Philosophy and Methodology

Mainstream economics is obsessed with “maximizing” so-called utility functions and discovering the ubiquitous “social utility curve.” In this week’s Friday Philosophy, Dr. David Gordon takes apart this “utility” fixation.

We must realize that the two most powerful motivations in human history have always been ideology and economic interest, and that a joining of these two motivations can be downright irresistible.

Mainstream economists and others speak of the Consumer Price Index as the measure of inflation. Yet, the CPI is nothing more than a weighted average of numbers put into an arbitrary formula. It is time to end this statistical charade for good.

Dr. David Gordon explains why the leading philosophical defenses of taxation collapse, and why natural rights still say taxation is theft.

When economists try to analyze the economy, one procedure is to remove the “seasonal” component from the data in order to account for trends and fluctuations. That collides with the thinking behind praxeology in which human beings engage in purposeful behavior.

Human Action by Ludwig von Mises is not just another book on economics, although its economic content is excellent and timeless. It is a passage through one truth after another, built upon logic and reason.

Since the French Revolution, leftism has served as the impetus for many of the state’s worst massacres and totalitarian impulses.

Since the French Revolution, leftism has served as the impetus for many of the state’s worst massacres and totalitarian impulses.

Austrian economists differ with the economic mainstream in many ways, but the break on utility theory is especially critical in understanding the split between the two schools of economic thought.

 The natural law is, in essence, a profoundly “radical” ethic, for it holds the existing status quo, which might grossly violate natural law, up to the unsparing and unyielding light of reason.