<?xml version="1.0"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xml:lang="en">
	<id>https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?action=history&amp;feed=atom&amp;title=Methodological_individualism</id>
	<title>Methodological individualism - Revision history</title>
	<link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?action=history&amp;feed=atom&amp;title=Methodological_individualism"/>
	<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;action=history"/>
	<updated>2026-08-16T05:30:30Z</updated>
	<subtitle>Revision history for this page on the wiki</subtitle>
	<generator>MediaWiki 1.43.9</generator>
	<entry>
		<id>https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=25731&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>ArchiveBot: Repoint 1 dead mises.org link to the archived original (automated; see Austrian Economics Wiki:Link repointing)</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=25731&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2026-08-16T04:26:31Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Repoint 1 dead mises.org link to the archived original (automated; see &lt;a href=&quot;/wiki/Austrian_Economics_Wiki:Link_repointing&quot; title=&quot;Austrian Economics Wiki:Link repointing&quot;&gt;Austrian Economics Wiki:Link repointing&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 04:26, 16 August 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l6&quot;&gt;Line 6:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 6:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Such phraseology as &amp;quot;the movement should do x&amp;quot; is just a shorthand. Obviously, movements act by means of their individuals taking certain actions;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=I and We|author=Mises, Ludwig von|title=Human Action|quote=The We cannot act otherwise than each of them acting on his own behalf. They can either all act together in accord; or one of them may act for them all. In the latter case the cooperation of the others consists in their bringing about the situation which makes one man&amp;#039;s action effective for them too. Only in this sense does the officer of a social entity act for the whole; the individual members of the collective body either cause or allow a single man&amp;#039;s action to concern them too.|url=https://freecapitalists.org/books/human-action/read/chapter-ii-the-epistemological-problems-of-the-sciences-of/}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; this is common knowledge, so it should not be necessary to state it the long way. As long as the shorthand does not lead to fallacious thinking, its use is okay.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Such phraseology as &amp;quot;the movement should do x&amp;quot; is just a shorthand. Obviously, movements act by means of their individuals taking certain actions;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=I and We|author=Mises, Ludwig von|title=Human Action|quote=The We cannot act otherwise than each of them acting on his own behalf. They can either all act together in accord; or one of them may act for them all. In the latter case the cooperation of the others consists in their bringing about the situation which makes one man&amp;#039;s action effective for them too. Only in this sense does the officer of a social entity act for the whole; the individual members of the collective body either cause or allow a single man&amp;#039;s action to concern them too.|url=https://freecapitalists.org/books/human-action/read/chapter-ii-the-epistemological-problems-of-the-sciences-of/}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; this is common knowledge, so it should not be necessary to state it the long way. As long as the shorthand does not lead to fallacious thinking, its use is okay.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;There is no hive mind, but we are not totally uninfluenced by one another&#039;s actions either. Libertarians (e.g. Mises,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|quote=Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people&#039;s authority, he behaves as &quot;every decent fellow must behave,&quot; he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action|url=https://freecapitalists.org/books/human-action/read/chapter-ii-the-epistemological-problems-of-the-sciences-of/}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Rothbard&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=Resistance to Liberty|title=For a New Liberty|url=&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;http&lt;/del&gt;://&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;mises&lt;/del&gt;.org/&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;rothbard&lt;/del&gt;/&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;newlibertywhole.asp&lt;/del&gt;|quote=In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas.}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;) have often pointed out that the masses do not think and analyze all that much, but mostly rely on intellectuals to think for them. However, there are a lot of intellectuals out there with competing theories about what are the best policies and strategies, and the masses pick whichever ideas sound like they will further their interests the most. In some cases, these ideas have been revolutionary ideas that led to successful revolutions.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;There is no hive mind, but we are not totally uninfluenced by one another&#039;s actions either. Libertarians (e.g. Mises,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|quote=Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people&#039;s authority, he behaves as &quot;every decent fellow must behave,&quot; he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action|url=https://freecapitalists.org/books/human-action/read/chapter-ii-the-epistemological-problems-of-the-sciences-of/}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Rothbard&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=Resistance to Liberty|title=For a New Liberty|url=&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;https&lt;/ins&gt;://&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;freecapitalists&lt;/ins&gt;.org/&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;books/for-a-new-liberty-the-libertarian-manifesto&lt;/ins&gt;/|quote=In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas.}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;) have often pointed out that the masses do not think and analyze all that much, but mostly rely on intellectuals to think for them. However, there are a lot of intellectuals out there with competing theories about what are the best policies and strategies, and the masses pick whichever ideas sound like they will further their interests the most. In some cases, these ideas have been revolutionary ideas that led to successful revolutions.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;

