The Austrian Economics Wiki - User contributions [en]

Andrew P. Napolitano

2013-08-13T17:12:23Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:Napolitano_andrew.png|thumb|right|180px|Judge Andrew Napolitano]]Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame Law School. He is the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in the history of the State of New Jersey. He sat on the bench from 1987 to 1995, when he presided over more than 150 jury trials and thousands of motions, sentencings, and hearings. Judge Napolitano taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at Delaware Law School for two years and at Seton Hall Law School for 11 years. He was often chosen by the students as their most outstanding professor. He returned to private practice in 1995, and began television work in the same year. As Fox News’ Senior Judicial Analyst since 1998, Judge Napolitano broadcasts nationwide on the Fox News Channel throughout the day, Monday through Friday. He is nationally known for watching and reporting on the government as it takes liberty and property.

Judge Napolitano lectures nationally on the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law, civil liberties in wartime, and human freedom and teaches at Brooklyn Law School. He has been published in ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', and numerous other publications. His weekly newspaper column is seen by millions every week. The Judge is the author of seven books on the U.S. Constitution, two of which have been New York Times Best Sellers. His most recent book is ''The Freedom Answer Book: How Government Is Taking Away Your Constitutional Freedoms''.

Andrew P. Napolitano

2013-08-13T17:09:21Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:Napolitano_andrew.png|thumb|right|180px|Judge Andrew Napolitano]]Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame Law School. He is the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in the history of the State of New Jersey. He sat on the bench from 1987 to 1995, when he presided over more than 150 jury trials and thousands of motions, sentencings, and hearings. Judge Napolitano taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at Delaware Law School for two years and at Seton Hall Law School for 11 years. He was often chosen by the students as their most outstanding professor. He returned to private practice in 1995, and began television work in the same year. As Fox News’ Senior Judicial Analyst since 1998, Judge Napolitano broadcasts nationwide on the Fox News Channel throughout the day, Monday through Friday. He is nationally known for watching and reporting on the government as it takes liberty and property.

Judge Napolitano lectures nationally on the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law, civil liberties in wartime, and human freedom. He has been published in ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', and numerous other publications. His weekly newspaper column is seen by millions every week. The Judge is the author of seven books on the U.S. Constitution, two of which have been New York Times Best Sellers. His most recent book is ''The Freedom Answer Book: How Government Is Taking Away Your Constitutional Freedoms''.

Andrew P. Napolitano

2013-08-13T17:08:23Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:Napolitano_andrew.png|thumb|right|180px|Judge Andrew Napolitano]]Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame Law School. He is the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in the history of the State of New Jersey. He sat on the bench from 1987 to 1995, when he presided over more than 150 jury trials and thousands of motions, sentencings, and hearings. Judge Napolitano taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at Delaware Law School for two years and at Seton Hall Law School for 11 years. He was often chosen by the students as their most outstanding professor. He returned to private practice in 1995, and began television work in the same year. As Fox News’ Senior Judicial Analyst since 1998, Judge Napolitano broadcasts nationwide on the Fox News Channel throughout the day, Monday through Friday. He is nationally known for watching and reporting on the government as it takes liberty and property.

Judge Napolitano lectures nationally on the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law, civil liberties in wartime, and human freedom. He has been published in ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', and numerous other publications. His weekly newspaper column is seen by millions every week. The Judge is the author of seven books on the U.S. Constitution, two of which have been New York Times Best Sellers. His most recent book is ''The Freedom Answer Book: How Government Is Taking Away Your Constitutional Freedoms''.

Andrew P. Napolitano

2013-08-13T16:24:47Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:Napolitano_andrew.png|thumb|right|180px|Judge Andrew Napolitano]]Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame Law School. He is the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in the history of the State of New Jersey. He sat on the bench from 1987 to 1995, when he presided over more than 150 jury trials and thousands of motions, sentencings, and hearings. Judge Napolitano taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at Delaware Law School for two years and at Seton Hall Law School for 11 years. He was often chosen by the students as their most outstanding professor. He returned to private practice in 1995, and began television work in the same year. As Fox News’ Senior Judicial Analyst since 1998, Judge Napolitano broadcasts nationwide on the Fox News Channel throughout the day, Monday through Friday. He is nationally known for watching and reporting on the government as it takes liberty and property. Judge Napolitano lectures nationally on the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law, civil liberties in wartime, and human freedom. He has been published in ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', and numerous other publications. His weekly newspaper column is seen by millions every week. The Judge is the author of seven books on the U.S. Constitution, two of which have been New York Times Best Sellers. His most recent book is ''The Freedom Answer Book: How Government Is Taking Away Your Constitutional Freedoms''.

Andrew P. Napolitano

2013-08-13T16:24:33Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:Napolitano_andrew.png|thumb|right|100px|Judge Andrew Napolitano]]Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame Law School. He is the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in the history of the State of New Jersey. He sat on the bench from 1987 to 1995, when he presided over more than 150 jury trials and thousands of motions, sentencings, and hearings. Judge Napolitano taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at Delaware Law School for two years and at Seton Hall Law School for 11 years. He was often chosen by the students as their most outstanding professor. He returned to private practice in 1995, and began television work in the same year. As Fox News’ Senior Judicial Analyst since 1998, Judge Napolitano broadcasts nationwide on the Fox News Channel throughout the day, Monday through Friday. He is nationally known for watching and reporting on the government as it takes liberty and property. Judge Napolitano lectures nationally on the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law, civil liberties in wartime, and human freedom. He has been published in ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', and numerous other publications. His weekly newspaper column is seen by millions every week. The Judge is the author of seven books on the U.S. Constitution, two of which have been New York Times Best Sellers. His most recent book is ''The Freedom Answer Book: How Government Is Taking Away Your Constitutional Freedoms''.

Andrew P. Napolitano

2013-08-13T16:22:54Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:Napolitano_andrew.png]]Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame Law School. He is the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in the history of the State of New Jersey. He sat on the bench from 1987 to 1995, when he presided over more than 150 jury trials and thousands of motions, sentencings, and hearings. Judge Napolitano taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at Delaware Law School for two years and at Seton Hall Law School for 11 years. He was often chosen by the students as their most outstanding professor. He returned to private practice in 1995, and began television work in the same year. As Fox News’ Senior Judicial Analyst since 1998, Judge Napolitano broadcasts nationwide on the Fox News Channel throughout the day, Monday through Friday. He is nationally known for watching and reporting on the government as it takes liberty and property. Judge Napolitano lectures nationally on the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law, civil liberties in wartime, and human freedom. He has been published in ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', and numerous other publications. His weekly newspaper column is seen by millions every week. The Judge is the author of seven books on the U.S. Constitution, two of which have been New York Times Best Sellers. His most recent book is ''The Freedom Answer Book: How Government Is Taking Away Your Constitutional Freedoms''.

File:Napolitano andrew.png

2013-08-13T16:22:03Z

Dsanchez:

Andrew P. Napolitano

2013-08-13T16:21:18Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:judge_andrew_napolitano.png]]Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame Law School. He is the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in the history of the State of New Jersey. He sat on the bench from 1987 to 1995, when he presided over more than 150 jury trials and thousands of motions, sentencings, and hearings. Judge Napolitano taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at Delaware Law School for two years and at Seton Hall Law School for 11 years. He was often chosen by the students as their most outstanding professor. He returned to private practice in 1995, and began television work in the same year. As Fox News’ Senior Judicial Analyst since 1998, Judge Napolitano broadcasts nationwide on the Fox News Channel throughout the day, Monday through Friday. He is nationally known for watching and reporting on the government as it takes liberty and property. Judge Napolitano lectures nationally on the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law, civil liberties in wartime, and human freedom. He has been published in ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', and numerous other publications. His weekly newspaper column is seen by millions every week. The Judge is the author of seven books on the U.S. Constitution, two of which have been New York Times Best Sellers. His most recent book is ''The Freedom Answer Book: How Government Is Taking Away Your Constitutional Freedoms''.

Andrew P. Napolitano

2013-08-13T16:20:56Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:Napolitano_Andrew.png]]Judge Andrew P. Napolitano is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame Law School. He is the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in the history of the State of New Jersey. He sat on the bench from 1987 to 1995, when he presided over more than 150 jury trials and thousands of motions, sentencings, and hearings. Judge Napolitano taught constitutional law and jurisprudence at Delaware Law School for two years and at Seton Hall Law School for 11 years. He was often chosen by the students as their most outstanding professor. He returned to private practice in 1995, and began television work in the same year. As Fox News’ Senior Judicial Analyst since 1998, Judge Napolitano broadcasts nationwide on the Fox News Channel throughout the day, Monday through Friday. He is nationally known for watching and reporting on the government as it takes liberty and property. Judge Napolitano lectures nationally on the U.S. Constitution, the rule of law, civil liberties in wartime, and human freedom. He has been published in ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Los Angeles Times'', and numerous other publications. His weekly newspaper column is seen by millions every week. The Judge is the author of seven books on the U.S. Constitution, two of which have been New York Times Best Sellers. His most recent book is ''The Freedom Answer Book: How Government Is Taking Away Your Constitutional Freedoms''.

Joseph Salerno

2012-10-15T21:14:00Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:JoeSalerno.jpg|thumb|right]]
'''Joseph T. Salerno''' is an [[Austrian School]] economist in the [[United States]]. He is a professor at [[Pace University]], an editor of the [[Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics]], and Academic Vice President of the [[Mises Institute]]. Salerno specializes in [[monetary theory and policy]], [[comparative economics]], and the history of economic thought. Dr. Salerno received his Ph.D. in economics from Rutgers University. His most recent publication is [[Money: Sound and Unsound]].

== Links ==
{{Contact faculty|salerno@mises.com }}
*[http://mises.org/fellow.aspx?id=17 Homepage] on [[Mises Institute|Mises.org]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salerno, Joseph}}
[[Category:Economists]]
{{Stub}}

File:JoeSalerno.jpg

2012-10-15T21:10:47Z

Dsanchez:

Joseph Salerno

2012-10-15T21:08:57Z

Dsanchez:

[File:JosephSalerno.jpg|thumb|right]
'''Joseph T. Salerno''' is an [[Austrian School]] economist in the [[United States]]. He is a professor at [[Pace University]], an editor of the [[Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics]], and Academic Vice President of the [[Mises Institute]]. Salerno specializes in [[monetary theory and policy]], [[comparative economics]], and the history of economic thought.

== Links ==
{{Contact faculty|salerno@mises.com }}
*[http://mises.org/fellow.aspx?id=17 Homepage] on [[Mises Institute|Mises.org]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salerno, Joseph}}
[[Category:Economists]]
{{Stub}}

Peter G. Klein

2012-10-15T21:06:19Z

Dsanchez:

{{Wikipedia text}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Peter G.}}
[[File:PeterKlein.jpg|thumb|right]]

'''Peter G. Klein''' is Executive Director and inaugural Carl Menger Research Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Klein is an American [[Austrian economics|Austrian economist]] who studies managerial and organizational issues. Klein is [[Associate Professor]] in the Division of Applied [[Social Sciences]] at the [[University of Missouri]] and Associate Director of the [http://cori.missouri.edu/ Contracting and Organizations Research Institute (CORI)]<ref>[http://cori.missouri.edu/pages/people.htm CORI web site] accessed February 27, 2008]]</ref>. He is also an [[adjunct professor]] at the [[Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration]], Senior Fellow at the [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]]<ref>[http://mises.org/about.aspx#SENIOR Ludwig von Mises Institute web site], accessed February 27, 2008</ref>, and a Faculty Research Fellow at the [http://www.mcquinncenter.org/ McQuinn Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership].

Klein specializes in organizational economics, strategy, and entrepreneurship, with applications to corporate diversification, organizational design, and innovation. His books include ''Entrepreneurship and the Firm: Austrian Perspectives on Economic Organization''<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/dp/1840646608 Amazon.com] book information</ref> (edited with Nicolai J. Foss, Edward Elgar, 2002), ''The Fortunes of Liberalism,''<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0226320642 Amazon.com] book information</ref> volume 4 of ''The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek''<ref>[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/320685.html University of Chicago Press web site]</ref> (University of Chicago Press, 1992), ''The Capitalist and the Entrepreneur: Essays on Organizations and Markets'' <ref>[http://mises.org/store/product.aspx?ProductID=10373 Mises Institute web site]</ref> (Mises Institute, 2010), and ''The Theory of the Firm: Emergence, Synthesis, Challenges, and New Directions'' (with Nicolai J. Foss, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).<ref>[http://organizationsandmarkets.com/book/] book information</ref>

During the 2000-2001 academic year, Klein was a Senior Economist on the [[Council of Economic Advisers]].

Klein taught previously at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], the [[University of Georgia]], the [[Copenhagen Business School]], and the [[Olin Business School]]. He received his Ph.D. in [[economics]] from the University of California, Berkeley, studying under 2009 Nobel Laureate [[Oliver E. Williamson]], and his B.A. from the [[University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill]].<ref>[http://web.missouri.edu/~kleinp/cv.html Online CV], accessed at December 12, 2008.</ref>

He runs the [http://organizationsandmarkets.com Organizations and Markets] blog with [[Nicolai J. Foss]], professor at the [[Copenhagen Business School]].<ref>[http://organizationsandmarkets.com/about/ Organizations & Markets about page], accessed at February 27, 2008</ref>

In 2008 Klein added his name as a signatory to the Academics for [[Ron Paul]] petition and website; declaring his support for the 2008 Presidential candidate.<ref>[http://academicsforpaul.com/ Academics for Ron Paul web site], accessed at February 27, 2008</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Links==
* [http://www.organizationsandmarkets.com Organizations and Markets]
* [http://web.missouri.edu/~kleinp/ Homepage] at the University of Missouri
* [http://www.mises.org/klein Homepage] at the Ludwig von Mises Institute
* [http://www.mises.org/journals/aen/aen15_2_1.asp Austrian Economics Newsletter] Interview (1995)

[[Category:Economists]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Peter G.}}

File:PeterKlein.jpg

2012-10-15T21:05:24Z

Dsanchez:

Daniel James Sanchez

2012-10-05T17:14:34Z

Dsanchez:

'''Daniel James Sanchez''' is editor of [[Mises.org]] and director of the [[Mises Academy]]. He has written several dozen articles for [[Mises Daily]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mises.org/daily/author/1279|title=Daniel James Sanchez|publisher=Mises.org}}</ref> {{stub}}

[[File:DanielJamesSanchez.jpg|options|Sanchez at the Mises Institute]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Mises Institute staff members|Sanchez, Daniel]]

Daniel James Sanchez

2012-10-05T17:13:51Z

Dsanchez:

'''Daniel James Sanchez''' is editor of [[Mises.org]] and director of the [[Mises Academy]]. He has written several dozen articles for [[Mises Daily]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mises.org/daily/author/1279|title=Daniel James Sanchez|publisher=Mises.org}}</ref> {{stub}}

[[File:filename.extension|options|caption]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Mises Institute staff members|Sanchez, Daniel]]

File:DanielJamesSanchez.jpg

2012-10-05T17:11:34Z

Dsanchez: Daniel J. Sanchez at the Ludwig von Mises Institute

== Summary ==
Daniel J. Sanchez at the Ludwig von Mises Institute
== Licensing ==
{{CC-BY}}

Peter G. Klein

2012-10-05T16:24:55Z

Dsanchez:

{{Wikipedia text}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Peter G.}}
'''Peter G. Klein''' is Executive Director and inaugural Carl Menger Research Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Klein is an American [[Austrian economics|Austrian economist]] who studies managerial and organizational issues. Klein is [[Associate Professor]] in the Division of Applied [[Social Sciences]] at the [[University of Missouri]] and Associate Director of the [http://cori.missouri.edu/ Contracting and Organizations Research Institute (CORI)]<ref>[http://cori.missouri.edu/pages/people.htm CORI web site] accessed February 27, 2008]]</ref>. He is also an [[adjunct professor]] at the [[Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration]], Senior Fellow at the [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]]<ref>[http://mises.org/about.aspx#SENIOR Ludwig von Mises Institute web site], accessed February 27, 2008</ref>, and a Faculty Research Fellow at the [http://www.mcquinncenter.org/ McQuinn Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership].

