Economic Science and the Austrian Method_3

Recommendations

Info

Hans-Hermann HoppeKant had hinted at this solution. He thought mathematics,for instance, had to be grounded in our knowledge ofthe meaning of repetition, of repetitive operations. And healso realized, if only somewhat vaguel~ that the principle ofcausality is implied in our understanding of what it is andmeans to act. 16Yet it is Mises who brings this insight to the foreground:Causality; he realizes, is a category of action. To act meansto interfere at some earlier point in time in order to producesome later result, and thus every actor must presuppose theexistence ofconstantly operating causes. Causality is a prerequisiteof acting, as Mises puts it.But Mises is not, as is Kant, interested in epistemologyas such. With his recognition ofaction as the bridge betweenthe mind and the outside reality; he has found a solution tothe Kantian problem of how true synthetic a priori propositionscan be possible. And he has offered some extremelyvaluable insights regarding the ultimate foundation ofothercentral epistemological propositions besides the principle ofcausality; such as the law ofcontradiction as the cornerstone oflogic. And he has therebyopened a path for future philosophicalresearch that, to my knowledge, has hardly been traveled.Yet Mises's subject matter is economics, and so I willhave to lay to rest the problem ofexplaining in more detail thecausality principle as an a priori true proposition.I 716For Kantian interpretations ofmathematics see H. Dingler, Philosophic der LogikundMathematik (Munich: 1931); Paul Lorenzen, Einfiihrung in die operative Logikund Mathematik (Frankfurt/M.: 1970); Ludwig Wittgenstein, Remarks on theFoundations ofMathematics (Cambridge, Mass.: M.Ll: Press, 1978); also Kambartel,Erfahrung und Struktur, pp. 118-22; for an unusually careful and cautiousinterpretation of Kantianism from the point ofview ofmodern physics, seeP. Mittelstaedt, Philosophische Probleme der modernen Physik (Mannheim: 1967).17For some farther reaching considerations on these matters, see Hoppe "InDefense ofExtreme Rationalism."The Ludwig von Mises Institute • 21
Economic Science and the Austrian MethodMises not only recognizes that epistemology indirectlyrests on our reflective knowledge of action and can therebyclaim to state something a priori true about reality but thateconomics does so too and does so in a much more directway; Economic propositions flow directly from our reflectivelygained knowledge of action; and the status of thesepropositions as a priori true statements about somethingreal is derived from our understanding ofwhat Mises terms"the axiom of action."This axiom, the proposition that humans act, fulfills therequirements precisely for a true synthetic a priori proposition.It cannot be denied that this proposition is true, since thedenial would have to be categorized as an action-and so thetruth of the statement literally cannot be undone. And theaxiom is also not derived from observation-there are onlybodily movements to be observed but no such things asactions-but stems instead from reflective understanding.Moreover, as something that has to be understood ratherthan observed, it is still knowledge about reality; This isbecause the conceptual distinctions involved in this understandingare nothing less than the categories employed inthe mind's interaction with the physical world by means ofits own physical bodr And the axiom of action in all itsimplications is certainly not self-evident in a psychologicalsense, although once made explicit it can be understood asan undeniably true proposition about something real andexistent. 18Certainl~ it is not psychologically evident nor is itobservable that with every action an actor pursues a goal;and that whatever the goal may be, the fact that it is pursued180n this and the following see Mises, Human Action, chapters IV,V.22 • The Ludwig von Mises Institute
Page 2: ECONOMIC SCIENCEAND THEAUSTRIAN MET
Page 5 and 6: All rights reserved. Written permis
Page 8: PREFACEIt was a tragic day when eco
Page 11 and 12: Economic Science and the Austrian M
Page 23: Economic Science and the Austrian M
Page 75 and 76:
Economic Science and the Austrian M
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 88 and 89:
Page 90 and 91:
INDEXAlbert, H., 10Andreski, St., 5
Page 92:
ABOUT THE AUTHORHans..Hermann Hoppe
show all

Economic Science and the Austrian Method_3

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?