&lt;!-- diff cache key wiki_freecapitalists_org_nCF8x6NO:diff:1.41:old-25505:rev-25731:php=table --&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>ArchiveBot</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=25505&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>ArchiveBot: Repoint 4 dead mises.org links to the archived original (automated; see Austrian Economics Wiki:Link repointing)</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=25505&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2026-08-16T04:22:30Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Repoint 4 dead mises.org links to the archived original (automated; see &lt;a href=&quot;/wiki/Austrian_Economics_Wiki:Link_repointing&quot; title=&quot;Austrian Economics Wiki:Link repointing&quot;&gt;Austrian Economics Wiki:Link repointing&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 04:22, 16 August 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;Methodological individualism&#039;&#039;&#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities which can act in and of themselves but only through the action of the individual members of which they are composed. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;http&lt;/del&gt;://&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;mises&lt;/del&gt;.org/&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;resources&lt;/del&gt;/&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;6136/The&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Austrian&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;School&lt;/del&gt;-of-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Economics&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;A&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;History&lt;/del&gt;-of-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Its&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Ideas&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Ambassadors&lt;/del&gt;-and-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Institutions &lt;/del&gt;&quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was developed earlier by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger in the late 19th century was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &quot;the people&quot;, &quot;the economy&quot;, and &quot;the nation&quot; to be entities in their own right whose actions were influenced by factors over and above the action of individuals.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;http&lt;/del&gt;://&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;mises&lt;/del&gt;.org/&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;resources&lt;/del&gt;/&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;6136/The&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Austrian&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;School&lt;/del&gt;-of-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Economics&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;A&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;History&lt;/del&gt;-of-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Its&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Ideas&lt;/del&gt;-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Ambassadors&lt;/del&gt;-and-&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Institutions &lt;/del&gt;&quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Methodological individualism on the other hand does not deny the outright existence of collectives such as nations, economies, or classes, rather just denies that the action of such entities can be explained by anything other then the actions of their individual members.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;Methodological individualism&#039;&#039;&#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities which can act in and of themselves but only through the action of the individual members of which they are composed. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;https&lt;/ins&gt;://&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;freecapitalists&lt;/ins&gt;.org/&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;books&lt;/ins&gt;/&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;the&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;austrian&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;school&lt;/ins&gt;-of-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;economics&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;a&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;history&lt;/ins&gt;-of-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;its&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;ideas&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;ambassadors&lt;/ins&gt;-and-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;institutions/ &lt;/ins&gt;&quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was developed earlier by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger in the late 19th century was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &quot;the people&quot;, &quot;the economy&quot;, and &quot;the nation&quot; to be entities in their own right whose actions were influenced by factors over and above the action of individuals.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;https&lt;/ins&gt;://&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;freecapitalists&lt;/ins&gt;.org/&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;books&lt;/ins&gt;/&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;the&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;austrian&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;school&lt;/ins&gt;-of-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;economics&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;a&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;history&lt;/ins&gt;-of-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;its&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;ideas&lt;/ins&gt;-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;ambassadors&lt;/ins&gt;-and-&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;institutions/ &lt;/ins&gt;&quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Methodological individualism on the other hand does not deny the outright existence of collectives such as nations, economies, or classes, rather just denies that the action of such entities can be explained by anything other then the actions of their individual members.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Abuse==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Abuse==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Methodological individualism is sometimes abused to say, in responses to suggestions that the [[libertarian]] movement should take a certain action, &amp;quot;The problem is that what is good for &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; is irrelevant because we are individuals making decisions. We do not work as a unit or hive mind. So while &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; might achieve change in the ways you suggest, it does not indicate what individuals should or could do.&amp;quot; This is fallacious reasoning (specifically, the [[fallacy of misplaced concreteness]]) because to say that &amp;quot;the movement should do x&amp;quot; is the same as saying &amp;quot;the individuals in the movement should do y.&amp;quot; Or, given that there is usually a division of labor, it is like saying, &amp;quot;Individual A should y; individual B should do z; etc.&amp;quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Methodological individualism is sometimes abused to say, in responses to suggestions that the [[libertarian]] movement should take a certain action, &amp;quot;The problem is that what is good for &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; is irrelevant because we are individuals making decisions. We do not work as a unit or hive mind. So while &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; might achieve change in the ways you suggest, it does not indicate what individuals should or could do.&amp;quot; This is fallacious reasoning (specifically, the [[fallacy of misplaced concreteness]]) because to say that &amp;quot;the movement should do x&amp;quot; is the same as saying &amp;quot;the individuals in the movement should do y.&amp;quot; Or, given that there is usually a division of labor, it is like saying, &amp;quot;Individual A should y; individual B should do z; etc.