Jump to content

Economics: Difference between revisions

From The Austrian Economics Wiki, the global repository of classical-liberal thought
← Older editNewer edit →
Dsanchez (talk | contribs)
Bots, Bureaucrats, checkuser, developer, Administrators
91 edits
Dsanchez (talk | contribs)
Bots, Bureaucrats, checkuser, developer, Administrators
91 edits
Line 11: Line 11:


-->
-->
==Economics in the History of Thought==
[[Ludwig von Mises]] wrote:
<blockquote>Economics is the youngest of all sciences. In the last two hundred years, it is true, many new sciences have emerged from the disciplines familiar to the ancient Greeks. However, what happened here was merely that parts of knowledge which had already found their place in the complex of the old system of learning now became autonomous. The field of study was more nicely subdivided and treated with new methods; hitherto unnoticed provinces were discovered in it, and people began to see things from aspects different from those of their precursors. The field itself was not expanded. But economics opened to human science a domain previously inaccessible and never thought of. The discovery of a regularity in the sequence and interdependence of market phenomena went beyond the limits of the traditional system of learning. It conveyed knowledge which could be regarded neither as logic, mathematics, psychology, physics, nor biology.<ref name="Mises_economics_in_history">Ludwig von Mises [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec1.asp "Introduction, 1. Economics and Praxeology"], ''[[Human Action]]'', online edition, referenced 2010-02-05.</ref></blockquote>
Systematic treatments of logic, psychology, and biology were given as early as the 4th century B.C.<ref name="Aristotle">In [[Aristotle]]'s Organon, De Anima, and biological works</ref>  The sciences of mathematics and physics are even older.<ref name="math_physics">Systematic treatments of mathematics were given by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians.  Systematic treatments of physics were given by the pre-socratic philosophers.</ref>
==Economics and ethics==
==Economics and ethics==
Economics is a value-free, theoretical science and as such avoids any judgment of value. It is not its task to tell people what ends they should aim at. It is a science of the means to be applied for the attainment of ends chosen, not a science of the choosing of ends. Ultimate decisions, the valuations and the choosing of ends, are beyond the scope of any science. Science never tells a man how he should act; it merely shows how a man must act if he wants to attain definite ends.<ref name="Mises">Ludwig von Mises. [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec3.asp "3. Economic Theory and the Practice of Human Action"], ''[[Wikipedia:Human Action|Human Action]]'' online edition, referenced 2009-04-26.</ref>
Economics is a value-free, theoretical science and as such avoids any judgment of value. It is not its task to tell people what ends they should aim at. It is a science of the means to be applied for the attainment of ends chosen, not a science of the choosing of ends. Ultimate decisions, the valuations and the choosing of ends, are beyond the scope of any science. Science never tells a man how he should act; it merely shows how a man must act if he wants to attain definite ends.<ref name="Mises">Ludwig von Mises. [http://mises.org/humanaction/introsec3.asp "3. Economic Theory and the Practice of Human Action"], ''[[Wikipedia:Human Action|Human Action]]'' online edition, referenced 2009-04-26.</ref>

Revision as of 09:41, 5 February 2011

Economics, according to a classical definition, is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Greek oikonomia ("management of a household, administration") from oikos ("house") and nomos ("custom" or "law"), hence "rules of the house(hold)".[1]

For the Austrian school, Economics deals in general with the action of men to satisfy their desires, and, specifically, with the process of exchange of goods as a means for each indi­vidual to “produce” satisfactions for his desires. These goods may be tangible commodities or they may be intangible personal services. The principles of supply and demand, of price determi­nation, are exactly the same for any good, whether it is in one category or the other.[2]

Economics and ethics

Economics is a value-free, theoretical science and as such avoids any judgment of value. It is not its task to tell people what ends they should aim at. It is a science of the means to be applied for the attainment of ends chosen, not a science of the choosing of ends. Ultimate decisions, the valuations and the choosing of ends, are beyond the scope of any science. Science never tells a man how he should act; it merely shows how a man must act if he wants to attain definite ends.[3]


References

  1. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "Online Etymology Dictionary - Economy", referenced 2009-04-26.
  2. ↑ Murray N. Rothbard "11. Types of Exchangeable Goods", Man, Economy and State, online edition, referenced 2009-04-26.
  3. ↑ Ludwig von Mises. "3. Economic Theory and the Practice of Human Action", Human Action online edition, referenced 2009-04-26.

External links

Retrieved from "https://wiki.freecapitalists.org/index.php?title=Economics&oldid=1646"