The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

RON HEINERFROM TIME IMMEMORIAL, thinkersand philosophers have attributedto that which has been called the"character" or "spirit" of the peopleall of those noteworthy accom.;,;plishments achieved by variouscivilizations. Rome was the productof a great spirit of disciplineand a genius of organizationalability; the European Renaissancewas the product of a rebirth ofenergy and creativity; and theAmerican rise to world eminencewas due to the unheralded ruggedcompetitive spirit of its people.The preeminence of this view isseen by its implicit reflection inmost ethnic jokes (Le., the implication·being in certain jokes thatthe Polish are stupid, the Italiansare lazy, the Germans are militaristic'and so on) .Mr. Heiner is a third-year undergraduate ineconomics at the University of Washington.Concomitant with this view isthe belief that if order and civilizationare on the decline,if "timesare bad," what is needed is a recommitment,a rededication, a renewedspirit of sacrifice on thepart of the citizens and then allwill be well again.In the last two centuries, however,a select group of thinkershas fundamentally challenged thecorrectness of these views concerningcivilization and social life.Beginning most recognizably withthe writings of Adam Smith, TheWealth of Nations, there emergedan essentially new discipline laterto be called economics, and with itsprang a different view of humancivilization which was to revolutionizesubsequent thought. Twoparagraphs from the openingpages of Ludwig von Mises' HumanAction serve as a striking164