&amp;quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Such phraseology as &quot;the movement should do x&quot; is just a shorthand. Obviously, movements act by means of their individuals taking certain actions;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=I and We|author=Mises, Ludwig von|title=Human Action|quote=The We cannot act otherwise than each of them acting on his own behalf. They can either all act together in accord; or one of them may act for them all. In the latter case the cooperation of the others consists in their bringing about the situation which makes one man&#039;s action effective for them too. Only in this sense does the officer of a social entity act for the whole; the individual members of the collective body either cause or allow a single man&#039;s action to concern them too.|url=https://&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;mises.&lt;/del&gt;freecapitalists.org/&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;humanaction&lt;/del&gt;/&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;chap2sec4.asp&lt;/del&gt;}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; this is common knowledge, so it should not be necessary to state it the long way. As long as the shorthand does not lead to fallacious thinking, its use is okay.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Such phraseology as &quot;the movement should do x&quot; is just a shorthand. Obviously, movements act by means of their individuals taking certain actions;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=I and We|author=Mises, Ludwig von|title=Human Action|quote=The We cannot act otherwise than each of them acting on his own behalf. They can either all act together in accord; or one of them may act for them all. In the latter case the cooperation of the others consists in their bringing about the situation which makes one man&#039;s action effective for them too. Only in this sense does the officer of a social entity act for the whole; the individual members of the collective body either cause or allow a single man&#039;s action to concern them too.|url=https://freecapitalists.org/&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;books/human-action/read/chapter-ii-the-epistemological-problems-of-the-sciences-of&lt;/ins&gt;/}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; this is common knowledge, so it should not be necessary to state it the long way. As long as the shorthand does not lead to fallacious thinking, its use is okay.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;There is no hive mind, but we are not totally uninfluenced by one another&#039;s actions either. Libertarians (e.g. Mises,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|quote=Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people&#039;s authority, he behaves as &quot;every decent fellow must behave,&quot; he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action|url=https://&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;mises.&lt;/del&gt;freecapitalists.org/&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;humanaction&lt;/del&gt;/&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;chap2sec6.asp&lt;/del&gt;}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Rothbard&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=Resistance to Liberty|title=For a New Liberty|url=http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp|quote=In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas.}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;) have often pointed out that the masses do not think and analyze all that much, but mostly rely on intellectuals to think for them. However, there are a lot of intellectuals out there with competing theories about what are the best policies and strategies, and the masses pick whichever ideas sound like they will further their interests the most. In some cases, these ideas have been revolutionary ideas that led to successful revolutions.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;There is no hive mind, but we are not totally uninfluenced by one another&#039;s actions either. Libertarians (e.g. Mises,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|quote=Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people&#039;s authority, he behaves as &quot;every decent fellow must behave,&quot; he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action|url=https://freecapitalists.org/&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;books/human-action/read/chapter-ii-the-epistemological-problems-of-the-sciences-of&lt;/ins&gt;/}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Rothbard&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=Resistance to Liberty|title=For a New Liberty|url=http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp|quote=In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas.}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;) have often pointed out that the masses do not think and analyze all that much, but mostly rely on intellectuals to think for them. However, there are a lot of intellectuals out there with competing theories about what are the best policies and strategies, and the masses pick whichever ideas sound like they will further their interests the most. In some cases, these ideas have been revolutionary ideas that led to successful revolutions.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>ArchiveBot</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=25017&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>ArchiveBot: Repoint 2 dead mises.org links to the archived original (automated; see Austrian Economics Wiki:Link repointing)</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=25017&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2026-08-16T04:09:15Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;Repoint 2 dead mises.org links to the archived original (automated; see &lt;a href=&quot;/wiki/Austrian_Economics_Wiki:Link_repointing&quot; title=&quot;Austrian Economics Wiki:Link repointing&quot;&gt;Austrian Economics Wiki:Link repointing&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 04:09, 16 August 2026&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l4&quot;&gt;Line 4:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 4:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Methodological individualism is sometimes abused to say, in responses to suggestions that the [[libertarian]] movement should take a certain action, &amp;quot;The problem is that what is good for &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; is irrelevant because we are individuals making decisions. We do not work as a unit or hive mind. So while &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; might achieve change in the ways you suggest, it does not indicate what individuals should or could do.&amp;quot; This is fallacious reasoning (specifically, the [[fallacy of misplaced concreteness]]) because to say that &amp;quot;the movement should do x&amp;quot; is the same as saying &amp;quot;the individuals in the movement should do y.&amp;quot; Or, given that there is usually a division of labor, it is like saying, &amp;quot;Individual A should y; individual B should do z; etc.&amp;quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Methodological individualism is sometimes abused to say, in responses to suggestions that the [[libertarian]] movement should take a certain action, &amp;quot;The problem is that what is good for &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; is irrelevant because we are individuals making decisions. We do not work as a unit or hive mind. So while &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; might achieve change in the ways you suggest, it does not indicate what individuals should or could do.&amp;quot; This is fallacious reasoning (specifically, the [[fallacy of misplaced concreteness]]) because to say that &amp;quot;the movement should do x&amp;quot; is the same as saying &amp;quot;the individuals in the movement should do y.&amp;quot; Or, given that there is usually a division of labor, it is like saying, &amp;quot;Individual A should y; individual B should do z; etc.