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added: A First Analysis of the Category of Action
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<ol style="list-style-type:upper-roman;">
<ol style="list-style-type:upper-roman;">
<li> '''Acting Man'''</li>
<li> '''Acting Man'''</li>
<blockquote>''Main Article: [[Action]].''</blockquote>


The science of human action is called [[praxeology]]. Human action always involves [[opportunity cost]] and it is always ''purposeful''. <ref name="humanaction_ch1sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap1sec1.asp Acting Man], 1. Purposeful Action and Animal Reaction, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref>
The science of human action is called [[praxeology]]. Human action always involves [[opportunity cost]] and it is always ''purposeful''. <ref name="humanaction_ch1sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap1sec1.asp Acting Man], 1. Purposeful Action and Animal Reaction, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref>
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[[Mises]] dismisses the [[Historical School]], [[Hegel]] and [[Marx]] with it. In discussing the "bourgeois logic" and "bourgeois mentality" of [[Marx]], [[Mises]] is able to attack [[polylogism]] in general. There does not exist multiple logics, only differing interests and their logical conclusions--whether they are spurious or well-founded. [[Mises]] states with regard to the [[Historical School]], "History, in due time, will arrange everything for the best. It does not need the advice of mortal men."<ref name="humanaction_ch3sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap3sec1.asp Economics and the Revolt Against Reason], 1. The Revolt Against Reason, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref>
[[Mises]] dismisses the [[Historical School]], [[Hegel]] and [[Marx]] with it. In discussing the "bourgeois logic" and "bourgeois mentality" of [[Marx]], [[Mises]] is able to attack [[polylogism]] in general. There does not exist multiple logics, only differing interests and their logical conclusions--whether they are spurious or well-founded. [[Mises]] states with regard to the [[Historical School]], "History, in due time, will arrange everything for the best. It does not need the advice of mortal men."<ref name="humanaction_ch3sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap3sec1.asp Economics and the Revolt Against Reason], 1. The Revolt Against Reason, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref>


<li> A First Analysis of the Category of Action</li>
<blockquote>''See [[German Idealism]].''</blockquote>
 
<li> '''A First Analysis of the Category of Action'''</li>
 
All actions are directed toward goals, aims or ends. The end, speaking generally, is always to remove a ''felt uneasiness''. Means are the ways by which we approach an end. Things in the world, when applied to our ends, become means and are commonly referred to as [[goods]].<ref name="humanaction_ch4sec1">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap4sec1.asp A First Analysis of The Category of Action], 1. Ends and Means, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref> Means are [[scare]], like time and oil.
 
Actions are reflective of our [[scale of values]]. All things equal, we satisfy wants of higher [[value]] to us, and leave unsatisfied wants of lower [[value]] to us. Things in the world have no intrinsic [[value]], our actions give things [[value]].<ref name="humanaction_ch4sec2">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap4sec2.asp A First Analysis of The Category of Action], 2. The Scale of Value, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref>
 
Given that every action is an attempt to establish a more satisfactory state of affairs, viz., to remove a ''felt uneasiness'', all actions are in a sense an [[exchange]]. We [[exchange]] one state for another, hopefully better, state. Lastly, value judgments arrange wants, but do not measure them. They are expressive of sequence and order rather than a measurement and weight.<ref name="humanaction_ch4sec4">[[Ludwig von Mises]]. [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap4sec4.asp A First Analysis of The Category of Action], 4. Action as Exchange, [[Human Action]], online version, referenced 2011-02-06.</ref>
 
<blockquote>''See [[Goods]].''</blockquote>
 
<li> Time</li>
<li> Time</li>
<li> Uncertainty</li>
<li> Uncertainty</li>

Revision as of 22:12, 6 February 2011

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

Contents

Introduction

"It is true that economics is a theoretical science and as such abstains from any judgment of value...Science never tells a man how he should act; it merely shows how a man must act if he wants to attain definite ends."[1]

Part One: Human Action

  1. Acting Man

    2. Main Article: Action.

    The science of human action is called praxeology. Human action always involves opportunity cost and it is always purposeful. [2]

  2. The Epistemological Problems of the Sciences of Human Action
    3. Ludwig von Mises takes the logical deductive approach to economics, as opposed to the empirical (or the logical positivist approach, e.g., behaviorism). Economic problems cannot be solved empirically because renunciation and long-term planning can not be seen. Humans act to attain definite ends--and economic phenomena can be understood as such.