Klein specializes in organizational economics, strategy, and entrepreneurship, with applications to corporate diversification, organizational design, and innovation. His books include ''Entrepreneurship and the Firm: Austrian Perspectives on Economic Organization''<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/dp/1840646608 Amazon.com] book information</ref> (edited with Nicolai J. Foss, Edward Elgar, 2002), ''The Fortunes of Liberalism,''<ref>[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0226320642 Amazon.com] book information</ref> volume 4 of ''The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek''<ref>[http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/320685.html University of Chicago Press web site]</ref> (University of Chicago Press, 1992), ''The Capitalist and the Entrepreneur: Essays on Organizations and Markets'' <ref>[http://mises.org/store/product.aspx?ProductID=10373 Mises Institute web site]</ref> (Mises Institute, 2010), and ''The Theory of the Firm: Emergence, Synthesis, Challenges, and New Directions'' (with Nicolai J. Foss, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).<ref>[http://organizationsandmarkets.com/book/] book information</ref>

During the 2000-2001 academic year, Klein was a Senior Economist on the [[Council of Economic Advisers]].

Klein taught previously at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], the [[University of Georgia]], the [[Copenhagen Business School]], and the [[Olin Business School]]. He received his Ph.D. in [[economics]] from the University of California, Berkeley, studying under 2009 Nobel Laureate [[Oliver E. Williamson]], and his B.A. from the [[University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill]].<ref>[http://web.missouri.edu/~kleinp/cv.html Online CV], accessed at December 12, 2008.</ref>

He runs the [http://organizationsandmarkets.com Organizations and Markets] blog with [[Nicolai J. Foss]], professor at the [[Copenhagen Business School]].<ref>[http://organizationsandmarkets.com/about/ Organizations & Markets about page], accessed at February 27, 2008</ref>

In 2008 Klein added his name as a signatory to the Academics for [[Ron Paul]] petition and website; declaring his support for the 2008 Presidential candidate.<ref>[http://academicsforpaul.com/ Academics for Ron Paul web site], accessed at February 27, 2008</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Links==
* [http://www.organizationsandmarkets.com Organizations and Markets]
* [http://web.missouri.edu/~kleinp/ Homepage] at the University of Missouri
* [http://www.mises.org/klein Homepage] at the Ludwig von Mises Institute
* [http://www.mises.org/journals/aen/aen15_2_1.asp Austrian Economics Newsletter] Interview (1995)

[[Category:Economists]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Peter G.}}

Thomas DiLorenzo

2012-10-02T20:58:41Z

Dsanchez:

{{Infobox economist
| name = Thomas J. DiLorenzo
| school_tradition = [[Austrian School]]
| color = firebrick
| image = Thomas DiLorenzo.jpeg
| image_size =
| caption = Thomas DiLorenzo at [[Conservative Political Action Conference|CPAC]] in February 2010.
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1954|08|08}}
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = [[American]]
| institution = [[Loyola University Maryland]]
| field = [[Economic history]], [[American history]]
| alma_mater = [[Virginia Tech]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]]) [[Westminster College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]])
| opposed = [[Harry V. Jaffa]]
| influences = [[Henry Hazlitt]], [[John T. Flynn]]
| influenced =
| contributions =
| awards =
| signature = 
| repec_prefix = | repec_id =
}}

'''Thomas James DiLorenzo''' is professor of economics at [http://www.loyola.edu/ Loyola University Maryland] and a senior fellow at the [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]]. He is the author or co-author of ten books, on subjects such as antitrust, group-interest politics, and interventionism generally. He is professor of economics in the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola
University Maryland and a member of the Senior Faculty of the Mises Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a B.A. in economics from Westminster College. His major research and publication interests are economic history, industrial organization, and political economy. He is the author or coauthor of 13 books, including The Real Lincoln, How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, From the Pilgrims to the Present, Lincoln Unmasked, Hamilton’s Curse: How Jefferson’s Arch Enemy Betrayed the American Revolution and What it Means for Americans Today, and Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government. He is widely published in the economics literature, and in popular publications and newspapers. He is a columnist for the website LewRockwell.com, has appeared on CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and has been a guest on the Rush Limbaugh Radio Show.

==Publications==

DiLorenzo has authored at least ten books, including:

* ''[[Hamilton's Curse|Hamilton's Curse: How Jefferson's Arch Enemy Betrayed the American Revolution – and What It Means for Americans Today]]'' (2008)

* ''[[Lincoln Unmasked|Lincoln Unmasked: What You're Not Supposed To Know about Dishonest Abe]]'' (2006)

* ''[[How Capitalism Saved America|How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, from the Pilgrims to the Present]]'' (2004)

* ''[[The Real Lincoln|The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War]]'' (2003)

* ''From Pathology to Politics: Public Health in America'' (2000)

* ''The Food and Drink Police: America's Nannies, Busybodies, and Petty Tyrants'' (1998)

* ''CancerScam: The Diversion of Federal Cancer Funds for Politics'' (1997)

==Links==
{{Contact faculty|tdilo@aol.com}}
*[http://www.mises.org/DiLorenzo Homepage] on [[Mises Institute|Mises.org]]
** [http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=author&ID=425 Media archive]
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=author&Id=425 Literature archive]
** [http://mises.org/articles.aspx?AuthorId=425 Daily Article archive]
** [http://blog.mises.org/13581/faculty-spotlight-interview-thomas-dilorenzo/ Faculty Spotlight Interview]

* [http://www.independent.org/aboutus/person_detail.asp?id=544 Thomas DiLorenzo] at [[The Independent Institute]]
* [http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo-arch.html Thomas DiLorenzo] at [[LewRockwell.com]]
* [http://www.independent.org/events/transcript.asp?eventID=9 The Real Abraham Lincoln] - a debate between Thomas DiLorenzo and [[Harry V. Jaffa]]
* [http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/Spring2002/krannawitter.html Critical review of ''The Real Lincoln''] by [[Thomas Krannawitter]] of the [[Claremont Institute]]
* [http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/wilson7.html DiLorenzo and his Critics] by [[Clyde N. Wilson]]
* [http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo68.html Interview with Thomas DiLorenzo] in the " [[Southern Partisan]]".

* Other media
** [http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/204650-1 Q & A with Thomas DiLorenzo (video)] on C-SPAN discussing his two books about Abraham Lincoln.
** [http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3C06A2101B695E86 The 2006 Steven Berger Seminar: Thomas DiLorenzo (10 videos)]
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-5_pv8csMY DiLorenzo on Morning Joe speaking on Hamilton's Curse]
** [http://media.mises.org/mp3/interviews/DiLorenzo_10-22-2008.mp3 DiLorenzo on "Wake up Monterrey, with Mark Carbonaro"] October 2008

*{{wplink}}

{{Austrian economists}}

{{Persondata 
| NAME =Dilorenzo, Thomas
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH =1954-08-08
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}

{{Stub}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:DiLorenzo, Thomas}}
[[Category:Economists]]
[[Category:Historians]]
[[Category:Anarcho-capitalists]]

Walter Block

2012-10-02T20:41:54Z

Dsanchez: /* Books (as author) */

[[File:Walter_block-teaching.jpg|thumb|right|Walter Block]]

{{Quote|"If it moves you should privatise it and if it doesn't move you should privatise it, Since everything either moves or doesn't move we should privatise everything."|Walter Block}}

'''Walter Edward Block''' (born 21 August 1941) is a [[free market]] economist and [[anarcho-capitalist]] associated with the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of economics]]. He earned his PhD in Economics at [[Columbia University]]. He is an author, editor, and co-editor of many books, including ''[[Defending the Undefendable]]; Labor Economics from a Free Market Perspective; Lexicon of Economic Thought; Economic Freedom of the World 1975-1995; Rent Control: Myths and Realities; Discrimination, Affirmative Action, and Equal Opportunity; Theology, Third Word Development and Economic Justice; Man, Economy, and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard; Religion, Econonomics, and Social Thought; and Economic Freedom: Toward a Theory of Measurement''.

Dr. Block has written almost 500 articles for various scholarly refereed journals, and thousands of essays for magazines and newspapers, and is a contributor to such journals as ''The Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Journal of Labor Economics, Cultural Dynamics'', and the ''Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics''. He is currently a professor and chair of economics, college of business administration, at [[Loyola University]].

==Bibliography==
=== Books (as author) ===
*''[[Defending the Undefendable]]'' (1976; translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian languages) ISBN 0-930073-05-3
*''A Response to the Framework Document for Amending the [[Combines Investigation Act]]'' (1982)
*''Focus on Economics and the Canadian Bishops'' (1983)
*''Focus on Employment Equity: A Critique of the Abella Royal Commission on Equality in Employment'' (with [[Michael A. Walker]]; 1985)
*''The U.S. Bishops and Their Critics: An Economic and Ethical Perspective'' (1986)
*''Lexicon of Economic Thought'' (with Michael A. Walker; 1988)
*''Economic Freedom of the World, 1975-1995'' (with [[James Gwartney]], [[Robert Lawson (economist)|Robert Lawson]]; 1996)
*''Labor Economics from a Free Market Perspective: Employing the Unemployable'' (2009)
*''[[The Privatization of Roads and Highways|The Privatization of Roads and Highways: Human and Economic Factors]]'' (2006)
*''Differing Worldviews: Two Scholars Argue Cooperatively about Justice Education'' (with Four Arrows; 2010)
*''Building Blocks for Liberty'' (2010)
*''Yes to Ron Paul and Liberty'' (2012)
*''Essays in Austrian Economics'' (with William Barnett; 2012)
*''The Case for Discrimination'' (2012)

=== Books (as editor) ===
*''Zoning: Its Costs and Relevance for the 1980s'' (Ed.; 1980)
*''Rent Control: Myths & Realities'' (Ed. with [[Edgar Olsen]]; 1981)
*''Discrimination, Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity'' (Ed. with [[Michael A. Walker]]; 1982)
*''Taxation: An International Perspective'' (Ed. with [[Michael A. Walker]]; 1984)
*''Economics and the Environment: A Reconciliation'' (Ed.; 1985; translated into Portuguese 1992) ISBN 0-88975-067-X
*''Morality of the Market: Religious and Economic Perspectives'' (Ed. with [[Geoffrey Brennan]], [[Kenneth Elzinga]]; 1985)
*''Theology, Third World Development and Economic Justice'' (Ed. with [[Donald Shaw (academic)|Donald Shaw]]; 1985)
*''Reaction: The New Combines Investigation Act'' (Ed.; 1986)
*''Religion, Economics & Social Thought'' (Ed. with [[Irving Hexham]]; 1986)
*''[http://www.mises.org/books/maneconomyliberty.pdf Man, Economy and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard]'' (Ed. with [[Lew Rockwell]]; 1988)
*''Breaking the Shackles; the Economics of Deregulation: A Comparison of U.S. and Canadian Experience'' (Ed. with [[George Lermer]]; 1991)
*''Economic Freedom: Toward a Theory of Measurement'' (Ed.; 1991)
*''Libertarian Autobiographies'' (Ed.; forthcoming)

===Articles===
*"Katrina and the Future of New Orleans" [http://www.telospress.com Telos] 139, Summer 2007.
*[http://mises.org/journals/jls/12_2/12_2_6.pdf "Hayek's Road to Serfdom"]. [[Journal of Libertarian Studies]] ([[Center for Libertarian Studies]]) 12 (2): 339–365 (1996).

== Links ==
{{Contact faculty|wblock@loyno.edu}}
*[http://www.walterblock.com WalterBlock.com]
*[http://www.mises.org/Block Homepage] on [[Mises Institute|Mises.org]]
*[http://mises.org/senfaculty/block-cv.pdf Vita] at Mises.org
*[http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=author&Id=443 Literature archive] at Mises.org.
*[http://www.mises.org/media.aspx?action=showname&ID=443 Media archive] at Mises.org.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Block, Walter}}
[[Category:Anarcho-capitalists]]
[[Category:Economists]]
[[Category:Political theorists]]
[[Category:Mises Institute staff members]]

Walter Block

2012-10-02T20:13:11Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:Walter_block-teaching.jpg|thumb|right|Walter Block]]

{{Quote|"If it moves you should privatise it and if it doesn't move you should privatise it, Since everything either moves or doesn't move we should privatise everything."|Walter Block}}

'''Walter Edward Block''' (born 21 August 1941) is a [[free market]] economist and [[anarcho-capitalist]] associated with the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of economics]]. He earned his PhD in Economics at [[Columbia University]]. He is an author, editor, and co-editor of many books, including ''[[Defending the Undefendable]]; Labor Economics from a Free Market Perspective; Lexicon of Economic Thought; Economic Freedom of the World 1975-1995; Rent Control: Myths and Realities; Discrimination, Affirmative Action, and Equal Opportunity; Theology, Third Word Development and Economic Justice; Man, Economy, and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard; Religion, Econonomics, and Social Thought; and Economic Freedom: Toward a Theory of Measurement''.

Dr. Block has written almost 500 articles for various scholarly refereed journals, and thousands of essays for magazines and newspapers, and is a contributor to such journals as ''The Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Libertarian Studies, The Journal of Labor Economics, Cultural Dynamics'', and the ''Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics''. He is currently a professor and chair of economics, college of business administration, at [[Loyola University]].