&amp;quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Such phraseology as &quot;the movement should do x&quot; is just a shorthand. Obviously, movements act by means of their individuals taking certain actions;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=I and We|author=Mises, Ludwig von|title=Human Action|quote=The We cannot act otherwise than each of them acting on his own behalf. They can either all act together in accord; or one of them may act for them all. In the latter case the cooperation of the others consists in their bringing about the situation which makes one man&#039;s action effective for them too. Only in this sense does the officer of a social entity act for the whole; the individual members of the collective body either cause or allow a single man&#039;s action to concern them too.|url=&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;http&lt;/del&gt;://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec4.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; this is common knowledge, so it should not be necessary to state it the long way. As long as the shorthand does not lead to fallacious thinking, its use is okay.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Such phraseology as &quot;the movement should do x&quot; is just a shorthand. Obviously, movements act by means of their individuals taking certain actions;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=I and We|author=Mises, Ludwig von|title=Human Action|quote=The We cannot act otherwise than each of them acting on his own behalf. They can either all act together in accord; or one of them may act for them all. In the latter case the cooperation of the others consists in their bringing about the situation which makes one man&#039;s action effective for them too. Only in this sense does the officer of a social entity act for the whole; the individual members of the collective body either cause or allow a single man&#039;s action to concern them too.|url=&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;https&lt;/ins&gt;://mises&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;.freecapitalists&lt;/ins&gt;.org/humanaction/chap2sec4.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; this is common knowledge, so it should not be necessary to state it the long way. As long as the shorthand does not lead to fallacious thinking, its use is okay.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;There is no hive mind, but we are not totally uninfluenced by one another&#039;s actions either. Libertarians (e.g. Mises,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|quote=Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people&#039;s authority, he behaves as &quot;every decent fellow must behave,&quot; he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action|url=&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;http&lt;/del&gt;://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec6.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Rothbard&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=Resistance to Liberty|title=For a New Liberty|url=http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp|quote=In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas.}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;) have often pointed out that the masses do not think and analyze all that much, but mostly rely on intellectuals to think for them. However, there are a lot of intellectuals out there with competing theories about what are the best policies and strategies, and the masses pick whichever ideas sound like they will further their interests the most. In some cases, these ideas have been revolutionary ideas that led to successful revolutions.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;There is no hive mind, but we are not totally uninfluenced by one another&#039;s actions either. Libertarians (e.g. Mises,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|quote=Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people&#039;s authority, he behaves as &quot;every decent fellow must behave,&quot; he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action|url=&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;https&lt;/ins&gt;://mises&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;.freecapitalists&lt;/ins&gt;.org/humanaction/chap2sec6.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Rothbard&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=Resistance to Liberty|title=For a New Liberty|url=http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp|quote=In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas.}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;) have often pointed out that the masses do not think and analyze all that much, but mostly rely on intellectuals to think for them. However, there are a lot of intellectuals out there with competing theories about what are the best policies and strategies, and the masses pick whichever ideas sound like they will further their interests the most. In some cases, these ideas have been revolutionary ideas that led to successful revolutions.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>ArchiveBot</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17561&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>FormerContributor-78162cb3: /* Abuse */</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17561&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2012-09-04T07:19:51Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Abuse&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 07:19, 4 September 2012&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l4&quot;&gt;Line 4:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 4:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Methodological individualism is sometimes abused to say, in responses to suggestions that the [[libertarian]] movement should take a certain action, &amp;quot;The problem is that what is good for &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; is irrelevant because we are individuals making decisions. We do not work as a unit or hive mind. So while &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; might achieve change in the ways you suggest, it does not indicate what individuals should or could do.&amp;quot; This is fallacious reasoning (specifically, the [[fallacy of misplaced concreteness]]) because to say that &amp;quot;the movement should do x&amp;quot; is the same as saying &amp;quot;the individuals in the movement should do y.&amp;quot; Or, given that there is usually a division of labor, it is like saying, &amp;quot;Individual A should y; individual B should do z; etc.&amp;quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Methodological individualism is sometimes abused to say, in responses to suggestions that the [[libertarian]] movement should take a certain action, &amp;quot;The problem is that what is good for &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; is irrelevant because we are individuals making decisions. We do not work as a unit or hive mind. So while &amp;#039;the movement&amp;#039; might achieve change in the ways you suggest, it does not indicate what individuals should or could do.&amp;quot; This is fallacious reasoning (specifically, the [[fallacy of misplaced concreteness]]) because to say that &amp;quot;the movement should do x&amp;quot; is the same as saying &amp;quot;the individuals in the movement should do y.&amp;quot; Or, given that there is usually a division of labor, it is like saying, &amp;quot;Individual A should y; individual B should do z; etc.