Philosophy, Praxeology and Power. (1).

Part 1: Philosophy, Praxeology and Power.

1: Moldbug and the Miseans.

2: Human Action and the Science of Praxeology.

Part Two: Epistemological Foundations of Praxeology.

1: The Nature of Philosophy. 

2: Epistemological Reflections on the Foundations of Economic Science.

Part Three: Social History, Praxeology and the Reactionary Theory of History.

1: Hoppe’s Theory.

2: Moldbug’s Theory.

3: Reactionary Future’s Theory.

Part Four: The Praxeology of Power.

 

1: Moldbug and the Miseans.

Nonetheless, I have been through Mises and Rothbard more or less from ass to elbow, and my judgment on the two remains unchanged. Mises is a titan; Rothbard is a giant.

From Mises to Carlyle: My Sick Journey to the Dark Side.

Rothbard, certainly one of the 20th century’s top five philosophers, was a generalist and synthesizer of incredible breadth and power. 

Quick Explantion of Fractional Reserve Banking.
It is one of Mises’s greatest achievements to have shown precisely this: that there are insights implied in this psychologically speaking trivial axiom of action that were not themselves psychologically self-evident as well; and that it is these insights which provide the foundation for the theorems of economics as true a priori synthetic propositions.

Economic Science and the Austrian Method. Hans-Hermann Hoppe.

A priori theory trumps and corrects experience (and logic overrules observation), and not vice-versa.

…

I wish to promote and contribute to the tradition of grand social theory, encompassing political economy, political philosophy and history and including normative as well as positive questions

Democracy the God that Failed. Hans Hermann Hoppe.

Here is a question for neoreactionaries:

Who influenced the Grand Master the most?

Who is essential?

Carlyle, De Jouvenel or James Burnham?

While the above are essential, it seems reactionaries have overlooked one other essential influence:

Ludwig Von Mises.

Who in the sphere of reaction pays any attention to Mises or the Austrians?

The Miseans provide tools for interpreting not only economic but also political history.

One of Imperial Energy’s maxims is that history is philosophy teaching by example.

Most intellectuals are probably well aware of Hegel and Marx and their respective philosophies of history; the Miseans, however, appear to be the real deal – and few people know anything about them

In Hoppe’s Democracy: the God that Failed he uses principles from praxeology to produce, as he calls it “grand social theory” that covers economics, political philosophy and ethics.

It seems clear that Hoppe’s Democracy was not only a catalyst for the Grand Master but that it lead him to arguably his most important source material: Betrand De Jouvenel’s On Power. Power and Democracy are the two key sources for both the construction of his positive political theory (Neocameralism) and his political theory of history.

The Patron Theory of Politics, distilled and refined from Unqualified Reservations, places De Jouvenal’s insights center stage. Yet, it used in Democracy to illustrate certain principles regarding the nature of power and politics. (See p.16 and 26 for instance.)

Over the next four parts, we will introduce the Misean concept of human action and the science of praxeology and its range of applicability. Then, in part 2, we will go deeper into the epistemological foundations of praxeology and the concept of an a priori synthetic proposition. In part 3 we show how human action and praxeology are at the foundation of both Hoppe’s and the Grand Master’s political theory of history. In part 4, we then begin to set out the praxeology of power.

2: Human Action and the Science of Human Action. 

Mises:

The teachings of praxeology and economics are valid for every human action without regard to its underlying motives, causes, and goals.

…

It aims at knowledge valid for all instances in which the conditions exactly correspond to those implied in its assumptions and inferences. Its statements and propositions are not derived from experience. They are, like those of logic and mathematics, a priori. They are not subject to verification or falsification on the ground of experience and facts.

Human Action: A Treatise on Economics. Ludwig Von Mises.

Murray Rothbard:

Praxeology is the scientific study of human action, which is purposeful behavior. A human acts whenever he uses means to achieve an end that he or she subjectively values. Human action is thus teleological or intentional; a person acts for a reason. Therefore not all human behavior is action in the praxeological sense: purely reflexive or unconscious bodily movements (such as coughing when exposed to tear gas) are not examples of action. Praxeology starts from the undeniable axiom that human beings exist and act, and then logically deduces implications of this fact. These deduced propositions are true a priori…

Every action involves not only a value judgment concerning different ends, but also a belief on the part of the actor that he possesses adequate means to achieve his desired end.

The Fundamentals of Human Action. Man Economy and State. Murrary Rothbard.

Implied within the axiom of action are the following, necessary formal features of acting:

1: Ends.

2: Means.

3: Plans.

4: General conditions.

5: Scarce resource (time and materials.)

6: Uncertainty. 

7: Profit.

8: Price.

9: Value.

10: Cost.

11: Trade. 

For any human action, be it personal, in the commercial sphere, the political or the military, the above elements (with the exception of trade in personal and sometimes in military action) feature.

In part 2, we cover the meaning and importance of the claim that the “action axiom” is a priori true and how praxeology constrains, logically, human thought and behavior; indeed, that there is knowledge about the nature world that can be derived using the above categories which gives us knowledge that is a priori synthetic knowledge.

In what follows from Mises Wiki, we see the scope of what praxeology applies to as a “general, formal theory of human action.”

Mises Wiki:

• The Theory of the Isolated Individual (CrusoeEconomics)
• The Theory of Voluntary Interpersonal Exchange(Catallactics, or the Economics of the Market)
  • Barter
  • With Medium of Exchange
    • On the Unhampered Market
    • Effects of Violent Interventionwith the Market
    • Effects of Violent Abolition of the Market (Socialism)
  • The Theory of War–Hostile Action
  • The Theory of Games (e.g., von Neumannand Morgenstern)
  • Unknown

Mises Wiki. Praxeology.

In part 4, when we cover the praxeology of power, the category that it belongs to is both the “theory of war” and the “theory of games”.