    "Praxeology is a theoretical and systematic, not a historical, science...It aims at knowledge valid for all instances in which the conditions exactly correspond to those implied in its assumptions and inferences. Its statements and propositions are not derived from experience. They are, like those of logic and mathematics, a priori."[3]

    Like geometry, praxeology is not subject to disproof. This method may be called methodological apriorism.[4]

  3. Economics and the Revolt Against Reason
    4. Mises dismisses the Historical School, Hegel and Marx with it. In discussing the "bourgeois logic" and "bourgeois mentality" of Marx, Mises is able to attack polylogism in general. There does not exist multiple logics, only differing interests and their logical conclusions--whether they are spurious or well-founded. Mises states with regard to the Historical School, "History, in due time, will arrange everything for the best. It does not need the advice of mortal men."[5]

    See German Idealism.

  4. A First Analysis of the Category of Action
    5. All actions are directed toward goals, aims or ends. The end, speaking generally, is always to remove a felt uneasiness. Means are the ways by which we approach an end. Things in the world, when applied to our ends, become means and are commonly referred to as goods.[6] Means are scare, like time and oil. Actions are reflective of our scale of values. All things equal, we satisfy wants of higher value to us, and leave unsatisfied wants of lower value to us. Things in the world have no intrinsic value, our actions give things value.[7] Given that every action is an attempt to establish a more satisfactory state of affairs, viz., to remove a felt uneasiness, all actions are in a sense an exchange. We exchange one state for another, hopefully better, state. Lastly, value judgments arrange wants, but do not measure them. They are expressive of sequence and order rather than a measurement and weight.[8]

    See Goods.

  5. Time
  6. Uncertainty
  7. Action Within the World

Part Two: Actions Within the Framework of Society

  1. Human Society
  2. The Role of Ideas
  3. Exchange Within Society

Part Three: Economic Calculation

  1. Valuation Without Calculation
  2. The Sphere of Economic Calculation
  3. Monetary Calculation as a Tool of Action

Part Four: Catallactics or Economics of the Market Society

  1. The Market
  2. Prices
  3. Indirect Exchange
  4. Action in the Passing of Time
    5. For humans considering action, time matters: there is a too late and a too early. Time preferences affect all action.[9] We create capital goods with longer production cycles to fill our future wants--that is, we wait. The discussion of time preference, and the postponment of consumption, is a lead in to interest.
  5. Interest
  6. Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle
  7. Work and Wages
  8. The Nonhuman Original Factors of Production
  9. The Data of the Market
  10. Harmony and Conflict of Interests

Part Five: Social Cooperation Without a Market

  1. The Imaginary Construction of a Socialist Society
  2. The Impossibility of Economic Calculation Under Socialism

Part Six: The Hampered Market Economy

  1. The Government and the Market
  2. Interference by Taxation
  3. Restriction of Production
  4. Interference with the Structure of Prices
  5. Currency and Credit Manipulation
  6. Confiscation and Redistribution
  7. Syndicalism and Corporativism
  8. The Economics of War
  9. The Welfare Principle Versus the Market Principle
  10. The Crisis of Interventionism

Part Seven: The Place of Economics in Society

  1. The Nondescript Character of Economics
  2. The Place of Economics in Learning
  3. Economics and the Essential Problems of Human Existence

References

  1. ↑ Ludwig von Mises. Introduction, 3. Introduction, Human Action, online version, referenced 2011-02-05.
  2. ↑ Ludwig von Mises. Acting Man, 1. Purposeful Action and Animal Reaction, Human Action, online version, referenced 2011-02-06.
  3. ↑ Ludwig von Mises. Epistemological Problems of Human Action, 1. Praxeology and History, Human Action, online version, referenced 2011-02-06.
  4. ↑ Ludwig von Mises. Epistemological Problems of Human Action, 2. The Formal and Aprioristic Character of Praxeology, Human Action, online version, referenced 2011-02-06.
  5. ↑ Ludwig von Mises. Economics and the Revolt Against Reason, 1. The Revolt Against Reason, Human Action, online version, referenced 2011-02-06.
  6. ↑ Ludwig von Mises. A First Analysis of The Category of Action, 1. Ends and Means, Human Action, online version, referenced 2011-02-06.
  7. ↑ Ludwig von Mises. A First Analysis of The Category of Action, 2. The Scale of Value, Human Action, online version, referenced 2011-02-06.
  8. ↑ Ludwig von Mises. A First Analysis of The Category of Action, 4. Action as Exchange, Human Action, online version, referenced 2011-02-06.
  9. ↑ Ludwig von Mises. XVIII. Action in the Passing of Time, 2. Time Preference as an Essential Requisite of Action, Human Action, online version, referenced 2011-02-04.

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