The Essential Rothbard - Ludwig von Mises Institute

The Essential Rothbard 121
“cosmic blob” are worthy of H.L. Mencken (who was, incidentally,
one of Rothbard’s favorite authors). Rothbard’s analysis of Marx’s
philosophy reinforces the pioneering investigations of Eric
Voegelin; this parallel between the conclusions of these two great
scholars is all the more remarkable in that Rothbard, though familiar
with Voegelin, was not deeply influenced by him. 315
In his discussion of utilitarianism, Rothbard’s philosophical
turn of mind is evident. He notes that according to that system,
reason
is only a hand-maiden, a slave to the passions. . . . But what,
then, is to be done about the fact that most people decide
about their ends by ethical principles, which cannot be considered
reducible to an original personal emotion? 316
Rothbard has here rediscovered an objection to utilitarianism
raised by Archbishop Whately: how can utilitarianism accommodate
preferences based on competing ethical systems? John Stuart
Mill, though familiar with the objection, never answered it in a
convincing way.
Rothbard viewed Mill with contempt, and his mordant portrayal
of him is one of the highlights of the book:
John Stuart was the quintessence of soft rather than hardcore,
a woolly minded man of mush in striking contrast to his steeledged
father [James Mill]. . . . John [Stuart] Mill’s enormous
popularity and stature in the British intellectual world was
partially due to his very mush-headedness. 317
Rothbard’s two volumes, which he unfortunately did not live to
see published, are a monument of twentieth-century scholarship.
Roger Backhouse, an eminent historian of economic thought,
notes in his review that
315 Also illuminating in this regard is Cyril O’Regan’s The Heterodox
Hegel (New York: SUNY Press, 1994).
316 Classical Economics, p. 57.
317 Ibid., p. 277.