Philosophy and Methodology

Narrated by Paul Strikwerda.

Narrated by Paul Strikwerda.

Narrated by Paul Strikwerda.

Narrated by Paul Strikwerda.

Narrated by Paul Strikwerda.

Not only are conscripts enslaved, often under brutal conditions, they can be sent to die in battle. Mises opposed conscription, but there was an exception.

The nonaggression principle—"anything peaceful"—comes as close to a value-free analysis in a political, ethical, economic, and legal theory as conceivably possible. It was insufficient for Rothbard, because he rightly found it insufficient for liberty.

Egalitarians think that equality has intrinsic value: they advocate it for its own sake, not just to forestall bad consequences. But why is a situation in which some in it have been made better off, and none worse off, worse than one of equality?

The 2016 election was an important reminder that most experts were totally wrong in their predictions of what would happen. Now the experts are claiming that freedom and markets must be abandoned based on new guesses about the future.

Quantitative methods can't be applied to human action, which is purposeful and not a mere reflex. For this reason, mathematical formulas can only describe events, never explain them.