&amp;quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Such phraseology as &quot;the movement should do x&quot; is just a shorthand. Obviously, movements act by means of their individuals taking certain actions; &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;everyone knows this,&lt;/del&gt;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=I and We|author=Mises, Ludwig von|title=Human Action|quote=The We cannot act otherwise than each of them acting on his own behalf. They can either all act together in accord; or one of them may act for them all. In the latter case the cooperation of the others consists in their bringing about the situation which makes one man&#039;s action effective for them too. Only in this sense does the officer of a social entity act for the whole; the individual members of the collective body either cause or allow a single man&#039;s action to concern them too.|url=http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec4.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; so it should not be necessary to state it the long way. As long as the shorthand does not lead to fallacious thinking, its use is okay.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Such phraseology as &quot;the movement should do x&quot; is just a shorthand. Obviously, movements act by means of their individuals taking certain actions;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=I and We|author=Mises, Ludwig von|title=Human Action|quote=The We cannot act otherwise than each of them acting on his own behalf. They can either all act together in accord; or one of them may act for them all. In the latter case the cooperation of the others consists in their bringing about the situation which makes one man&#039;s action effective for them too. Only in this sense does the officer of a social entity act for the whole; the individual members of the collective body either cause or allow a single man&#039;s action to concern them too.|url=http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec4.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;this is common knowledge, &lt;/ins&gt;so it should not be necessary to state it the long way. As long as the shorthand does not lead to fallacious thinking, its use is okay.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;There is no hive mind, but we are not totally uninfluenced by one another&amp;#039;s actions either. Libertarians (e.g. Mises,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|quote=Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people&amp;#039;s authority, he behaves as &amp;quot;every decent fellow must behave,&amp;quot; he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action|url=http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec6.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Rothbard&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=Resistance to Liberty|title=For a New Liberty|url=http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp|quote=In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas.}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;) have often pointed out that the masses do not think and analyze all that much, but mostly rely on intellectuals to think for them. However, there are a lot of intellectuals out there with competing theories about what are the best policies and strategies, and the masses pick whichever ideas sound like they will further their interests the most. In some cases, these ideas have been revolutionary ideas that led to successful revolutions.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;There is no hive mind, but we are not totally uninfluenced by one another&amp;#039;s actions either. Libertarians (e.g. Mises,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|quote=Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people&amp;#039;s authority, he behaves as &amp;quot;every decent fellow must behave,&amp;quot; he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action|url=http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec6.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Rothbard&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=Resistance to Liberty|title=For a New Liberty|url=http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp|quote=In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas.}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;) have often pointed out that the masses do not think and analyze all that much, but mostly rely on intellectuals to think for them. However, there are a lot of intellectuals out there with competing theories about what are the best policies and strategies, and the masses pick whichever ideas sound like they will further their interests the most. In some cases, these ideas have been revolutionary ideas that led to successful revolutions.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;

&lt;!-- diff cache key wiki_freecapitalists_org_nCF8x6NO:diff:1.41:old-17560:rev-17561:php=table --&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>FormerContributor-78162cb3</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17560&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>FormerContributor-78162cb3: /* Abuse */</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17560&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2012-09-04T07:18:48Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;autocomment&quot;&gt;Abuse&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 07:18, 4 September 2012&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l2&quot;&gt;Line 2:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 2:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Abuse==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==Abuse==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Methodological individualism is sometimes abused to say, in responses to suggestions that the [[libertarian]] movement should take a certain action, &quot;The problem is that what is good for &#039;the movement&#039; is irrelevant because we are individuals making decisions. We do not work as a unit or hive mind. So while &#039;the movement&#039; might achieve change in the ways you suggest, it does not indicate what individuals should or could do.&quot; This is fallacious reasoning (specifically, the [[fallacy of misplaced concreteness]]) because to say that &quot;the movement should do x&quot; is the same as saying &quot;the individuals in the movement should do y.&quot; Or, given that there&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&#039;s &lt;/del&gt;usually a division of labor, it&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&#039;s &lt;/del&gt;like saying, &quot;Individual A should y; individual B should do z; etc.&quot; Such phraseology is just a shorthand. Obviously, movements act by means of their individuals taking certain actions; everyone knows this, so it should not be necessary to state it the long way. As long as the shorthand does not lead to fallacious thinking, its use is okay.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Methodological individualism is sometimes abused to say, in responses to suggestions that the [[libertarian]] movement should take a certain action, &quot;The problem is that what is good for &#039;the movement&#039; is irrelevant because we are individuals making decisions. We do not work as a unit or hive mind. So while &#039;the movement&#039; might achieve change in the ways you suggest, it does not indicate what individuals should or could do.&quot; This is fallacious reasoning (specifically, the [[fallacy of misplaced concreteness]]) because to say that &quot;the movement should do x&quot; is the same as saying &quot;the individuals in the movement should do y.&quot; Or, given that there &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;is &lt;/ins&gt;usually a division of labor, it &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;is &lt;/ins&gt;like saying, &quot;Individual A should y; individual B should do z; etc.