in concrete capital goods."<ref name="mises_action_in_passage_of_time_3">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap18sec9.asp XVIII. Action in the Passing of Time], 9. Money and Capital; Saving and Investment, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-08.</ref>

The discussion of [[time preference]], and the postponment of consumption, is a lead in to [[interest]].

<li> '''Interest'''</li>

Time preference manifests itself in the phenomenon of [[originary interest]], i.e., the discount of future goods as against present goods.<ref name="mises__human_action_chap19sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap19sec1.asp XIX. The Rate of Interest], The Phenomenon of Interest, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-13.</ref> Originary interest is a ratio, like profit and loss, and not a price.<ref name="mises__human_action_chap19sec2">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap19sec2.asp XIX. The Rate of Interest], Originary Interest, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-13.</ref> It is the ratio between the value assigned to presents goods against the value assigned to future goods. This discounting explains, for example, the reason why there is finite prices on usable land:

<blockquote>"If the future services which a piece of land can render were to be valued in the same way in which its present services are valued, no finite price would be high enough to impel its owner to sell it."<ref name="mises__human_action_chap19sec2"></ref></blockquote>

We [[discount]] future services and [[goods]] because of [[time preference]]. The fact that we can purchase land which is usable into the foreseeable future is proof of this. Furthermore, [[originary interest]] is not determined by supply and demand of [[loanable funds]]. Time preference, manifesting in the discount of future goods against present goods (i.e., originary interest) determines both the demand and supply of capital and capital goods.<ref name="mises__human_action_chap19sec2"></ref>

Interest rates in loans, in a changing economy, always have an element of entrepreneurial profit. The lender, taking a risk and and making a prediciton about the future state of the market, is engaging in an entrepreneurial venture. Therefore, interest rates on loans are never pure [[originary interest]] but also entrepreneurial profit.<ref name="mises__human_action_chap19sec4">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap19sec4.asp XIX. The Rate of Interest], Originary Interest in the Changing Economy, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-13.</ref>

<li> Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle</li>
<li> Work and Wages</li>
<li> The Nonhuman Original Factors of Production</li>
<li> The Data of the Market</li>
<li> Harmony and Conflict of Interests</li>
</ol>

== Part Five: Social Cooperation Without a Market ==

<ol style="list-style-type:upper-roman;" start="25">
<li> The Imaginary Construction of a Socialist Society</li>
<li> The Impossibility of Economic Calculation Under Socialism</li>
</ol>

== Part Six: The Hampered Market Economy ==

<ol style="list-style-type:upper-roman;" start="27">
<li> The Government and the Market</li>
<li> Interference by Taxation</li>
<li> Restriction of Production</li>
<li> Interference with the Structure of Prices</li>
<li> Currency and Credit Manipulation</li>
<li> Confiscation and Redistribution</li>
<li> Syndicalism and Corporativism</li>
<li> The Economics of War</li>
<li> The Welfare Principle Versus the Market Principle</li>
<li> The Crisis of Interventionism</li>
</ol>

== Part Seven: The Place of Economics in Society ==
<ol style="list-style-type:upper-roman;" start="38">
<li> The Nondescript Character of Economics</li>
<li> The Place of Economics in Learning</li>
<li> Economics and the Essential Problems of Human Existence</li>
</ol>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Links==
''{{Store|http://www.mises.org/store/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition-P119.aspx|Human Action (Scholar's Edition)}}''
* ''[http://www.mises.org/resources/3250 Human Action]'' complete text ([http://mises.org/humanaction/pdf/humanaction.pdf pdf])
* ''[http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=category&ID=139 Human Action]'' audiobook, read by Jeff Riggenbach
* ''[http://www.mises.org/books/humanactionstudy.pdf Human Action Study Guide]''(pdf), also [http://www.mises.org/store/Human-Action-Study-Guide-P547.aspx for sale]

{{See also|Human Action Comics}}
[[Category:Writings of Ludwig von Mises]]
[[Category:Writings on economics]]

{{stub}}