==Bibliography==
=== Books (as author) ===
*''[[Defending the Undefendable]]'' (1976; translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian languages) ISBN 0-930073-05-3
*''A Response to the Framework Document for Amending the [[Combines Investigation Act]]'' (1982)
*''Focus on Economics and the Canadian Bishops'' (1983)
*''Focus on Employment Equity: A Critique of the Abella Royal Commission on Equality in Employment'' (with [[Michael A. Walker]]; 1985)
*''The U.S. Bishops and Their Critics: An Economic and Ethical Perspective'' (1986)
*''Lexicon of Economic Thought'' (with Michael A. Walker; 1988)
*''Economic Freedom of the World, 1975-1995'' (with [[James Gwartney]], [[Robert Lawson (economist)|Robert Lawson]]; 1996)
*''[[The Privatization of Roads and Highways|The Privatization of Roads and Highways: Human and Economic Factors]]'' (2006)

=== Books (as editor) ===
*''Zoning: Its Costs and Relevance for the 1980s'' (Ed.; 1980)
*''Rent Control: Myths & Realities'' (Ed. with [[Edgar Olsen]]; 1981)
*''Discrimination, Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity'' (Ed. with [[Michael A. Walker]]; 1982)
*''Taxation: An International Perspective'' (Ed. with [[Michael A. Walker]]; 1984)
*''Economics and the Environment: A Reconciliation'' (Ed.; 1985; translated into Portuguese 1992) ISBN 0-88975-067-X
*''Morality of the Market: Religious and Economic Perspectives'' (Ed. with [[Geoffrey Brennan]], [[Kenneth Elzinga]]; 1985)
*''Theology, Third World Development and Economic Justice'' (Ed. with [[Donald Shaw (academic)|Donald Shaw]]; 1985)
*''Reaction: The New Combines Investigation Act'' (Ed.; 1986)
*''Religion, Economics & Social Thought'' (Ed. with [[Irving Hexham]]; 1986)
*''[http://www.mises.org/books/maneconomyliberty.pdf Man, Economy and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard]'' (Ed. with [[Lew Rockwell]]; 1988)
*''Breaking the Shackles; the Economics of Deregulation: A Comparison of U.S. and Canadian Experience'' (Ed. with [[George Lermer]]; 1991)
*''Economic Freedom: Toward a Theory of Measurement'' (Ed.; 1991)
*''Libertarian Autobiographies'' (Ed.; forthcoming)

===Articles===
*"Katrina and the Future of New Orleans" [http://www.telospress.com Telos] 139, Summer 2007.
*[http://mises.org/journals/jls/12_2/12_2_6.pdf "Hayek's Road to Serfdom"]. [[Journal of Libertarian Studies]] ([[Center for Libertarian Studies]]) 12 (2): 339–365 (1996).

== Links ==
{{Contact faculty|wblock@loyno.edu}}
*[http://www.walterblock.com WalterBlock.com]
*[http://www.mises.org/Block Homepage] on [[Mises Institute|Mises.org]]
*[http://mises.org/senfaculty/block-cv.pdf Vita] at Mises.org
*[http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=author&Id=443 Literature archive] at Mises.org.
*[http://www.mises.org/media.aspx?action=showname&ID=443 Media archive] at Mises.org.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Block, Walter}}
[[Category:Anarcho-capitalists]]
[[Category:Economists]]
[[Category:Political theorists]]
[[Category:Mises Institute staff members]]

Doug French

2012-08-21T21:15:17Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:French_Human_Action_Pocket.JPG|200px|thumb|right|Douglas E. French]]
'''Douglas E. French''' is Senior Editor at Laissez Faire Club. He received his master's degree under the direction of [[Murray N. Rothbard]] at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, after many years in the business of banking.

He is a major supporter of the Mises Institute, and has served as its president (2009-2012). He is the sponsor of the Douglas E. French Prize for the student who emerges from the [[Mises University]] oral examinations with the best record, as chosen by the examining committee.

He is the author of two books, ''[[Early Speculative Bubbles and Increases in the Supply of Money]]'', the first major empirical study of the relationship between early [[bubble|bubbles]] and the [[money supply]], and ''[[Walk Away]]'', a monograph assessing the philosophy and morality of [[strategic default]].

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Walk Away|Walk Away: The Rise and Fall of the Home-Ownership Myth]]''. [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]], 2010. ISBN 978-1610161022
* ''[[Early Speculative Bubbles and Increases in the Supply of Money]]''. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2009. ISBN 978-1933550442

== Links ==

*[http://mises.org/fellow.aspx?id=27 Douglas E. French] at [[Mises Institute|Mises.org]]
** [http://blog.mises.org/author/douglas_french/ Blog archive]
** [http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=author&ID=627 Media archive]
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=author&Id=627 Literature archive]
** [http://mises.org/articles.aspx?AuthorId=627 Daily Article archive]

* Interviews
** [http://www.thedailybell.com/992/Douglas-French-on-Ludwig-von-Mises-and-the-Advancement-of-Free-Market-Thinking.html "Douglas French on Ludwig von Mises and the Advancement of Free-Market Thinking"] (republished [http://mises.org/daily/4307 here], [http://blog.mises.org/12596/an-interview-with-doug-french/ here], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french130.html here])
** [http://twobeerswithsteve.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=637834 "Douglas French of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute"] interview, August 2010
** In Studio: "Walk Away" interview with Doug French, December 2010 ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf5VEG56YC0 YouTube])

{{stub}}

[[Category:Economists]]
[[Category:Mises Institute]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Douglas E.}}

Doug French

2012-08-20T23:08:49Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:French_Human_Action_Pocket.JPG|200px|thumb|right|Douglas E. French]]
'''Douglas E. French''' is Senior Editor at Laissez Faire Club. He received his master's degree under the direction of [[Murray N. Rothbard]] at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, after many years in the business of banking.

He is a major supporter of the Mises Institute, and has served as its president (2009-2012). He is the sponsor of the Douglas E. French Prize: $3,000 for the student who emerges from the [[Mises University]] oral examinations with the best record, as chosen by the examining committee.

He is the author of two books, ''[[Early Speculative Bubbles and Increases in the Supply of Money]]'', the first major empirical study of the relationship between early [[bubble|bubbles]] and the [[money supply]], and ''[[Walk Away]]'', a monograph assessing the philosophy and morality of [[strategic default]].

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Walk Away|Walk Away: The Rise and Fall of the Home-Ownership Myth]]''. [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]], 2010. ISBN 978-1610161022
* ''[[Early Speculative Bubbles and Increases in the Supply of Money]]''. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2009. ISBN 978-1933550442

== Links ==
{{Contact staff|french@mises.com}}

*[http://mises.org/fellow.aspx?id=27 Douglas E. French] at [[Mises Institute|Mises.org]]
** [http://blog.mises.org/author/douglas_french/ Blog archive]
** [http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=author&ID=627 Media archive]
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=author&Id=627 Literature archive]
** [http://mises.org/articles.aspx?AuthorId=627 Daily Article archive]

* Interviews
** [http://www.thedailybell.com/992/Douglas-French-on-Ludwig-von-Mises-and-the-Advancement-of-Free-Market-Thinking.html "Douglas French on Ludwig von Mises and the Advancement of Free-Market Thinking"] (republished [http://mises.org/daily/4307 here], [http://blog.mises.org/12596/an-interview-with-doug-french/ here], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french130.html here])
** [http://twobeerswithsteve.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=637834 "Douglas French of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute"] interview, August 2010
** In Studio: "Walk Away" interview with Doug French, December 2010 ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf5VEG56YC0 YouTube])

{{stub}}

[[Category:Economists]]
[[Category:Mises Institute]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Douglas E.}}

Doug French

2012-08-20T23:04:56Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:French_Human_Action_Pocket.JPG|200px|thumb|right|Douglas E. French]]
'''Douglas E. French''' is Senior Editor at Laissez Faire Club. He received his master's degree under the direction of [[Murray N. Rothbard]] at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, after many years in the business of banking.

He was a major supporter of the Mises Institute in the years leading up to assuming the position of president of the Mises Institute in 2009. His dramatic expansion priorities include development in every area of the Mises Institute's educational mission, online and at our physical location.

He is the author of two books, ''[[Early Speculative Bubbles and Increases in the Supply of Money]]'', the first major empirical study of the relationship between early [[bubble|bubbles]] and the [[money supply]], and ''[[Walk Away]]'', a monograph assessing the philosophy and morality of [[strategic default]].

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Walk Away|Walk Away: The Rise and Fall of the Home-Ownership Myth]]''. [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]], 2010. ISBN 978-1610161022
* ''[[Early Speculative Bubbles and Increases in the Supply of Money]]''. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2009. ISBN 978-1933550442

== Links ==
{{Contact staff|french@mises.com}}

*[http://mises.org/fellow.aspx?id=27 Douglas E. French] at [[Mises Institute|Mises.org]]
** [http://blog.mises.org/author/douglas_french/ Blog archive]
** [http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=author&ID=627 Media archive]
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=author&Id=627 Literature archive]
** [http://mises.org/articles.aspx?AuthorId=627 Daily Article archive]

* Interviews
** [http://www.thedailybell.com/992/Douglas-French-on-Ludwig-von-Mises-and-the-Advancement-of-Free-Market-Thinking.html "Douglas French on Ludwig von Mises and the Advancement of Free-Market Thinking"] (republished [http://mises.org/daily/4307 here], [http://blog.mises.org/12596/an-interview-with-doug-french/ here], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french130.html here])
** [http://twobeerswithsteve.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=637834 "Douglas French of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute"] interview, August 2010
** In Studio: "Walk Away" interview with Doug French, December 2010 ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf5VEG56YC0 YouTube])

{{stub}}

[[Category:Economists]]
[[Category:Mises Institute]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Douglas E.}}

Doug French

2012-08-20T23:04:20Z

Dsanchez:

[[File:French_Human_Action_Pocket.JPG|200px|thumb|right|Douglas E. French]]
'''Douglas E. French''' is Senior Editor at Laissez Faire Club. He received his master's degree under the direction of [[Murray N. Rothbard]] at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, after many years in the business of banking.

He was a major supporter of the Mises Institute in the years leading up to assuming the position of president of the Mises Institute in 2009. His dramatic expansion priorities include development in every area of the Mises Institute's educational mission, online and at our physical location.

He is the author of two books, ''[[Early Speculative Bubbles and Increases in the Supply of Money]]'', the first major empirical study of the relationship between early [[bubble|bubbles]] and the [[money supply]], and ''[[Walk Away]]'', a monograph assessing the philosophy and morality of [[strategic default]]. He teaches in the [http://academy.mises.org Mises Academy] and writes regularly for the [http://mises.org/daily/author/627 Mises Daily].

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Walk Away|Walk Away: The Rise and Fall of the Home-Ownership Myth]]''. [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]], 2010. ISBN 978-1610161022
* ''[[Early Speculative Bubbles and Increases in the Supply of Money]]''. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2009. ISBN 978-1933550442

== Links ==
{{Contact staff|french@mises.com}}

*[http://mises.org/fellow.aspx?id=27 Douglas E. French] at [[Mises Institute|Mises.org]]
** [http://blog.mises.org/author/douglas_french/ Blog archive]
** [http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=author&ID=627 Media archive]
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=author&Id=627 Literature archive]
** [http://mises.org/articles.aspx?AuthorId=627 Daily Article archive]

* Interviews
** [http://www.thedailybell.com/992/Douglas-French-on-Ludwig-von-Mises-and-the-Advancement-of-Free-Market-Thinking.html "Douglas French on Ludwig von Mises and the Advancement of Free-Market Thinking"] (republished [http://mises.org/daily/4307 here], [http://blog.mises.org/12596/an-interview-with-doug-french/ here], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/french/french130.html here])
** [http://twobeerswithsteve.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=637834 "Douglas French of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute"] interview, August 2010
** In Studio: "Walk Away" interview with Doug French, December 2010 ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf5VEG56YC0 YouTube])

{{stub}}

[[Category:Economists]]
[[Category:Mises Institute]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Douglas E.}}

Value

2011-07-31T01:52:25Z

Dsanchez:

{{RightTOC}}

All [[action]] employs [[Scarcity|scarce]] means to attain the most '''valued''' ends. Man has the choice of using the scarce means for various alternative ends, and the ends that he chooses are the ones he values most highly. The less urgent wants are those that remain unsatisfied.<ref name="Rothbard_value">Murray N. Rothbard. [http://mises.org/rothbard/mes/chap1b.asp#5._Further_Implications "A. Ends and Values"], 5. Further Implications, ''[[Man, Economy and State]]'', online version, referenced 2009-05-12.</ref>

==Preferences==
Actors can be interpreted as ranking their ends along a [[scale of values]], or scale of preferences. These scales differ for each person, both in their content and in their orders of preference. Furthermore, they differ for the same individual at different times.<ref name="Rothbard_value" />

==Value and Ends==
Value is the importance that acting man attaches to ultimate ends. Only to ultimate ends is primary and original value assigned. Means are valued derivatively according to their usefulness to the attainment of ultimate ends. Their valuation is derived from the valuation of the respective ends. They are important for man only as far as they make it possible for him to attain some ends.

Value is not intrinsic, it is not in things. It is within us; it is the way in which man reacts to the conditions of his environment.

Neither is value in words and doctrines. It is reflected in human conduct. It is not what a man or groups of men say about value that counts, but how they act. The oratory of moralists and the pompousness of party programs are significant as such. But they influence the course of human events only as far as they really determine the actions of men.<ref name="Mises_value">Ludwig von Mises. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap4sec2.asp#p96 "2. The Scale of Value"], IV. A FIRST ANALYSIS OF THE CATEGORY OF ACTION, ''[[Human Action]]'', online version, referenced 2009-05-12.</ref>

==Scale of values==
Man chooses to use scarce means for various alternative ends. The ends that he chooses are the ones he values most highly, less urgent wants remain unsatisfied.

The ends can be ranked on a ''scale of values'', or ''scale of preferences''. These scales differ for each person, both in their content and in their orders of preference; and they differ for the same individual at different times. For example, let's say an actor called Jones has the following preferences:

# Watch a baseball game
# Go for a drive
# Play a computer game

If he has one hour to spend and this supply of means (time) is sufficient for the attainment of only one of these ends, the fact that he chooses the baseball game shows that he ranked it highest (or first). In the next hour he might choose to go for a drive, or to go for a drive and then to play a computer game, rather than to continue watching the game. In that case, the ranking on his preference scale shifts to this order:

# Go for a drive
# Play a computer game
# Continuing to watch the baseball game

The larger the supply of means available, the more ends can be satisfied and the lower the rank of the ends that must remain unsatisfied.<ref name="Rothbard_action_value">Murray N. Rothbard. [http://mises.org/rothbard/mes/chap1a.asp#2._First_Implications_ "2. First Implications of the Concept"], Chapter 1-Fundamentals of Human Action, ''[[Man, Economy and State]]'', online version, referenced 2009-05-13.</ref><ref name="Rothbard_value" />

==Subjectivity==
There is no way to measure an increase or decrease in happiness or satisfaction; not only between different people, it is not possible to measure change in the happiness of one given person.

In order for any measurement to be possible, there must be an eternally fixed and objectively given unit with which other units may be compared. There is no such objective unit in the field of human valuation. The individual must determine subjectively for himself whether he is better or worse off as a result of any change. His preference can only be expressed in terms of simple choice, or rank. Thus, he can say, "I am better off" or "I am happier" because he went to a concert instead of playing bridge (or "I will be better off" for going to the concert), but it would be completely meaningless for him to try to assign units to his preference and say, "I am two and a half times happier because of this choice than I would have been playing bridge." Two and a half times what? There is no possible unit of happiness that can be used for purposes of comparison and, hence, of addition or multiplication. Therefore, values cannot be measured; values or utilities cannot be added, subtracted, or multiplied. They can only be ranked as better or worse. A man may know that he is or will be happier or less happy, but not by "how much".