&quot;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-deleted&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-deleted&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;Such phraseology &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;as &quot;the movement should do x&quot; &lt;/ins&gt;is just a shorthand. Obviously, movements act by means of their individuals taking certain actions; everyone knows this,&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=I and We|author=Mises, Ludwig von|title=Human Action|quote=The We cannot act otherwise than each of them acting on his own behalf. They can either all act together in accord; or one of them may act for them all. In the latter case the cooperation of the others consists in their bringing about the situation which makes one man&#039;s action effective for them too. Only in this sense does the officer of a social entity act for the whole; the individual members of the collective body either cause or allow a single man&#039;s action to concern them too.|url=http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec4.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; &lt;/ins&gt;so it should not be necessary to state it the long way. As long as the shorthand does not lead to fallacious thinking, its use is okay.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;There is no hive mind, but we are not totally uninfluenced by one another&amp;#039;s actions either. Libertarians (e.g. Mises,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|quote=Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people&amp;#039;s authority, he behaves as &amp;quot;every decent fellow must behave,&amp;quot; he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action|url=http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec6.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Rothbard&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=Resistance to Liberty|title=For a New Liberty|url=http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp|quote=In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas.}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;) have often pointed out that the masses do not think and analyze all that much, but mostly rely on intellectuals to think for them. However, there are a lot of intellectuals out there with competing theories about what are the best policies and strategies, and the masses pick whichever ideas sound like they will further their interests the most. In some cases, these ideas have been revolutionary ideas that led to successful revolutions.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;There is no hive mind, but we are not totally uninfluenced by one another&amp;#039;s actions either. Libertarians (e.g. Mises,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|quote=Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people&amp;#039;s authority, he behaves as &amp;quot;every decent fellow must behave,&amp;quot; he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action|url=http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec6.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Rothbard&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=Resistance to Liberty|title=For a New Liberty|url=http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp|quote=In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas.}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;) have often pointed out that the masses do not think and analyze all that much, but mostly rely on intellectuals to think for them. However, there are a lot of intellectuals out there with competing theories about what are the best policies and strategies, and the masses pick whichever ideas sound like they will further their interests the most. In some cases, these ideas have been revolutionary ideas that led to successful revolutions.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>FormerContributor-78162cb3</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17559&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>FormerContributor-78162cb3: expand</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17559&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2012-09-04T07:07:25Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;expand&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 07:07, 4 September 2012&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Methodological individualism&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities which can act in and of themselves but only through the action of the individual members of which they are composed. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &amp;quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&amp;quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was developed earlier by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&amp;#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &amp;quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&amp;quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &amp;quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&amp;quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger in the late 19th century was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &amp;quot;the people&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;the economy&amp;quot;, and &amp;quot;the nation&amp;quot; to be entities in their own right whose actions were influenced by factors over and above the action of individuals.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &amp;quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&amp;quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Methodological individualism on the other hand does not deny the outright existence of collectives such as nations, economies, or classes, rather just denies that the action of such entities can be explained by anything other then the actions of their individual members.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039;Methodological individualism&amp;#039;&amp;#039;&amp;#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities which can act in and of themselves but only through the action of the individual members of which they are composed. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &amp;quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&amp;quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was developed earlier by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&amp;#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &amp;quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&amp;quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &amp;quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&amp;quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger in the late 19th century was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &amp;quot;the people&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;the economy&amp;quot;, and &amp;quot;the nation&amp;quot; to be entities in their own right whose actions were influenced by factors over and above the action of individuals.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &amp;quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&amp;quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Methodological individualism on the other hand does not deny the outright existence of collectives such as nations, economies, or classes, rather just denies that the action of such entities can be explained by anything other then the actions of their individual members.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-deleted&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-deleted&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;==Abuse==&lt;/ins&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-deleted&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Methodological individualism is sometimes abused to say, in responses to suggestions that the [[libertarian]] movement should take a certain action, &quot;The problem is that what is good for &#039;the movement&#039; is irrelevant because we are individuals making decisions. We do not work as a unit or hive mind. So while &#039;the movement&#039; might achieve change in the ways you suggest, it does not indicate what individuals should or could do.