Praxeological Ethics: An Inquiry into the Nature and Foundation of Ethics

by J.W. Rich; (Independently published, 2024, 153)

I met J.W. Rich when he was a student last month at Mises University, and he mentioned to me that he was working on a book about praxeological ethics. He has now sent me the book, and it is very impressive indeed. It is remarkable in its scope, and in what follows I’ll indicate some points of the many insightful points in the book as well as a few places where the argument moves too quickly.

A July poll shows that a majority of the American public does not support sending U.S.

The totem words and adjectives we use to describe Israel, a perverse and pornographically murderous society, fail. One day flows into the next, each indistinguishable in the level of sadistic torture and carnage dreamed up by the IDF Einsatzgruppen.

In 301 AD, Roman emperor Diocletian implemented price ceilings on over 1,200 goods. The silver coinage had been debased over the past 250 years, and the citizens were understandably unhappy about high prices. In 50 AD, each denarius had about 3.9 grams of silver, but then the empire debased the coins, sometimes in dramatic steps and sometimes more slowly. By 125 AD, the coins had less than 3 grams of silver. By 200 AD, it was less than 2 grams.

“Having to manage a complex home produces a deadweight loss to both society and the individual.” - John Tamny and Jack Ryan (2024)

No American politician running for office wants to talk about taxes—unless, of course, it’s to promise a tax cut. No Misesian views taxes with anything but suspicion, and Mises himself held some principled views on taxes:

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The latest monthly report on taxes and spending from the Treasury Department shows that in July, the federal deficit was $244 billion, or nearly one quarter of a trillion dollars.

In spite of the fact that the US government managed to collect $330 billion in taxes in July, they also managed to spend $574 billion.