5

Praxeology, Value Judgments, and Public Policy

Ethics is the discipline, or what is called in classical philosophy the “science,” of what goals men should or should not pursue. All men have values and place positive or negative value judgments on goods, people, and events. Ethics is the discipline that provides standards for a moral critique of these value judgments.

6

In Defense of “Extreme Apriorism”

The stimulating methodological controversy between Professors Machlup and Hutchison proves that there are sometimes more than two sides to every question.1 In many ways, the two are debating at cross-purposes: Professor Hutchison is primarily tilting against the methodological (and political) views of Professor Ludwig von Mises; his most serious charge is that Professor Machlup’s entire position is, at bottom, an attempt to cloak the Misesian heresy in the garments of epistemological respectability.

7

Praxeology: Reply to Schuller

Rather than prolong my discussion with Mr. Schuller1 unnecessarily by engaging further in a point-by-point refutation, I think it important to clarify the nature of praxeology and its applicability to historical events.

8

The Hermeneutical Invasion of Philosophy and Economics

In recent years, economists have invaded other intellectual disciplines and, in the dubious name of “science,” have employed staggeringly oversimplified assumptions in order to make sweeping and provocative conclusions about fields they know very little about. This is a modern form of “economic imperialism” in the realm of the intellect.

Section Two

The Austrian School

9

New Light on the Prehistory of the Austrian School

The most notable development in the historiography of the Austrian School in the post-World War II era has been the drastic reevaluation of what might be called its prehistory and, as a corollary, a fundamental reconsideration of the history of economic thought itself. This reevaluation may be summarized by briefly outlining the orthodox pre-war paradigm of the development of economic thought before the advent of the Austrian School.

10

The Present State of Austrian Economics

In the past two decades, there has been a seeming growth of methodological sophistication in the world of economics. Until the early 1970s, a blind Walrasian formalism held total sway in microeconomics, while a triumphant Keynesianism dominated macro, all held together by an unthinking and arrogant empiricist epistemology of logical positivism.

11

Ludwig von Mises and the Paradigm for Our Age

Unquestioningly the most significant and challenging development in the historiography of science in the last decade is the theory of Thomas S. Kuhn.

12

Value Implications of Economic Theory

Economics, as a science, attempts and claims to be purely value-free; that is, separate from the personal, valuational, or political proclivities of the economist. And yet economics and economists are continually making political pronouncements; economics per se is shot through with value-loaded assumptions, usually implicit, which then emerge as political conclusions and recommendations.

13

The Myth of Efficiency

I am delighted that Dr. Rizzo, in chapter 4 [of Time, Uncertainty, and Disequilibrium], is calling the highly touted concept of “efficiency” into grave question. I would like to carry his critique still further.