&quot; This is fallacious reasoning (specifically, the [[fallacy of misplaced concreteness]]) because to say that &quot;the movement should do x&quot; is the same as saying &quot;the individuals in the movement should do y.&quot; Or, given that there&#039;s usually a division of labor, it&#039;s like saying, &quot;Individual A should y; individual B should do z; etc.&quot; Such phraseology is just a shorthand. Obviously, movements act by means of their individuals taking certain actions; everyone knows this, so it should not be necessary to state it the long way. As long as the shorthand does not lead to fallacious thinking, its use is okay.&lt;/ins&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-deleted&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;&lt;/ins&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-deleted&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;There is no hive mind, but we are not totally uninfluenced by one another&#039;s actions either. Libertarians (e.g. Mises,&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|quote=Common man does not speculate about the great problems. With regard to them he relies upon other people&#039;s authority, he behaves as &quot;every decent fellow must behave,&quot; he is like a sheep in the herd. It is precisely this intellectual inertia that characterizes a man as a common man. Yet the common man does choose. He chooses to adopt traditional patterns or patterns adopted by other people because he is convinced that this procedure is best fitted to achieve his own welfare. And he is ready to change his ideology and consequently his mode of action whenever he becomes convinced that this would better serve his own interests.|title=Human Action|author=Mises, Ludwig von|chapter=The Individual and Changing Features of Human Action|url=http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec6.asp}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Rothbard&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;{{cite book|chapter=Resistance to Liberty|title=For a New Liberty|url=http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp|quote=In all societies, public opinion is determined by the intellectual classes, the opinion moulders of society. For most people neither originate nor disseminate ideas and concepts; on the contrary, they tend to adopt those ideas promulgated by the professional intellectual classes, the professional dealers in ideas.}}&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;) have often pointed out that the masses do not think and analyze all that much, but mostly rely on intellectuals to think for them. However, there are a lot of intellectuals out there with competing theories about what are the best policies and strategies, and the masses pick whichever ideas sound like they will further their interests the most. In some cases, these ideas have been revolutionary ideas that led to successful revolutions.&lt;/ins&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l8&quot;&gt;Line 8:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 13:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Concepts]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;[[Category:Concepts]]&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;{{Stub}}&lt;/del&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-side-added&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;

&lt;!-- diff cache key wiki_freecapitalists_org_nCF8x6NO:diff:1.41:old-17558:rev-17559:php=table --&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>FormerContributor-78162cb3</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17558&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Matthew at 12:59, 16 September 2011</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17558&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2011-09-16T12:59:28Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 12:59, 16 September 2011&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;Methodological individualism&#039;&#039;&#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities which can act in and of themselves but only through the action of the individual members of which they are composed. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was developed earlier by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger in the late 19th century was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &quot;the people&quot;, &quot;the economy&quot;, and &quot;the nation&quot; to be entities in their own right.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Methodological individualism on the other hand does not deny the outright existence of collectives such as nations, economies, or classes, &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;but specifically &lt;/del&gt;just denies that the action of such entities can be explained by anything other then the actions of their individual members.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;Methodological individualism&#039;&#039;&#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities which can act in and of themselves but only through the action of the individual members of which they are composed. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was developed earlier by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger in the late 19th century was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &quot;the people&quot;, &quot;the economy&quot;, and &quot;the nation&quot; to be entities in their own right &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;whose actions were influenced by factors over and above the action of individuals&lt;/ins&gt;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Methodological individualism on the other hand does not deny the outright existence of collectives such as nations, economies, or classes, &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;rather &lt;/ins&gt;just denies that the action of such entities can be explained by anything other then the actions of their individual members.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;

&lt;!-- diff cache key wiki_freecapitalists_org_nCF8x6NO:diff:1.41:old-17557:rev-17558:php=table --&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Matthew</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17557&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Matthew at 03:29, 16 September 2011</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17557&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2011-09-16T03:29:06Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 03:29, 16 September 2011&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;Methodological individualism&#039;&#039;&#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities which can act in and of themselves but only through the action of the individual members of which they are composed. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was developed earlier by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger in the late 19th century was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &quot;the people&quot;, &quot;the economy&quot;, and &quot;the nation&quot; to be entities in their own right.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Methodological individualism on the other hand does not deny the outright existence of collectives such as nations, economies, or classes, but specifically just denies that the action of such entities &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;are determined &lt;/del&gt;by anything other then the actions of their individual members.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;Methodological individualism&#039;&#039;&#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities which can act in and of themselves but only through the action of the individual members of which they are composed. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was developed earlier by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger in the late 19th century was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &quot;the people&quot;, &quot;the economy&quot;, and &quot;the nation&quot; to be entities in their own right.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; Methodological individualism on the other hand does not deny the outright existence of collectives such as nations, economies, or classes, but specifically just denies that the action of such entities &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;can be explained &lt;/ins&gt;by anything other then the actions of their individual members.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;