Accordingly, the numbers by which ends are ranked on value scales are [[Wikipedia:Ordinal number|ordinal]], not [[Wikipedia:Cardinal number|cardinal]], numbers. Ordinal numbers are only ranked; they cannot be subject to the processes of measurement. Thus, in the above example, all we can say is that going to a concert is valued more than playing bridge, and either of these is valued more than watching the game. We cannot say that going to a concert is valued “twice as much” as watching the game; the numbers two and four cannot be subject to processes of addition, multiplication, etc.<ref name="Rothbard_value" />

<blockquote>"Value is a judgment economizing men make about the importance of the goods at their disposal for the maintenance of their lives and well-being. Hence value does not exist outside the consciousness of men."<ref name="Menger_value">Carl Menger. [http://mises.org/etexts/menger/three.asp "1. The Nature and Origin of Value"], ''[[Wikipedia:Principles of Economics|Principles of Economics]]'' online edition, Chapter III., The Theory of Value, referenced 2009-05-14.</ref></blockquote>

{{See also|Subjective theory of value}}

==Value in Trade==
In a [[Trade|voluntary exchange]] is the valuation of goods different and reverse: each party values what is given up less than what is received in the exchange.

If [[good]]s had an objective, intrinsic value, then there could be no reverse valuation (except through error). If this were the case, then traded goods would be equal in value (and hence there would be no reason to trade them), or one party would necessarily benefit at the expense of the other. But because individuals value goods differently, there are mutual "gains from trade". Both parties benefit from a voluntary exchange (or at least expect to).

With the possibility of trade, goods are valued not only by their direct use-value but also their exchange-value. An actor will always value a unit of a good at the higher of these two. (For example, even a non-smoker would prefer a box of cigars over a hot dog, if he thought he could trade the former to a smoker.)<ref name="Rothbard_trade">Murray N. Rothbard. [http://mises.org/rothbard/mes/chap2a.asp "2. Types of Interpersonal Action: Voluntary Exchange and the Contractual Society"], Chapter 2-Direct Exchange, ''[[Man, Economy and State]]'', online version, referenced 2009-05-26.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Links==
* Wikipedia pages on [[Wikipedia:Value (economics)|value]], the [[Wikipedia:Subjective theory of value|Subjective theory of value]] and the [[Wikipedia:Labor theory of value|Labor theory of value]].
* [http://mises.org/daily/4356 Final Utility: The Cornerstone of Austrian Theory] by Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, July 2010
[[Category:Economic concepts]]

Uneasiness

2011-07-31T01:49:39Z

Dsanchez:

The alleviation of felt uneasiness is the end of every [[action]]. The concept of uneasiness can be considered as follows.<ref>Excerpt from [http://mises.org/daily/5285/Mises-on-Action Mises on Action] by Daniel James Sanchez.</ref>

<blockquote>Let us say Crusoe awakens, stranded on an island after having floated unconscious onto the shore on a piece of flotsam. The first thing that enters his consciousness is a sharp pain in his hand, which is being caused by a large splinter. He wants to alleviate the pain, and prevent any infection the splinter might cause. The matter is especially urgent, because he feels he is about to pass out in a few moments, and he is worried that infection could set in while he is unconscious.
 
Ludwig von Mises wrote:
<blockquote>"The incentive that impels a man to act is always some uneasiness."</blockquote>
In this case, Crusoe has an uneasiness concerning the pain that he feels and the damage his body might suffer.
 

An important distinction is that the praxeological uneasiness is not the pain itself. Praxeology is not psychology, and economics does not posit acting man as necessarily a purely hedonistic (pleasure-pursuing and pain-avoiding) creature. It is conceivable that a person with a splinter in his hand is a masochist and that he feels pain but no uneasiness about the presence of that pain and thus no desire to remove the splinter.
 
By assumption, Crusoe happens not to be a masochist, and the pain involved happens to be one of the factors (along with the possible damage involved) that causes him to be uneasy about the splinter. But, whatever the cause may be, what is important for praxeology is that Crusoe regards the state of affairs involving the splinter in his hand as imperfect.
 
It is easy to imagine action without pain, but is it even possible to coherently imagine action without prior uneasiness? No, argued Mises:
 
A man perfectly content with the state of his affairs would have no incentive to change things. He would have neither wishes nor desires; he would be perfectly happy. He would not act; he would simply live free from care.
It is inconceivable for a being to intervene in a state of affairs that he already regards as perfect. Intervention implies perceived imperfection. Uneasiness, therefore, is a necessary prerequisite of action. The presence of an uneasiness can also be referred to as a want or desire, and the removal of an uneasiness can be referred to as the satisfaction of a want or desire.</blockquote>

<references />

Uneasiness

2011-07-31T01:46:38Z

Dsanchez:

The alleviation of felt uneasiness is the end of every [[action]]. The concept of uneasiness can be considered as follows.<ref>Excerpt from [http://mises.org/daily/5285/Mises-on-Action Mises on Action] by Daniel James Sanchez.</ref>

<blockquote>Let us say Crusoe awakens, stranded on an island after having floated unconscious onto the shore on a piece of flotsam. The first thing that enters his consciousness is a sharp pain in his hand, which is being caused by a large splinter. He wants to alleviate the pain, and prevent any infection the splinter might cause. The matter is especially urgent, because he feels he is about to pass out in a few moments, and he is worried that infection could set in while he is unconscious.

The incentive that impels a man to act is always some uneasiness.
In this case, Crusoe has an uneasiness concerning the pain that he feels and the damage his body might suffer.

An important distinction is that the praxeological uneasiness is not the pain itself. Praxeology is not psychology, and economics does not posit acting man as necessarily a purely hedonistic (pleasure-pursuing and pain-avoiding) creature. It is conceivable that a person with a splinter in his hand is a masochist and that he feels pain but no uneasiness about the presence of that pain and thus no desire to remove the splinter.

By assumption, Crusoe happens not to be a masochist, and the pain involved happens to be one of the factors (along with the possible damage involved) that causes him to be uneasy about the splinter. But, whatever the cause may be, what is important for praxeology is that Crusoe regards the state of affairs involving the splinter in his hand as imperfect.

It is easy to imagine action without pain, but is it even possible to coherently imagine action without prior uneasiness? No, argued Mises:

A man perfectly content with the state of his affairs would have no incentive to change things. He would have neither wishes nor desires; he would be perfectly happy. He would not act; he would simply live free from care.
It is inconceivable for a being to intervene in a state of affairs that he already regards as perfect. Intervention implies perceived imperfection. Uneasiness, therefore, is a necessary prerequisite of action. The presence of an uneasiness can also be referred to as a want or desire, and the removal of an uneasiness can be referred to as the satisfaction of a want or desire.</blockquote>

<references />

Uneasiness

2011-07-31T01:45:45Z

Dsanchez: Created page with "The alleviation of felt uneasiness is the end of every action. The concept of uneasiness can be considered as follows.<ref>Excerpt from [http://mises.org/daily/5285/Mises-on..."

The alleviation of felt uneasiness is the end of every [[action]]. The concept of uneasiness can be considered as follows.<ref>Excerpt from [http://mises.org/daily/5285/Mises-on-Action Mises on Action] by Daniel James Sanchez.</ref>

<blockquote>Let us say Crusoe awakens, stranded on an island after having floated unconscious onto the shore on a piece of flotsam. The first thing that enters his consciousness is a sharp pain in his hand, which is being caused by a large splinter. He wants to alleviate the pain, and prevent any infection the splinter might cause. The matter is especially urgent, because he feels he is about to pass out in a few moments, and he is worried that infection could set in while he is unconscious.

The incentive that impels a man to act is always some uneasiness.
In this case, Crusoe has an uneasiness concerning the pain that he feels and the damage his body might suffer.

An important distinction is that the praxeological uneasiness is not the pain itself. Praxeology is not psychology, and economics does not posit acting man as necessarily a purely hedonistic (pleasure-pursuing and pain-avoiding) creature. It is conceivable that a person with a splinter in his hand is a masochist and that he feels pain but no uneasiness about the presence of that pain and thus no desire to remove the splinter.

By assumption, Crusoe happens not to be a masochist, and the pain involved happens to be one of the factors (along with the possible damage involved) that causes him to be uneasy about the splinter. But, whatever the cause may be, what is important for praxeology is that Crusoe regards the state of affairs involving the splinter in his hand as imperfect.

It is easy to imagine action without pain, but is it even possible to coherently imagine action without prior uneasiness? No, argued Mises:

A man perfectly content with the state of his affairs would have no incentive to change things. He would have neither wishes nor desires; he would be perfectly happy. He would not act; he would simply live free from care.
It is inconceivable for a being to intervene in a state of affairs that he already regards as perfect. Intervention implies perceived imperfection. Uneasiness, therefore, is a necessary prerequisite of action. The presence of an uneasiness can also be referred to as a want or desire, and the removal of an uneasiness can be referred to as the satisfaction of a want or desire.</blockquote>

Action

2011-07-31T01:39:17Z

Dsanchez:

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. The end of an action is always the alleviation of some felt [[uneasiness]]. 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]]

History of economic thought

2011-02-08T09:17:38Z

Dsanchez: /* The Classification of Economic Science */

The '''History of Economic Thought''' is the history of theories concerning human action, and especially concerning the market process.

==The Significance of the Advent Economic Science==

To quote [[Ludwig von Mises]]:

<blockquote>Economics is the youngest of all sciences. In the last two hundred years, it is true, many new sciences have emerged from the disciplines familiar to the ancient Greeks. However, what happened here was merely that parts of knowledge which had already found their place in the complex of the old system of learning now became autonomous. The field of study was more nicely subdivided and treated with new methods; hitherto unnoticed provinces were discovered in it, and people began to see things from aspects different from those of their precursors. The field itself was not expanded. But economics opened to human science a domain previously inaccessible and never thought of. The discovery of a regularity in the sequence and interdependence of market phenomena went beyond the limits of the traditional system of learning. It conveyed knowledge which could be regarded neither as logic, mathematics, psychology, physics, nor biology.<ref name="Mises_economics_in_history">Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "Introduction, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2010-02-05.</ref></blockquote>

Systematic treatments of logic, psychology, and biology were given as early as the 4th century B.C.<ref name="Aristotle">In [[Aristotle]]'s ''Organon'', ''De Anima'', and biological works</ref> The sciences of mathematics and physics are even older.<ref name="math_physics">Systematic treatments of mathematics were given by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. Systematic treatments of physics were given by the pre-socratic philosophers.</ref> Since ancient times, writers have made fragmentary insights into praxeological and economic considerations. However, economics as a science did not emerge until [[Richard Cantillon]]'s ''[[Essai Sur La Nature Du Commerce En Général]]'' (written in 1730, and published in 1755), which was the first unitary and systematic treatment of the market process.<ref name="Rothbard_Cantillon">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/4810 "Richard Cantillon: The Founding Father of Modern Economics], Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I "An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.</ref>

===''Wertfreiheit''===

The approach taken with social philosophy before the advent of economic science was largely normative and [[utopian]].<ref name="normative">Ludwig von Mises[http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "INTRODUCTION, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''Human Action'', online edition, reference 02-07-2011</ref> Yet, according to Mises,

<blockquote>"The discovery of the inescapable interdependence of market phenomena overthrew this opinion. Bewildered, people had to face a new view of society. They learned with stupefaction that there is another aspect from which human action might be viewed than that of good and bad, of fair and unfair, of just and unjust. In the course of social events there prevails a regularity of phenomena to which man must adjust his actions if he wishes to succeed. It is futile to approach social facts with the attitude of a censor who approves or disapproves from the point of view of quite arbitrary standards and subjective judgments of value. One must study the laws of human action and social cooperation as the physicist studies the laws of nature. Human action and social cooperation seen as the object of a science of given relations, no longer as a normative discipline of things that ought to be--this was a revolution of tremendous consequences for knowledge and philosophy as well as for social action."<ref name="normative">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

This "value-free" approach to the social sciences is known as "''wertfreiheit''".

===The Classification of Economic Science===

The methods with which the early economists discovered ineluctable laws in the realm of human affairs were fundamentally different from the methods that natural philosophers used to discover ineluctable laws in the realm of nature. While cognizant of the significance of their discoveries, the early economists did not realize how monumental their new ''methods'' were in the history of science.

<blockquote>In the new science everything seemed to be problematic. It was a stranger in the traditional system of knowledge; people were perplexed and did not know how to classify it and to assign it its proper place. But on the other hand they were convinced that the inclusion of economics in the catalogue of knowledge did not require a rearrangement or expansion of the total scheme. They considered their catalogue system complete. If economics did not fit into it, the fault could only rest with the unsatisfactory treatment that the economists applied to their problems.<ref>Mises, ''Ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

[[Nassau William Senior]] (1790-1864) was one of the earliest economists to spell out the distinctness of the method of economic science. Further progress was made on this front by Carl Menger<ref name="menger">[http://mises.org/resources/4062/Investigations-Into-the-Method-of-the-Social-Sciences "''Untersuchungen uber die Methode der Sozialwissenschaften und der politischen Okonomie insbesondere (Investigations into the Method of the Social Sciences with Special Reference to Economics)''"]</ref> (1840-1921). The radical distinctions between economics and the other social sciences, and between the social sciences in general and the natural sciences, were finally fully elaborated by Ludwig von Mises<ref name="mises_method">In ''[http://mises.org/resources/116 "Epistemological Problems of Economics"], [http://mises.org/resources/3250 "Human Action"], [http://mises.org/resources/118 "Theory and History"], and [http://mises.org/resources/120 "The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science"]''.</ref>.

==The Limitations of Classical Political Economy==

The "Classical Political Economy" tradition of Adam Smith and David Ricardo failed to formulate a sound theory of value and prices. They were unable to make the theoretical connection between market prices and consumer preferences. For this reason, consumers were left largely out of the picture. This limited the new method introduced by economic science to the treatment of people in their roles as producers. Thus economics was scorned as a useless science which only dealt with a fictional "''Home Economicus''" (a man only concerned with monetary profit). As Mises explains,

<blockquote>"For more than a hundred years, however, the effects of this radical change in the methods of reasoning were greatly restricted because people believed that they referred only to a narrow segment of the total field of human action, namely, to market phenomena. The classical economists met in the pursuit of their investigations an obstacle which they failed to remove, the apparent antinomy of value. Their theory of value was defective, and forced them to restrict the scope of their science. Until the late nineteenth century political economy remained a science of the "economic" aspects of human action, a theory of wealth and selfishness. It dealt with human action only to the extent that it is actuated by what was --very unsatisfactorily--described as the profit motive, and it asserted that there is in addition other human action whose treatment is the task of other disciplines. The transformation of thought which the classical economists had initiated was brought to its consummation only by modern subjectivist economics, which converted the theory of market prices into a general theory of human choice."<ref name="homoeconomicus">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

By "modern subjectivist economics", Mises is referring to economics after the formulation of the [[Marginal Theory of Value]], which, by explaining the link between market prices and consumer preferences, finally permitted the application of the methods introduced by economic science to the "whole man": man as consumer, as well as producer.

