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Academic Bias against Austrianism?

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krazy kaju:

History makes no sense unless it is analyzed through the lense of economic theory.

While I agree that 'following the money trail' usually leads to a clear understanding of events, one must also consider that most 'history' is one person's recounting of events and each of us does 'filter' what we see and remember based upon our own experiences and knowledge. As such I always read 'history' with the author's bias in mind.

Jain

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Voievod replied on Thu, Sep 4 2008 3:35 PM

Any explanation of known past events is by definition "post hoc". Psychanalysis is such an explanation. It does wonders in "explaining" why people acted a certain way, but it fails at doing useful predictions because it's nonfalsifiable.

To be otherwise, it has to predict future events that have not yet happened, or past events we don't yet know about.

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xSFx:
Any explanation of known past events is by definition "post hoc". Psychanalysis is such an explanation. It does wonders in "explaining" why people acted a certain way, but it fails at doing useful predictions because it's nonfalsifiable.

To be otherwise, it has to predict future events that have not yet happened, or past events we don't yet know about.

Exactly. That is why theory is superior to history.

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I can't say my experience was similar to your's. but it was even more saddening.  I mentioned Mises, to my economics professor, the semester before last, and rather than insult me, he simply looked at me like a deer caught in the head lights. he didn't know who the guy was, what he was about, or anything... of course I didn't know much, I had, at that time, just recently been exposed to Austrian economics.

Everything you needed to know to be a libertarian you learned in Kindergarten. Keep your hands to yourself, and don't play with other people's toys without their consent. 

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If nothing else, this post has made me feel lucky to have the resource that I do easily at my disposal.  A few days ago I went and talked to the professor who has a history with Austrian Economics, and it was very engaging and exciting.  I do believe that Austrian Economics is on the forefront of economics, though, as long as we can keep it there.

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