&lt;!-- diff cache key wiki_freecapitalists_org_nCF8x6NO:diff:1.41:old-17556:rev-17557:php=table --&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Matthew</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17556&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Matthew at 03:26, 16 September 2011</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17556&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2011-09-16T03:26:03Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 03:26, 16 September 2011&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;Methodological individualism&#039;&#039;&#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities which can act in and of themselves but &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;instead can &lt;/del&gt;only &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;act &lt;/del&gt;through the action of the individual members of which they are composed. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was developed earlier by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;, &lt;/del&gt;in the late 19th century&lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;, &lt;/del&gt;was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &quot;the people&quot;, &quot;the economy&quot;, and &quot;the nation&quot; to be entities in their own right.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;Methodological individualism&#039;&#039;&#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities which can act in and of themselves but only through the action of the individual members of which they are composed. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was developed earlier by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger in the late 19th century was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &quot;the people&quot;, &quot;the economy&quot;, and &quot;the nation&quot; to be entities in their own right.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;Methodological individualism on the other hand does not deny the outright existence of collectives such as nations, economies, or classes, but specifically just denies that the action of such entities are determined by anything other then the actions of their individual members.&lt;/ins&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;

&lt;!-- diff cache key wiki_freecapitalists_org_nCF8x6NO:diff:1.41:old-17555:rev-17556:php=table --&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Matthew</name></author>
	</entry>
	<entry>
		<id>https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17555&amp;oldid=prev</id>
		<title>Matthew at 03:16, 16 September 2011</title>
		<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Methodological_individualism&amp;diff=17555&amp;oldid=prev"/>
		<updated>2011-09-16T03:16:04Z</updated>

		<summary type="html">&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122;&quot; data-mw=&quot;interface&quot;&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;col class=&quot;diff-content&quot; /&gt;
				&lt;tr class=&quot;diff-title&quot; lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;← Older revision&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; style=&quot;background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Revision as of 03:16, 16 September 2011&lt;/td&gt;
				&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot; id=&quot;mw-diff-left-l1&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td colspan=&quot;2&quot; class=&quot;diff-lineno&quot;&gt;Line 1:&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;−&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;Methodological individualism&#039;&#039;&#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities in and of themselves &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;and therefore cannot &lt;/del&gt;act &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;except &lt;/del&gt;through the &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;actions &lt;/del&gt;of the individual members &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;who compose them&lt;/del&gt;. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was earlier &lt;del style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;developed &lt;/del&gt;by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger, in the late 19th century, was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &quot;the people&quot;, &quot;the economy&quot;, and &quot;the nation&quot; to be entities in their own right.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot; data-marker=&quot;+&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;&#039;&#039;&#039;Methodological individualism&#039;&#039;&#039; is the theory that social and economic phenomenon can be explained by reference to the actions of individuals rather than groups or collectives. Based on this theory groups and collectives are not entities &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;which can act &lt;/ins&gt;in and of themselves &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;but instead can only &lt;/ins&gt;act through the &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;action &lt;/ins&gt;of the individual members &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;of which they are composed&lt;/ins&gt;. Methodological individualism is one of the core concepts of the [[Austrian School|Austrian School of Economics]], and while the term was coined by the Viennese economist [[Joseph Schumpeter]],&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; the idea was &lt;ins style=&quot;font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;&quot;&gt;developed &lt;/ins&gt;earlier by the founder of the school [[Carl Menger]]. Menger&#039;s formulation of this position is revealed by a quote of his published in 1889: &quot;There is no economic phenomenon that does not ultimately find its origin and measure in the economically acting human and his economic deliberations&quot;.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Menger Carl, &quot;Nationalökonomische Literaturin Österreich&quot;, 1889, page 2-4&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt; The development of this idea by Menger, in the late 19th century, was in direct contrast to the dominant theories of the German economists of the day, who at the time considered institutions such as &quot;the people&quot;, &quot;the economy&quot;, and &quot;the nation&quot; to be entities in their own right.&amp;lt;ref&amp;gt;Schulak EM and Unterkofler H. [http://mises.org/resources/6136/The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-A-History-of-Its-Ideas-Ambassadors-and-Institutions &quot;The Austrian School of Economics A History of Ideas, Ambassadors and Institutions&quot;], 2011, page 15.&amp;lt;/ref&amp;gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;diff-marker&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;div&gt;==References==&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;

&lt;!-- diff cache key wiki_freecapitalists_org_nCF8x6NO:diff:1.41:old-17554:rev-17555:php=table --&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</summary>
		<author><name>Matthew</name></author>
	</entry>
</feed>