==Praxeology==

Mises goes on to write,

<blockquote>For a long time men failed to realize that the transition from the classical theory of value to the subjective theory of value was much more than the substitution of a more satisfactory theory of market exchange for a less satisfactory one. The general theory of choice and preference goes far beyond the horizon which encompassed the scope of economic problems as circumscribed by the economists from Cantillon, Hume, and Adam Smith down to John Stuart Mill. It is much more than merely a theory of the "economic side" of human endeavors and of man's striving for commodities and an improvement in his material well-being. It is the science of every kind of human action. Choosing determines all human decisions. In making his choice man chooses not only between various material things and services. All human values are offered for option. All ends and all means, both material and ideal issues, the sublime and the base, the noble and the ignoble, are ranged in a single row and subjected to a decision which picks out one thing and sets aside another. Nothing that men aim at or want to avoid remains outside of this arrangement into a unique scale of gradation and preference. The modern theory of value widens the scientific horizon and enlarges the field of economic studies. Out of the political economy of the classical school emerges the general theory of human action, praxeology. The economic or catallactic problems are embedded in a more general science, and can no longer be severed from this connection. No treatment of economic problems proper can avoid starting from acts of choice; economics becomes a part, although the hitherto best elaborated part, of a more universal science, praxeology.<ref name="praxeology">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

Mises himself was the first economist to explicitly delineate the "general theory of human choice" that subjective value theory made possible. He first began to do so in his [http://mises.org/epofe.asp "''Epistemological Problems in Economic Science''"](1933), in which he referred to the general theory of human choice as "sociology". He further advanced the theory in [http://mises.org/resources.aspx?Id=3250&html=1 "''Human Action''"] (1940), in which he referred to it as "praxeology".

==References==
<references />
[[Category:History]]

History of economic thought

2011-02-08T09:08:18Z

Dsanchez:

The '''History of Economic Thought''' is the history of theories concerning human action, and especially concerning the market process.

==The Significance of the Advent Economic Science==

To quote [[Ludwig von Mises]]:

<blockquote>Economics is the youngest of all sciences. In the last two hundred years, it is true, many new sciences have emerged from the disciplines familiar to the ancient Greeks. However, what happened here was merely that parts of knowledge which had already found their place in the complex of the old system of learning now became autonomous. The field of study was more nicely subdivided and treated with new methods; hitherto unnoticed provinces were discovered in it, and people began to see things from aspects different from those of their precursors. The field itself was not expanded. But economics opened to human science a domain previously inaccessible and never thought of. The discovery of a regularity in the sequence and interdependence of market phenomena went beyond the limits of the traditional system of learning. It conveyed knowledge which could be regarded neither as logic, mathematics, psychology, physics, nor biology.<ref name="Mises_economics_in_history">Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "Introduction, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2010-02-05.</ref></blockquote>

Systematic treatments of logic, psychology, and biology were given as early as the 4th century B.C.<ref name="Aristotle">In [[Aristotle]]'s ''Organon'', ''De Anima'', and biological works</ref> The sciences of mathematics and physics are even older.<ref name="math_physics">Systematic treatments of mathematics were given by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. Systematic treatments of physics were given by the pre-socratic philosophers.</ref> Since ancient times, writers have made fragmentary insights into praxeological and economic considerations. However, economics as a science did not emerge until [[Richard Cantillon]]'s ''[[Essai Sur La Nature Du Commerce En Général]]'' (written in 1730, and published in 1755), which was the first unitary and systematic treatment of the market process.<ref name="Rothbard_Cantillon">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/4810 "Richard Cantillon: The Founding Father of Modern Economics], Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I "An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.</ref>

===''Wertfreiheit''===

The approach taken with social philosophy before the advent of economic science was largely normative and [[utopian]].<ref name="normative">Ludwig von Mises[http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "INTRODUCTION, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''Human Action'', online edition, reference 02-07-2011</ref> Yet, according to Mises,

<blockquote>"The discovery of the inescapable interdependence of market phenomena overthrew this opinion. Bewildered, people had to face a new view of society. They learned with stupefaction that there is another aspect from which human action might be viewed than that of good and bad, of fair and unfair, of just and unjust. In the course of social events there prevails a regularity of phenomena to which man must adjust his actions if he wishes to succeed. It is futile to approach social facts with the attitude of a censor who approves or disapproves from the point of view of quite arbitrary standards and subjective judgments of value. One must study the laws of human action and social cooperation as the physicist studies the laws of nature. Human action and social cooperation seen as the object of a science of given relations, no longer as a normative discipline of things that ought to be--this was a revolution of tremendous consequences for knowledge and philosophy as well as for social action."<ref name="normative">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

This "value-free" approach to the social sciences is known as "''wertfreiheit''".

===The Classification of Economic Science===

The methods with which the early economists discovered ineluctable laws in the realm of human affairs were fundamentally different from the methods that natural philosophers used to discover ineluctable laws in the realm of nature. While cognizant of the significance of their discoveries, the early economists did not realize how monumental their new ''methods'' were in the history of science.

<blockquote>In the new science everything seemed to be problematic. It was a stranger in the traditional system of knowledge; people were perplexed and did not know how to classify it and to assign it its proper place. But on the other hand they were convinced that the inclusion of economics in the catalogue of knowledge did not require a rearrangement or expansion of the total scheme. They considered their catalogue system complete. If economics did not fit into it, the fault could only rest with the unsatisfactory treatment that the economists applied to their problems.</blockquote>

[[Nassau William Senior]] (1790-1864) was one of the earliest economists to spell out the distinctness of the method of economic science. Further progress was made on this front by Carl Menger<ref name="menger">[http://mises.org/resources/4062/Investigations-Into-the-Method-of-the-Social-Sciences "''Untersuchungen uber die Methode der Sozialwissenschaften und der politischen Okonomie insbesondere (Investigations into the Method of the Social Sciences with Special Reference to Economics)''"]</ref> (1840-1921). The radical distinctions between economics and the other social sciences, and between the social sciences in general and the natural sciences, were finally fully elaborated by Ludwig von Mises<ref name="mises_method">In ''[http://mises.org/resources/116 "Epistemological Problems of Economics"], [http://mises.org/resources/3250 "Human Action"], [http://mises.org/resources/118 "Theory and History"], and [http://mises.org/resources/120 "The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science"]''.</ref>.

==The Limitations of Classical Political Economy==

The "Classical Political Economy" tradition of Adam Smith and David Ricardo failed to formulate a sound theory of value and prices. They were unable to make the theoretical connection between market prices and consumer preferences. For this reason, consumers were left largely out of the picture. This limited the new method introduced by economic science to the treatment of people in their roles as producers. Thus economics was scorned as a useless science which only dealt with a fictional "''Home Economicus''" (a man only concerned with monetary profit). As Mises explains,

<blockquote>"For more than a hundred years, however, the effects of this radical change in the methods of reasoning were greatly restricted because people believed that they referred only to a narrow segment of the total field of human action, namely, to market phenomena. The classical economists met in the pursuit of their investigations an obstacle which they failed to remove, the apparent antinomy of value. Their theory of value was defective, and forced them to restrict the scope of their science. Until the late nineteenth century political economy remained a science of the "economic" aspects of human action, a theory of wealth and selfishness. It dealt with human action only to the extent that it is actuated by what was --very unsatisfactorily--described as the profit motive, and it asserted that there is in addition other human action whose treatment is the task of other disciplines. The transformation of thought which the classical economists had initiated was brought to its consummation only by modern subjectivist economics, which converted the theory of market prices into a general theory of human choice."<ref name="homoeconomicus">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

By "modern subjectivist economics", Mises is referring to economics after the formulation of the [[Marginal Theory of Value]], which, by explaining the link between market prices and consumer preferences, finally permitted the application of the methods introduced by economic science to the "whole man": man as consumer, as well as producer.

==Praxeology==

Mises goes on to write,

<blockquote>For a long time men failed to realize that the transition from the classical theory of value to the subjective theory of value was much more than the substitution of a more satisfactory theory of market exchange for a less satisfactory one. The general theory of choice and preference goes far beyond the horizon which encompassed the scope of economic problems as circumscribed by the economists from Cantillon, Hume, and Adam Smith down to John Stuart Mill. It is much more than merely a theory of the "economic side" of human endeavors and of man's striving for commodities and an improvement in his material well-being. It is the science of every kind of human action. Choosing determines all human decisions. In making his choice man chooses not only between various material things and services. All human values are offered for option. All ends and all means, both material and ideal issues, the sublime and the base, the noble and the ignoble, are ranged in a single row and subjected to a decision which picks out one thing and sets aside another. Nothing that men aim at or want to avoid remains outside of this arrangement into a unique scale of gradation and preference. The modern theory of value widens the scientific horizon and enlarges the field of economic studies. Out of the political economy of the classical school emerges the general theory of human action, praxeology. The economic or catallactic problems are embedded in a more general science, and can no longer be severed from this connection. No treatment of economic problems proper can avoid starting from acts of choice; economics becomes a part, although the hitherto best elaborated part, of a more universal science, praxeology.<ref name="praxeology">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

Mises himself was the first economist to explicitly delineate the "general theory of human choice" that subjective value theory made possible. He first began to do so in his [http://mises.org/epofe.asp "''Epistemological Problems in Economic Science''"](1933), in which he referred to the general theory of human choice as "sociology". He further advanced the theory in [http://mises.org/resources.aspx?Id=3250&html=1 "''Human Action''"] (1940), in which he referred to it as "praxeology".

==References==
<references />
[[Category:History]]

History of economic thought

2011-02-08T09:07:28Z

Dsanchez: Classification of Economic Science

The '''History of Economic Thought''' is the history of theories concerning human action, and especially concerning the market process.

==The Significance of the Advent Economic Science==

To quote [[Ludwig von Mises]]:

<blockquote>Economics is the youngest of all sciences. In the last two hundred years, it is true, many new sciences have emerged from the disciplines familiar to the ancient Greeks. However, what happened here was merely that parts of knowledge which had already found their place in the complex of the old system of learning now became autonomous. The field of study was more nicely subdivided and treated with new methods; hitherto unnoticed provinces were discovered in it, and people began to see things from aspects different from those of their precursors. The field itself was not expanded. But economics opened to human science a domain previously inaccessible and never thought of. The discovery of a regularity in the sequence and interdependence of market phenomena went beyond the limits of the traditional system of learning. It conveyed knowledge which could be regarded neither as logic, mathematics, psychology, physics, nor biology.<ref name="Mises_economics_in_history">Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "Introduction, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2010-02-05.</ref></blockquote>

Systematic treatments of logic, psychology, and biology were given as early as the 4th century B.C.<ref name="Aristotle">In [[Aristotle]]'s ''Organon'', ''De Anima'', and biological works</ref> The sciences of mathematics and physics are even older.<ref name="math_physics">Systematic treatments of mathematics were given by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. Systematic treatments of physics were given by the pre-socratic philosophers.</ref> Since ancient times, writers have made fragmentary insights into praxeological and economic considerations. However, economics as a science did not emerge until [[Richard Cantillon]]'s ''[[Essai Sur La Nature Du Commerce En Général]]'' (written in 1730, and published in 1755), which was the first unitary and systematic treatment of the market process.<ref name="Rothbard_Cantillon">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/4810 "Richard Cantillon: The Founding Father of Modern Economics], Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I "An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.</ref>

=''Wertfreiheit''=

The approach taken with social philosophy before the advent of economic science was largely normative and [[utopian]].<ref name="normative">Ludwig von Mises[http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "INTRODUCTION, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''Human Action'', online edition, reference 02-07-2011</ref> Yet, according to Mises,

<blockquote>"The discovery of the inescapable interdependence of market phenomena overthrew this opinion. Bewildered, people had to face a new view of society. They learned with stupefaction that there is another aspect from which human action might be viewed than that of good and bad, of fair and unfair, of just and unjust. In the course of social events there prevails a regularity of phenomena to which man must adjust his actions if he wishes to succeed. It is futile to approach social facts with the attitude of a censor who approves or disapproves from the point of view of quite arbitrary standards and subjective judgments of value. One must study the laws of human action and social cooperation as the physicist studies the laws of nature. Human action and social cooperation seen as the object of a science of given relations, no longer as a normative discipline of things that ought to be--this was a revolution of tremendous consequences for knowledge and philosophy as well as for social action."<ref name="normative">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

This "value-free" approach to the social sciences is known as "''wertfreiheit''".

=The Classification of Economic Science=

The methods with which the early economists discovered ineluctable laws in the realm of human affairs were fundamentally different from the methods that natural philosophers used to discover ineluctable laws in the realm of nature. While cognizant of the significance of their discoveries, the early economists did not realize how monumental their new ''methods'' were in the history of science.

<blockquote>In the new science everything seemed to be problematic. It was a stranger in the traditional system of knowledge; people were perplexed and did not know how to classify it and to assign it its proper place. But on the other hand they were convinced that the inclusion of economics in the catalogue of knowledge did not require a rearrangement or expansion of the total scheme. They considered their catalogue system complete. If economics did not fit into it, the fault could only rest with the unsatisfactory treatment that the economists applied to their problems.</blockquote>

[[Nassau William Senior]] (1790-1864) was one of the earliest economists to spell out the distinctness of the method of economic science. Further progress was made on this front by Carl Menger<ref name="menger">[http://mises.org/resources/4062/Investigations-Into-the-Method-of-the-Social-Sciences "''Untersuchungen uber die Methode der Sozialwissenschaften und der politischen Okonomie insbesondere (Investigations into the Method of the Social Sciences with Special Reference to Economics)''"]</ref> (1840-1921). The radical distinctions between economics and the other social sciences, and between the social sciences in general and the natural sciences, were finally fully elaborated by Ludwig von Mises<ref name="mises_method">In ''[http://mises.org/resources/116 "Epistemological Problems of Economics"], [http://mises.org/resources/3250 "Human Action"], [http://mises.org/resources/118 "Theory and History"], and [http://mises.org/resources/120 "The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science"]''.</ref>.

==The Limitations of Classical Political Economy==

The "Classical Political Economy" tradition of Adam Smith and David Ricardo failed to formulate a sound theory of value and prices. They were unable to make the theoretical connection between market prices and consumer preferences. For this reason, consumers were left largely out of the picture. This limited the new method introduced by economic science to the treatment of people in their roles as producers. Thus economics was scorned as a useless science which only dealt with a fictional "''Home Economicus''" (a man only concerned with monetary profit). As Mises explains,

<blockquote>"For more than a hundred years, however, the effects of this radical change in the methods of reasoning were greatly restricted because people believed that they referred only to a narrow segment of the total field of human action, namely, to market phenomena. The classical economists met in the pursuit of their investigations an obstacle which they failed to remove, the apparent antinomy of value. Their theory of value was defective, and forced them to restrict the scope of their science. Until the late nineteenth century political economy remained a science of the "economic" aspects of human action, a theory of wealth and selfishness. It dealt with human action only to the extent that it is actuated by what was --very unsatisfactorily--described as the profit motive, and it asserted that there is in addition other human action whose treatment is the task of other disciplines. The transformation of thought which the classical economists had initiated was brought to its consummation only by modern subjectivist economics, which converted the theory of market prices into a general theory of human choice."<ref name="homoeconomicus">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

By "modern subjectivist economics", Mises is referring to economics after the formulation of the [[Marginal Theory of Value]], which, by explaining the link between market prices and consumer preferences, finally permitted the application of the methods introduced by economic science to the "whole man": man as consumer, as well as producer.

