Philosophy and Methodology

James Buchanan thought the state was a voluntary institution. Murray Rothbard, on the other hand, understood the reality of state violence and coercion.

If we wish to gain insight into the essence of nationality, we must proceed not from the nation but from the individual. What is the national aspect of the individual person and what determines his belonging to a nation?

Acton says the muse of the historian is Rhadamanthus, the avenger of innocent blood: "The historian must be a judge, and a hanging judge at that, to right the wrongs of history."

The new Nobel winners apparently think we can discover economic laws by crunching numbers. That's not how it works.

"Praxeology … does not deal in vague terms with human action in general, but with concrete action which a definite man has performed at a definite date and at a definite place."

Contrary to myth, Nazi Germany was a socialist state, not a capitalist one.

Human action does not operate under fixed causal laws, and according to philosopher Uskala Mäki, “The absence of [these laws] has been forcefully underlined by several Austrian economists.” 

Isn’t a principle of nonaggression against others another way of stating the self-ownership principle? "Not necessarily," says the insightful philosopher Chandran Kukathas.

Isn’t a principle of nonaggression against others another way of stating the self-ownership principle? "Not necessarily," says the insightful philosopher Chandran Kukathas.

Some slippery slope arguments are a case of bad reasoning, but those presented by Mises and Hayek are not among them.