Economic Science and the Austrian Method_3

Hans-Hermann Hoppemakes them self-evident material axioms is the fact that noone can deny their validity without self-contradiction, becausein attempting to deny them one already presupposestheir validi~Mises points out that both requirements are fulfilled bywhat he terms the axiom ofaction, Le., the proposition thathumans act, that they display intentional behavior. 51 Obviousl~this axiom is not derived from observation-there areonly bodily movements to be observed but no such thing asactions-but stems instead from reflective understanding.And this understanding is indeed of a self-evident proposicion.For its truth cannot be denied, since the denial woulditselfhave to be categorized as an action. But is this not justplain trivial? And what has economics got to do with this?Ofcourse, it had previously been recognized that economicconcepts such as prices, costs, production, mone~ credit,etc., had something to do with the fact that there were actingpeople. But that all ofeconomics could be grounded in andreconstructed based on such a trivial proposition and ho~is certainly anything but clear. It is one of Mises's greatestachievements to have shown precisely this: that there areinsights implied in this psychologically speaking trivial axiomof action that were not themselves psychologicallyself-evident as well; and that it is these insights whichprovide the foundation for the theorems of economics astrue a priori synthetic propositions.It is certainly not psychologically evident that with everyaction an actor pursues a goal; and that whatever the goalmay be, the fact that it was pursued by an actor reveals thathe must have placed a relatively higher value on it than on anySIOn the following see in particular Mises, Human Action, chapter 4; MurrayN. Rothbard, Man, Economy, and State (Los Angeles: Nash, 1962), chapter 1.The Ludwig von Mises Institute • 61