==Praxeology==

Mises goes on to write,

<blockquote>For a long time men failed to realize that the transition from the classical theory of value to the subjective theory of value was much more than the substitution of a more satisfactory theory of market exchange for a less satisfactory one. The general theory of choice and preference goes far beyond the horizon which encompassed the scope of economic problems as circumscribed by the economists from Cantillon, Hume, and Adam Smith down to John Stuart Mill. It is much more than merely a theory of the "economic side" of human endeavors and of man's striving for commodities and an improvement in his material well-being. It is the science of every kind of human action. Choosing determines all human decisions. In making his choice man chooses not only between various material things and services. All human values are offered for option. All ends and all means, both material and ideal issues, the sublime and the base, the noble and the ignoble, are ranged in a single row and subjected to a decision which picks out one thing and sets aside another. Nothing that men aim at or want to avoid remains outside of this arrangement into a unique scale of gradation and preference. The modern theory of value widens the scientific horizon and enlarges the field of economic studies. Out of the political economy of the classical school emerges the general theory of human action, praxeology. The economic or catallactic problems are embedded in a more general science, and can no longer be severed from this connection. No treatment of economic problems proper can avoid starting from acts of choice; economics becomes a part, although the hitherto best elaborated part, of a more universal science, praxeology.<ref name="praxeology">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

Mises himself was the first economist to explicitly delineate the "general theory of human choice" that subjective value theory made possible. He first began to do so in his [http://mises.org/epofe.asp "''Epistemological Problems in Economic Science''"](1933), in which he referred to the general theory of human choice as "sociology". He further advanced the theory in [http://mises.org/resources.aspx?Id=3250&html=1 "''Human Action''"] (1940), in which he referred to it as "praxeology".

==References==
<references />
[[Category:History]]

User talk:Huckelberry

2011-02-07T09:51:41Z

Dsanchez:

{{TOC right}}
==Welcome!==

Hello, Huckelberry, and welcome to the [[MisesWiki:About|Mises Wiki]]! Thanks for signing up – we're glad to have you! If you need help [[Help:Getting started|getting started]], take a look at our [[Help:Contents|help pages]].

Community discussion takes place at the [[MisesWiki:Commons|MisesWiki Commons]], so feel free to post any questions you might have there or on my talk page. Please sign your messages on talk and discussion pages using four tildes (<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>); this will automatically insert your username and the date. Again, welcome! --[[User:Forgottenman|Forgottenman]] ([[User talk:Forgottenman|talk]]) 17:54, 5 February 2011 (CST)

==Capital goods==
Hallo, Huckelberry, I noticed you have made several good economic pages, big thanks for that! The page on Capital goods was already covered by [[Capital]], so I've turned it into a redirect; hope you don't mind that. Please let me know if anything was left out on that page! [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 13:53, 6 February 2011 (CST)

:Not at all! I noticed that after I had finished it--it was a good exercise nevertheless. [[User:Huckelberry|Huckelberry]] 14:03, 6 February 2011 (CST)

==Another welcome==
Huckelberry, you are off to a great start! Welcome to the group. (I did some slight cleanup to your talk page. Hope that's ok.) -- [[User:RayBirks|RayBirks]] 15:10, 6 February 2011 (CST)

:Thanks! Its good to be here. And of course, your cleaning/editing make for good learning. [[User:Huckelberry|Huckelberry]] 15:18, 6 February 2011 (CST)

::And, my apologies for misspelling the verb ''wikify'' earlier on my edit summary for [[Evenly Rotating Economy]], as I may have gotten you off on the wrong foot. When I used the '''Show preview''' button to check that edit, I forgot to proofread what I had typed in the edit '''Summary''' box. To ''wikify'' is, of course, to supply the set of double square brackets <nowiki>"[["</nowiki> and <nowiki>"]]"</nowiki> around a term so that it can link to another entry somewhere else on the wiki. I will try to pay even more attention to detail in the future. Meantime, keep up the great work! -- [[User:RayBirks|RayBirks]] 22:18, 6 February 2011 (CST)

:::Haha, I got the concept right.. just not the spelling. [[User:Huckelberry|Huckelberry]] 23:10, 6 February 2011 (CST)

==Utilitarianism==
Hi Huckelberry,
I hope you don't mind if I modify your utilitarianism definition (once I find time to). The way it is now makes it seem like "act utilitarianism" is THE utilitarianism. I think rule utilitarianism should have equal weight, and that, since it's the Mises Wiki, Mises' particular formulation of utilitarianism (which is distinctly different from Bentham's and Mill's) should be given center stage. Is that okay? [[User:Dsanchez|Dsanchez]] 03:51, 7 February 2011 (CST)

History of economic thought

2011-02-07T08:45:51Z

Dsanchez:

{{Stub}}

The '''History of Economic Thought''' is the history of theories concerning human action, and especially concerning the market process.

To quote [[Ludwig von Mises]]:

<blockquote>Economics is the youngest of all sciences. In the last two hundred years, it is true, many new sciences have emerged from the disciplines familiar to the ancient Greeks. However, what happened here was merely that parts of knowledge which had already found their place in the complex of the old system of learning now became autonomous. The field of study was more nicely subdivided and treated with new methods; hitherto unnoticed provinces were discovered in it, and people began to see things from aspects different from those of their precursors. The field itself was not expanded. But economics opened to human science a domain previously inaccessible and never thought of. The discovery of a regularity in the sequence and interdependence of market phenomena went beyond the limits of the traditional system of learning. It conveyed knowledge which could be regarded neither as logic, mathematics, psychology, physics, nor biology.<ref name="Mises_economics_in_history">Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "Introduction, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2010-02-05.</ref></blockquote>

Systematic treatments of logic, psychology, and biology were given as early as the 4th century B.C.<ref name="Aristotle">In [[Aristotle]]'s ''Organon'', ''De Anima'', and biological works</ref> The sciences of mathematics and physics are even older.<ref name="math_physics">Systematic treatments of mathematics were given by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. Systematic treatments of physics were given by the pre-socratic philosophers.</ref> Since ancient times, writers have made fragmentary insights into praxeological and economic considerations. However, economics as a science did not emerge until [[Richard Cantillon]]'s ''[[Essai Sur La Nature Du Commerce En Général]]'' (written in 1730, and published in 1755), which was the first unitary and systematic treatment of the market process.<ref name="Rothbard_Cantillon">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/4810 "Richard Cantillon: The Founding Father of Modern Economics], Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I "An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.</ref>

==''Wertfreiheit'' and the Advent Economic Science==

The approach taken with social philosophy before the advent of economic science was largely normative and [[utopian]].<ref name="normative">Ludwig von Mises[http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "INTRODUCTION, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''Human Action'', online edition, reference 02-07-2011</ref> Yet, according to Mises,

<blockquote>"The discovery of the inescapable interdependence of market phenomena overthrew this opinion. Bewildered, people had to face a new view of society. They learned with stupefaction that there is another aspect from which human action might be viewed than that of good and bad, of fair and unfair, of just and unjust. In the course of social events there prevails a regularity of phenomena to which man must adjust his actions if he wishes to succeed. It is futile to approach social facts with the attitude of a censor who approves or disapproves from the point of view of quite arbitrary standards and subjective judgments of value. One must study the laws of human action and social cooperation as the physicist studies the laws of nature. Human action and social cooperation seen as the object of a science of given relations, no longer as a normative discipline of things that ought to be--this was a revolution of tremendous consequences for knowledge and philosophy as well as for social action."<ref name="normative">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

This "value-free" approach to the social sciences is known as "''wertfreiheit''".

==The Limitations of Classical Political Economy==

The "Classical Political Economy" tradition of Adam Smith and David Ricardo failed to formulate a sound theory of value and prices. They were unable to make the theoretical connection between market prices and consumer preferences. For this reason, consumers were left largely out of the picture. This limited the new method introduced by economic science to the treatment of people in their roles as producers. Thus economics was scorned as a useless science which only dealt with a fictional "''Home Economicus''" (a man only concerned with monetary profit). As Mises explains,

<blockquote>"For more than a hundred years, however, the effects of this radical change in the methods of reasoning were greatly restricted because people believed that they referred only to a narrow segment of the total field of human action, namely, to market phenomena. The classical economists met in the pursuit of their investigations an obstacle which they failed to remove, the apparent antinomy of value. Their theory of value was defective, and forced them to restrict the scope of their science. Until the late nineteenth century political economy remained a science of the "economic" aspects of human action, a theory of wealth and selfishness. It dealt with human action only to the extent that it is actuated by what was --very unsatisfactorily--described as the profit motive, and it asserted that there is in addition other human action whose treatment is the task of other disciplines. The transformation of thought which the classical economists had initiated was brought to its consummation only by modern subjectivist economics, which converted the theory of market prices into a general theory of human choice."<ref name="homoeconomicus">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

By "modern subjectivist economics", Mises is referring to economics after the formulation of the [[Marginal Theory of Value]], which, by explaining the link between market prices and consumer preferences, finally permitted the application of the methods introduced by economic science to the "whole man": man as consumer, as well as producer.

==Praxeology==

Mises goes on to write,

<blockquote>For a long time men failed to realize that the transition from the classical theory of value to the subjective theory of value was much more than the substitution of a more satisfactory theory of market exchange for a less satisfactory one. The general theory of choice and preference goes far beyond the horizon which encompassed the scope of economic problems as circumscribed by the economists from Cantillon, Hume, and Adam Smith down to John Stuart Mill. It is much more than merely a theory of the "economic side" of human endeavors and of man's striving for commodities and an improvement in his material well-being. It is the science of every kind of human action. Choosing determines all human decisions. In making his choice man chooses not only between various material things and services. All human values are offered for option. All ends and all means, both material and ideal issues, the sublime and the base, the noble and the ignoble, are ranged in a single row and subjected to a decision which picks out one thing and sets aside another. Nothing that men aim at or want to avoid remains outside of this arrangement into a unique scale of gradation and preference. The modern theory of value widens the scientific horizon and enlarges the field of economic studies. Out of the political economy of the classical school emerges the general theory of human action, praxeology. The economic or catallactic problems are embedded in a more general science, and can no longer be severed from this connection. No treatment of economic problems proper can avoid starting from acts of choice; economics becomes a part, although the hitherto best elaborated part, of a more universal science, praxeology.<ref name="praxeology">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

Mises himself was the first economist to explicitly delineate the "general theory of human choice" that subjective value theory made possible. He first began to do so in his [http://mises.org/epofe.asp "''Epistemological Problems in Economic Science''"](1933), in which he referred to the general theory of human choice as "sociology". He further advanced the theory in [http://mises.org/resources.aspx?Id=3250&html=1 "''Human Action''"] (1940), in which he referred to it as "praxeology".

==References==
<references />
[[Category:History]]

Utopia

2011-02-07T08:31:31Z

Dsanchez:

{{stub}}

A '''utopia''' is a prospective ideal society. Socio-political schemes are considered particularly "utopian" when they are perceived to fail to give due regard to human nature, economic law, or any other primary consideration.

Ludwig von Mises, in discussing social philosophy before the advent of economic science, wrote:
<blockquote>"Other philosophers were more realistic. They did not try to guess the designs of Nature or God. They looked at human things from the viewpoint of government. They were intent upon establishing rules of political action, a technique, as it were, of government and statesmanship. Speculative minds drew ambitious plans for a thorough reform and reconstruction of society. The more modest were satisfied with a collection and systematization of the data of historical experience. But all were fully convinced that there was in the course of social events no such regularity and invariance of phenomena as had already been found in the operation of human reasoning and in the sequence of natural phenomena. They did not search for the laws of social cooperation because they thought that man could organize society as he pleased. If social conditions did not fulfill the wishes of the reformers, if their utopias proved unrealizable, the fault was seen in the moral failure of man. Social problems were considered ethical problems. What was needed in order to construct the ideal society, they thought, were good princes and virtuous citizens. With righteous men any utopia might be realized."<ref name="utopians">Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "Introduction, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2010-02-05.</ref></blockquote>

The tradition that Mises discusses above goes as far back as Plato's socio-political scheme in ''The Republic''<ref name="Plato">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/2054#1.5 "Plato's Right-wing Collectivist Utopia"], ''It all began, as usual, with the Greeks'', Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I ''An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought'', vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.]</ref>. Other notable pre-economic-science utopian reform theorists have been [[Sir Thomas More]]<ref name="More">Sir Thomas More, ''Utopia'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-contents.html "Etext"])</ref> and [[Sir Francis Bacon]]<ref name="Bacon">Sir Francis Bacon, ''The New Atlantis'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/bacon/atlantis.html "Etext"])</ref>.

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Political Philosophy]]

Utopia

2011-02-07T08:31:06Z

Dsanchez:

{{stub}}

A '''utopia''' is a prospective ideal society. Socio-political schemes are considered particularly "utopian" when they are perceived to fail to give due regard to human nature, economic law, or any other primary consideration.

Ludwig von Mises, in discussing social philosophy before the advent of economic science, wrote:
<blockquote>"Other philosophers were more realistic. They did not try to guess the designs of Nature or God. They looked at human things from the viewpoint of government. They were intent upon establishing rules of political action, a technique, as it were, of government and statesmanship. Speculative minds drew ambitious plans for a thorough reform and reconstruction of society. The more modest were satisfied with a collection and systematization of the data of historical experience. But all were fully convinced that there was in the course of social events no such regularity and invariance of phenomena as had already been found in the operation of human reasoning and in the sequence of natural phenomena. They did not search for the laws of social cooperation because they thought that man could organize society as he pleased. If social conditions did not fulfill the wishes of the reformers, if their utopias proved unrealizable, the fault was seen in the moral failure of man. Social problems were considered ethical problems. What was needed in order to construct the ideal society, they thought, were good princes and virtuous citizens. With righteous men any utopia might be realized."<ref name="utopians">Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "Introduction, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2010-02-05.</ref></blockquote>

The tradition that Mises discusses above goes as far back as Plato's socio-political scheme in ''The Republic''<ref name="Plato">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/2054#1.5 "Plato's Right-wing Collectivist Utopia"], ''It all began, as usual, with the Greeks'', Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I ''An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought'', vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.]</ref>. Other notable pre-economic-science utopian reform theorists have been [[Sir Thomas More]]<ref name="More">Sir Thomas More, ''Utopia'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-contents.html "Etext")</ref> and [[Sir Francis Bacon]]<ref name="Bacon">Sir Francis Bacon, ''The New Atlantis'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/bacon/atlantis.html "Etext"])</ref>.

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Political Philosophy]]

Utopia

2011-02-07T08:29:12Z

Dsanchez: HA reference

{{stub}}

A '''utopia''' is a prospective ideal society. Socio-political schemes are considered particularly "utopian" when they are perceived to fail to give due regard to human nature, economic law, or any other primary consideration.

Ludwig von Mises, in discussing social philosophy before the advent of economic science, wrote:
<blockquote>"Other philosophers were more realistic. They did not try to guess the designs of Nature or God. They looked at human things from the viewpoint of government. They were intent upon establishing rules of political action, a technique, as it were, of government and statesmanship. Speculative minds drew ambitious plans for a thorough reform and reconstruction of society. The more modest were satisfied with a collection and systematization of the data of historical experience. But all were fully convinced that there was in the course of social events no such regularity and invariance of phenomena as had already been found in the operation of human reasoning and in the sequence of natural phenomena. They did not search for the laws of social cooperation because they thought that man could organize society as he pleased. If social conditions did not fulfill the wishes of the reformers, if their utopias proved unrealizable, the fault was seen in the moral failure of man. Social problems were considered ethical problems. What was needed in order to construct the ideal society, they thought, were good princes and virtuous citizens. With righteous men any utopia might be realized."<ref name="utopians">Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "Introduction, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2010-02-05.</ref></blockquote>

The tradition that Mises discusses above goes as far back as Plato's socio-political scheme in ''The Republic''<ref name="Plato">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/2054#1.5 "Plato's Right-wing Collectivist Utopia"], ''It all began, as usual, with the Greeks'', Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I ''An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought'', vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.]</ref>. Other notable pre-economic-science utopian reform theorists have been [[Sir Thomas More]]<ref name="More">Sir Thomas More, ''Utopia'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-contents.html from Oregon State University "Etext") </ref> and [[Sir Francis Bacon]]<ref name="Bacon">Sir Francis Bacon, ''The New Atlantis'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/bacon/atlantis.html "Etext"])</ref>.

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Political Philosophy]]

History of economic thought

2011-02-07T08:26:07Z

Dsanchez:

{{Stub}}

The '''History of Economic Thought''' is the history of political economic theory.

To quote [[Ludwig von Mises]]:

<blockquote>Economics is the youngest of all sciences. In the last two hundred years, it is true, many new sciences have emerged from the disciplines familiar to the ancient Greeks. However, what happened here was merely that parts of knowledge which had already found their place in the complex of the old system of learning now became autonomous. The field of study was more nicely subdivided and treated with new methods; hitherto unnoticed provinces were discovered in it, and people began to see things from aspects different from those of their precursors. The field itself was not expanded. But economics opened to human science a domain previously inaccessible and never thought of. The discovery of a regularity in the sequence and interdependence of market phenomena went beyond the limits of the traditional system of learning. It conveyed knowledge which could be regarded neither as logic, mathematics, psychology, physics, nor biology.<ref name="Mises_economics_in_history">Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "Introduction, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2010-02-05.</ref></blockquote>

Systematic treatments of logic, psychology, and biology were given as early as the 4th century B.C.<ref name="Aristotle">In [[Aristotle]]'s ''Organon'', ''De Anima'', and biological works</ref> The sciences of mathematics and physics are even older.<ref name="math_physics">Systematic treatments of mathematics were given by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. Systematic treatments of physics were given by the pre-socratic philosophers.</ref> Since ancient times, writers have made fragmentary insights into praxeological and economic considerations. However, economics as a science did not emerge until [[Richard Cantillon]]'s ''[[Essai Sur La Nature Du Commerce En Général]]'' (written in 1730, and published in 1755), which was the first unitary and systematic treatment of the market process.<ref name="Rothbard_Cantillon">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/4810 "Richard Cantillon: The Founding Father of Modern Economics], Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I "An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.</ref>

==''Wertfreiheit'' and the Advent Economic Science==

The approach taken with social philosophy before the advent of economic science was largely normative and [[utopian]].<ref name="normative">Ludwig von Mises[http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "INTRODUCTION, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''Human Action'', online edition, reference 02-07-2011</ref> Yet, according to Mises,

<blockquote>"The discovery of the inescapable interdependence of market phenomena overthrew this opinion. Bewildered, people had to face a new view of society. They learned with stupefaction that there is another aspect from which human action might be viewed than that of good and bad, of fair and unfair, of just and unjust. In the course of social events there prevails a regularity of phenomena to which man must adjust his actions if he wishes to succeed. It is futile to approach social facts with the attitude of a censor who approves or disapproves from the point of view of quite arbitrary standards and subjective judgments of value. One must study the laws of human action and social cooperation as the physicist studies the laws of nature. Human action and social cooperation seen as the object of a science of given relations, no longer as a normative discipline of things that ought to be--this was a revolution of tremendous consequences for knowledge and philosophy as well as for social action."<ref name="normative">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

This "value-free" approach to the social sciences is known as "''wertfreiheit''".

==The Limitations of Classical Political Economy==

The "Classical Political Economy" tradition of Adam Smith and David Ricardo failed to formulate a sound theory of value and prices. They were unable to make the theoretical connection between market prices and consumer preferences. For this reason, consumers were left largely out of the picture. This limited the new method introduced by economic science to the treatment of people in their roles as producers. Thus economics was scorned as a useless science which only dealt with a fictional "''Home Economicus''" (a man only concerned with monetary profit). As Mises explains,

<blockquote>"For more than a hundred years, however, the effects of this radical change in the methods of reasoning were greatly restricted because people believed that they referred only to a narrow segment of the total field of human action, namely, to market phenomena. The classical economists met in the pursuit of their investigations an obstacle which they failed to remove, the apparent antinomy of value. Their theory of value was defective, and forced them to restrict the scope of their science. Until the late nineteenth century political economy remained a science of the "economic" aspects of human action, a theory of wealth and selfishness. It dealt with human action only to the extent that it is actuated by what was --very unsatisfactorily--described as the profit motive, and it asserted that there is in addition other human action whose treatment is the task of other disciplines. The transformation of thought which the classical economists had initiated was brought to its consummation only by modern subjectivist economics, which converted the theory of market prices into a general theory of human choice."<ref name="homoeconomicus">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

By "modern subjectivist economics", Mises is referring to economics after the formulation of the [[Marginal Theory of Value]], which, by explaining the link between market prices and consumer preferences, finally permitted the application of the methods introduced by economic science to the "whole man": man as consumer, as well as producer.

==Praxeology==

Mises goes on to write,

<blockquote>For a long time men failed to realize that the transition from the classical theory of value to the subjective theory of value was much more than the substitution of a more satisfactory theory of market exchange for a less satisfactory one. The general theory of choice and preference goes far beyond the horizon which encompassed the scope of economic problems as circumscribed by the economists from Cantillon, Hume, and Adam Smith down to John Stuart Mill. It is much more than merely a theory of the "economic side" of human endeavors and of man's striving for commodities and an improvement in his material well-being. It is the science of every kind of human action. Choosing determines all human decisions. In making his choice man chooses not only between various material things and services. All human values are offered for option. All ends and all means, both material and ideal issues, the sublime and the base, the noble and the ignoble, are ranged in a single row and subjected to a decision which picks out one thing and sets aside another. Nothing that men aim at or want to avoid remains outside of this arrangement into a unique scale of gradation and preference. The modern theory of value widens the scientific horizon and enlarges the field of economic studies. Out of the political economy of the classical school emerges the general theory of human action, praxeology. The economic or catallactic problems are embedded in a more general science, and can no longer be severed from this connection. No treatment of economic problems proper can avoid starting from acts of choice; economics becomes a part, although the hitherto best elaborated part, of a more universal science, praxeology.<ref name="praxeology">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

Mises himself was the first economist to explicitly delineate the "general theory of human choice" that subjective value theory made possible. He first began to do so in his [http://mises.org/epofe.asp "''Epistemological Problems in Economic Science''"](1933), in which he referred to the general theory of human choice as "sociology". He further advanced the theory in [http://mises.org/resources.aspx?Id=3250&html=1 "''Human Action''"] (1940), in which he referred to it as "praxeology".

==References==
<references />
[[Category:History]]

History of economic thought

2011-02-07T08:25:34Z

Dsanchez: "Limitations of Classical Political Economy" and "Praxeology"

{{Stub}}

The '''History of Economic Thought''' is the history of political economic theory.

To quote [[Ludwig von Mises]]:

<blockquote>Economics is the youngest of all sciences. In the last two hundred years, it is true, many new sciences have emerged from the disciplines familiar to the ancient Greeks. However, what happened here was merely that parts of knowledge which had already found their place in the complex of the old system of learning now became autonomous. The field of study was more nicely subdivided and treated with new methods; hitherto unnoticed provinces were discovered in it, and people began to see things from aspects different from those of their precursors. The field itself was not expanded. But economics opened to human science a domain previously inaccessible and never thought of. The discovery of a regularity in the sequence and interdependence of market phenomena went beyond the limits of the traditional system of learning. It conveyed knowledge which could be regarded neither as logic, mathematics, psychology, physics, nor biology.<ref name="Mises_economics_in_history">Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "Introduction, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2010-02-05.</ref></blockquote>

Systematic treatments of logic, psychology, and biology were given as early as the 4th century B.C.<ref name="Aristotle">In [[Aristotle]]'s ''Organon'', ''De Anima'', and biological works</ref> The sciences of mathematics and physics are even older.<ref name="math_physics">Systematic treatments of mathematics were given by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians. Systematic treatments of physics were given by the pre-socratic philosophers.</ref> Since ancient times, writers have made fragmentary insights into praxeological and economic considerations. However, economics as a science did not emerge until [[Richard Cantillon]]'s ''[[Essai Sur La Nature Du Commerce En Général]]'' (written in 1730, and published in 1755), which was the first unitary and systematic treatment of the market process.<ref name="Rothbard_Cantillon">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/4810 "Richard Cantillon: The Founding Father of Modern Economics], Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I "An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.</ref>

==Wertfreiheit and the Advent Economic Science==

The approach taken with social philosophy before the advent of economic science was largely normative and [[utopian]].<ref name="normative">Ludwig von Mises[http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "INTRODUCTION, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''Human Action'', online edition, reference 02-07-2011</ref> Yet, according to Mises,

<blockquote>"The discovery of the inescapable interdependence of market phenomena overthrew this opinion. Bewildered, people had to face a new view of society. They learned with stupefaction that there is another aspect from which human action might be viewed than that of good and bad, of fair and unfair, of just and unjust. In the course of social events there prevails a regularity of phenomena to which man must adjust his actions if he wishes to succeed. It is futile to approach social facts with the attitude of a censor who approves or disapproves from the point of view of quite arbitrary standards and subjective judgments of value. One must study the laws of human action and social cooperation as the physicist studies the laws of nature. Human action and social cooperation seen as the object of a science of given relations, no longer as a normative discipline of things that ought to be--this was a revolution of tremendous consequences for knowledge and philosophy as well as for social action."<ref name="normative">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

This "value-free" approach to the social sciences is known as "''wertfreiheit''".

==The Limitations of Classical Political Economy==

The "Classical Political Economy" tradition of Adam Smith and David Ricardo failed to formulate a sound theory of value and prices. They were unable to make the theoretical connection between market prices and consumer preferences. For this reason, consumers were left largely out of the picture. This limited the new method introduced by economic science to the treatment of people in their roles as producers. Thus economics was scorned as a useless science which only dealt with a fictional "''Home Economicus''" (a man only concerned with monetary profit). As Mises explains,

<blockquote>"For more than a hundred years, however, the effects of this radical change in the methods of reasoning were greatly restricted because people believed that they referred only to a narrow segment of the total field of human action, namely, to market phenomena. The classical economists met in the pursuit of their investigations an obstacle which they failed to remove, the apparent antinomy of value. Their theory of value was defective, and forced them to restrict the scope of their science. Until the late nineteenth century political economy remained a science of the "economic" aspects of human action, a theory of wealth and selfishness. It dealt with human action only to the extent that it is actuated by what was --very unsatisfactorily--described as the profit motive, and it asserted that there is in addition other human action whose treatment is the task of other disciplines. The transformation of thought which the classical economists had initiated was brought to its consummation only by modern subjectivist economics, which converted the theory of market prices into a general theory of human choice."<ref name="homoeconomicus">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

By "modern subjectivist economics", Mises is referring to economics after the formulation of the [[Marginal Theory of Value]], which, by explaining the link between market prices and consumer preferences, finally permitted the application of the methods introduced by economic science to the "whole man": man as consumer, as well as producer.

==Praxeology==

Mises goes on to write,

<blockquote>For a long time men failed to realize that the transition from the classical theory of value to the subjective theory of value was much more than the substitution of a more satisfactory theory of market exchange for a less satisfactory one. The general theory of choice and preference goes far beyond the horizon which encompassed the scope of economic problems as circumscribed by the economists from Cantillon, Hume, and Adam Smith down to John Stuart Mill. It is much more than merely a theory of the "economic side" of human endeavors and of man's striving for commodities and an improvement in his material well-being. It is the science of every kind of human action. Choosing determines all human decisions. In making his choice man chooses not only between various material things and services. All human values are offered for option. All ends and all means, both material and ideal issues, the sublime and the base, the noble and the ignoble, are ranged in a single row and subjected to a decision which picks out one thing and sets aside another. Nothing that men aim at or want to avoid remains outside of this arrangement into a unique scale of gradation and preference. The modern theory of value widens the scientific horizon and enlarges the field of economic studies. Out of the political economy of the classical school emerges the general theory of human action, praxeology. The economic or catallactic problems are embedded in a more general science, and can no longer be severed from this connection. No treatment of economic problems proper can avoid starting from acts of choice; economics becomes a part, although the hitherto best elaborated part, of a more universal science, praxeology.<ref name="praxeology">Mises, ''ibid.''</ref></blockquote>

Mises himself was the first economist to explicitly delineate the "general theory of human choice" that subjective value theory made possible. He first began to do so in his [http://mises.org/epofe.asp "''Epistemological Problems in Economic Science''"](1933), in which he referred to the general theory of human choice as "sociology". He further advanced the theory in [http://mises.org/resources.aspx?Id=3250&html=1 "''Human Action''"] (1940), in which he referred to it as "praxeology".

==References==
<references />
[[Category:History]]

Utopian

2011-02-07T07:35:35Z

Dsanchez: Redirected page to Utopia

#REDIRECT [[Utopia]]

Utopia

2011-02-07T07:23:00Z

Dsanchez:

{{stub}}

A '''utopia''' is a prospective ideal society. Socio-political schemes are considered particularly "utopian" when they are perceived to fail to give due regard to human nature, economic law, or any other primary consideration.

Ludwig von Mises, in discussing social philosophy before the advent of economic science, wrote:
<blockquote>"Other philosophers were more realistic. They did not try to guess the designs of Nature or God. They looked at human things from the viewpoint of government. They were intent upon establishing rules of political action, a technique, as it were, of government and statesmanship. Speculative minds drew ambitious plans for a thorough reform and reconstruction of society. The more modest were satisfied with a collection and systematization of the data of historical experience. But all were fully convinced that there was in the course of social events no such regularity and invariance of phenomena as had already been found in the operation of human reasoning and in the sequence of natural phenomena. They did not search for the laws of social cooperation because they thought that man could organize society as he pleased. If social conditions did not fulfill the wishes of the reformers, if their utopias proved unrealizable, the fault was seen in the moral failure of man. Social problems were considered ethical problems. What was needed in order to construct the ideal society, they thought, were good princes and virtuous citizens. With righteous men any utopia might be realized."</blockquote>

The tradition that Mises discusses above goes as far back as Plato's socio-political scheme in ''The Republic''<ref name="Plato">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/2054#1.5 "Plato's Right-wing Collectivist Utopia"], ''It all began, as usual, with the Greeks'', Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I ''An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought'', vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.]</ref>. Other notable pre-economic-science utopian reform theorists have been [[Sir Thomas More]]<ref name="More">Sir Thomas More, ''Utopia'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-contents.html from Oregon State University "Etext") </ref> and [[Sir Francis Bacon]]<ref name="Bacon">Sir Francis Bacon, ''The New Atlantis'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/bacon/atlantis.html "Etext"])</ref>.

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Political Philosophy]]

Utopia

2011-02-07T07:21:45Z

Dsanchez:

{{stub}}

A '''utopia''' is a prospective ideal society. Socio-political schemes are considered particularly "utopian" when they are perceived to fail to give due regard to human nature, economic law, or any other primary consideration.

Ludwig von Mises, in discussing social philosophy before the advent of economic science, wrote:
<blockquote>"Other philosophers were more realistic. They did not try to guess the designs of Nature or God. They looked at human things from the viewpoint of government. They were intent upon establishing rules of political action, a technique, as it were, of government and statesmanship. Speculative minds drew ambitious plans for a thorough reform and reconstruction of society. The more modest were satisfied with a collection and systematization of the data of historical experience. But all were fully convinced that there was in the course of social events no such regularity and invariance of phenomena as had already been found in the operation of human reasoning and in the sequence of natural phenomena. They did not search for the laws of social cooperation because they thought that man could organize society as he pleased. If social conditions did not fulfill the wishes of the reformers, if their utopias proved unrealizable, the fault was seen in the moral failure of man. Social problems were considered ethical problems. What was needed in order to construct the ideal society, they thought, were good princes and virtuous citizens. With righteous men any utopia might be realized."</blockquote>

The tradition that Mises discusses above goes as far back as Plato's socio-political scheme in ''The Republic''<ref name="Plato">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/2054#1.5 "Plato's Right-wing Collectivist Utopia"], ''It all began, as usual, with the Greeks'', Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I ''An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought'', vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.]</ref>. Other notable pre-economic-science utopian reform theorists have been [[Sir Thomas More]]<ref name="More">Sir Thomas More, ''Utopia'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-contents.html from Oregon State University "Etext") </ref> and [[Sir Francis Bacon]]<ref name="Bacon">Sir Francis Bacon, ''The New Atlantis'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/bacon/atlantis.html "Etext"]).

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Political Philosophy]]

Utopia

2011-02-07T07:20:17Z

Dsanchez:

{{stub}}

A '''utopia''' is a prospective ideal society. Socio-political schemes are considered particularly "utopian" when they are perceived to fail to give due regard to human nature, economic law, or any other primary consideration.

Ludwig von Mises, in discussing social philosophy before the advent of economic science, wrote:
<blockquote>"Other philosophers were more realistic. They did not try to guess the designs of Nature or God. They looked at human things from the viewpoint of government. They were intent upon establishing rules of political action, a technique, as it were, of government and statesmanship. Speculative minds drew ambitious plans for a thorough reform and reconstruction of society. The more modest were satisfied with a collection and systematization of the data of historical experience. But all were fully convinced that there was in the course of social events no such regularity and invariance of phenomena as had already been found in the operation of human reasoning and in the sequence of natural phenomena. They did not search for the laws of social cooperation because they thought that man could organize society as he pleased. If social conditions did not fulfill the wishes of the reformers, if their utopias proved unrealizable, the fault was seen in the moral failure of man. Social problems were considered ethical problems. What was needed in order to construct the ideal society, they thought, were good princes and virtuous citizens. With righteous men any utopia might be realized."</blockquote>

The tradition that Mises discusses above goes as far back as Plato's socio-political scheme in ''The Republic''<ref name="Plato">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/2054#1.5 "Plato's Right-wing Collectivist Utopia"], ''It all began, as usual, with the Greeks'', Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I ''An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought'', vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.]</ref>. Other notable pre-economic-science utopian reform theorists have been [[Sir Thomas More]]<ref name="More">Sir Thomas More, ''Utopia'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-contents.html from Oregon State University "Etext") </ref> and [[Sir Francis Bacon]]<ref name="Bacon">Sir Francis Bacon, ''The New Atlantis'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/bacon/atlantis.html "Etext"]).

==References==
<references />

Utopia

2011-02-07T07:19:58Z

Dsanchez:

{{stub}}

A '''utopia''' is a prospective ideal society. Socio-political schemes are considered particularly "utopian" when they are perceived to fail to give due regard to human nature, economic law, or any other primary consideration.

Ludwig von Mises, in discussing social philosophy before the advent of economic science, wrote:
<blockquote>"Other philosophers were more realistic. They did not try to guess the designs of Nature or God. They looked at human things from the viewpoint of government. They were intent upon establishing rules of political action, a technique, as it were, of government and statesmanship. Speculative minds drew ambitious plans for a thorough reform and reconstruction of society. The more modest were satisfied with a collection and systematization of the data of historical experience. But all were fully convinced that there was in the course of social events no such regularity and invariance of phenomena as had already been found in the operation of human reasoning and in the sequence of natural phenomena. They did not search for the laws of social cooperation because they thought that man could organize society as he pleased. If social conditions did not fulfill the wishes of the reformers, if their utopias proved unrealizable, the fault was seen in the moral failure of man. Social problems were considered ethical problems. What was needed in order to construct the ideal society, they thought, were good princes and virtuous citizens. With righteous men any utopia might be realized."</blockquote>

The tradition that Mises discusses above goes as far back as Plato's socio-political scheme in ''The Republic''<ref name="Plato">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/2054#1.5 "Plato's Right-wing Collectivist Utopia"], ''It all began, as usual, with the Greeks'', Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I ''An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought'', vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.]</ref>. Other notable pre-economic-science utopian reform theorists have been [[Sir Thomas More]]<ref name="More">Sir Thomas More, ''Utopia'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-contents.html from Oregon State University "Etext") </ref> and [[Sir Francis Bacon]]<ref name="Bacon">Sir Francis Bacon, ''The New Atlantis'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/bacon/atlantis.html "Etext"]).

==References==
<references/>

Utopia

2011-02-07T07:19:24Z

Dsanchez:

{{stub}}

A '''utopia''' is a prospective ideal society. Socio-political schemes are considered particularly "utopian" when they are perceived to fail to give due regard to human nature, economic law, or any other primary consideration.

Ludwig von Mises, in discussing social philosophy before the advent of economic science, wrote:
<blockquote>"Other philosophers were more realistic. They did not try to guess the designs of Nature or God. They looked at human things from the viewpoint of government. They were intent upon establishing rules of political action, a technique, as it were, of government and statesmanship. Speculative minds drew ambitious plans for a thorough reform and reconstruction of society. The more modest were satisfied with a collection and systematization of the data of historical experience. But all were fully convinced that there was in the course of social events no such regularity and invariance of phenomena as had already been found in the operation of human reasoning and in the sequence of natural phenomena. They did not search for the laws of social cooperation because they thought that man could organize society as he pleased. If social conditions did not fulfill the wishes of the reformers, if their utopias proved unrealizable, the fault was seen in the moral failure of man. Social problems were considered ethical problems. What was needed in order to construct the ideal society, they thought, were good princes and virtuous citizens. With righteous men any utopia might be realized."</blockquote>

The tradition that Mises discusses above goes as far back as Plato's socio-political scheme in ''The Republic''<ref name="Plato">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/2054#1.5 "Plato's Right-wing Collectivist Utopia"], ''It all began, as usual, with the Greeks'', Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I ''An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought'', vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.]</ref>. Other notable pre-economic-science utopian reform theorists have been [[Sir Thomas More]]<ref name="More">Sir Thomas More, ''Utopia'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-contents.html from Oregon State University "Etext") </ref> and [[Sir Francis Bacon]]<ref name="Bacon">Sir Francis Bacon, ''The New Atlantis'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/bacon/atlantis.html "Etext"]).

<references/>

Utopia

2011-02-07T07:18:15Z

Dsanchez:

A '''utopia''' is a prospective ideal society. Socio-political schemes are considered particularly "utopian" when they are perceived to fail to give due regard to human nature, economic law, or any other primary consideration.

Ludwig von Mises, in discussing social philosophy before the advent of economic science, wrote:
<blockquote>"Other philosophers were more realistic. They did not try to guess the designs of Nature or God. They looked at human things from the viewpoint of government. They were intent upon establishing rules of political action, a technique, as it were, of government and statesmanship. Speculative minds drew ambitious plans for a thorough reform and reconstruction of society. The more modest were satisfied with a collection and systematization of the data of historical experience. But all were fully convinced that there was in the course of social events no such regularity and invariance of phenomena as had already been found in the operation of human reasoning and in the sequence of natural phenomena. They did not search for the laws of social cooperation because they thought that man could organize society as he pleased. If social conditions did not fulfill the wishes of the reformers, if their utopias proved unrealizable, the fault was seen in the moral failure of man. Social problems were considered ethical problems. What was needed in order to construct the ideal society, they thought, were good princes and virtuous citizens. With righteous men any utopia might be realized."</blockquote>

The tradition that Mises discusses above goes as far back as Plato's socio-political scheme in ''The Republic''<ref name="Plato">Murray N. Rothbard, [http://mises.org/daily/2054#1.5 "Plato's Right-wing Collectivist Utopia"], ''It all began, as usual, with the Greeks'', Excerpted from [http://mises.org/resources/3985/Economic-Thought-Before-Adam-Smith-An-Austrian-Perspective-on-the-History-of-Economic-Thought-Volume-I ''An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought'', vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith"] (1995), referenced 2010-02-07.]</ref>. Other notable pre-economic-science utopian reform theorists have been [[Sir Thomas More]]<ref name="More">Sir Thomas More, ''Utopia'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/more/utopia-contents.html from Oregon State University "Etext") </ref> and [[Sir Francis Bacon]]<ref name="Bacon">Sir Francis Bacon, ''The New Atlantis'' ([http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/bacon/atlantis.html "Etext"]).

<references/>

Utopia

2011-02-07T07:17:55Z

Dsanchez: Mises quote, Republic, Utopia, New Atlantis

Thales

2011-02-07T06:34:32Z

Dsanchez: Extended, Diogenes Laertius reference added

{{Stub}}

'''Thales''' (c. 624 - c. 545 BC) was an ancient [[Greece|Greek]] natural philosopher, cosmologist, astronomer, and mathematician. He has been credited as being the founder of natural philosophy (and philosophy in general) as well as [[Geometry|geometry]].

==Background==

Thales, according to Herodotus, was, "a man of Miletus, of Phoenician descent".<ref>Herodotus, The Histories, [http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.mb.txt "Book I"]</ref> Miletus was an important Greek city state in the region called Ionia, on the west coast of Asia Minor. The Phoenicians were an ancient Levantine seafaring people. Thales' possible descent from a seafaring people gives a possible clue as to the origin of Thales' studies. The stars have been used for navigation since time immemorial, and Thales is alleged to have written a book entitled ''Nautical Astronomy''.<ref name="nautical">Diogenes Laertius, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0258:book%3D1:chapter%3D1#note-linka "Thales"], Lives of Eminent Philosophers, R.D. Hicks, Ed., Perseus Online Edition, accessed 02-07-2011.</ref> It is thus plausible that a nautical background led Thales to study astronomy, and this in turn led to considerations of cosmology, geometry, and natural philosophy.

<references/>

[[Category:Philosophers]]

German Idealism

2011-02-07T06:17:14Z

Dsanchez:

{{stub}}

[[Ludwig von Mises]] was, to a large extent, discussing '''German Idealism''' when he wrote:

<blockquote>"Philosophers had long since been eager to ascertain the ends which God or Nature was trying to realize in the course of human history. They searched for the law of mankind's destiny and evolution. But even those thinkers whose inquiry was free from any theological tendency failed utterly in these endeavors because they were committed to a faulty method. They dealt with humanity as a whole or with other holistic concepts like nation, race, or church. They set up quite arbitrarily the ends to which the behavior of such wholes is bound to lead. But they could not satisfactorily answer the question regarding what factors compelled the various acting individuals to behave in such a way that the goal aimed at by the whole's inexorable evolution was attained. They had recourse to desperate shifts: miraculous interference of the Deity either by revelation or by the delegation of God-sent prophets and consecrated leaders, preestablished harmony, predestination, or the operation of a mystic and fabulous "world soul" or "national soul." Others spoke of a "cunning of nature" which implanted in man impulses driving him unwittingly along precisely the path Nature wanted him to take."<ref name="Mises_endsofnature">Ludwig von Mises [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "Introduction, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2010-02-05.</ref></blockquote>

"Cunning of nature" is a Hegelian interpretation of Immanuel Kant's "plan of nature" doctrine<ref name="Deligiorgi">"This
expression was originally coined by Eric Weil to suggest a similarity with Hegel’s ‘cunning of reason’", Katerina Deligiorgi, [http://sussex.academia.edu/KaterinaDeligiorgi/Papers/219802/The_role_of_the_plan_of_naturein_Kants_account_of_history_from_a_philosophical_.. "The Role of the ‘Plan of Nature’ in Kant’s Account of History from a Philosophical Perspective], Footnote 3.</ref> "World soul" and "national soul" refer, respectively, to the concepts of ''weltgeist'' and ''volksgeist'', both of which are associated with the philosophical system of G.W.F. Hegel<ref name="Hegel_geist">"Spirit, so far as it is the immediate, truth, is the ethical life of a nation:--the individual, which is a world.", G.W.F. Hegel, The Phenomenology of the Mind, [http://www.class.uidaho.edu/mickelsen/texts/Hegel%20Phen/hegel%20phen%20ch%20VI.htm "Chapter VI" (accessed 02-07-2011).</ref> According to Mises, Hegel purported to be a kind of prophet of ''Geist''.<ref name="prophet">"Hegel... was laboring under the delusion that Geist, the Absolute, revealed itself through his words. There was nothing in the universe that was hidden to Hegel." Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap3sec1.asp "Chapter III. Economics and the Revolt Against Reason: The Revolt Against Reason"], ''Human Action'', online edition, accessed 02-07-2011.</ref>

Mises was highly critical of these holistic doctrines, because they posited that "society is an entity living its own life, independent of and separate from the lives of the various individuals, acting on its own behalf and aiming at its own ends which are different from the ends sought by the individuals." Mises argued that only individuals act, and therefore starting "the study of human action from the collective units"<ref name="collectivism">Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec4.asp "Chapter II. The Epistemological Problems of the Sciences of Human Action, 4. The Principle of Methodological Individualism"], ''Human Action'', online edition, accessed 02-07-2011.</ref> is unsound. Instead, Mises adhered to the principle of [[methodological individualism]]<ref name="individualism">"First we must realize that all actions are performed by individuals. A collective operates always through the intermediary of one or several individuals whose actions are related to the collective as the secondary source. It is the meaning which the acting individuals and all those who are touched by their action attribute to an action, that determines its character.", Ludwig von Mises, [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec4.asp "Chapter II. The Epistemological Problems of the Sciences of Human Action, 4. The Principle of Methodological Individualism"], ''Human Action'', online edition, accessed 02-07-2011.</ref>

<references/>
[[Category:Philosophical Movements]]