6. “Objective” Meaning for Ludwig Von Mises Epistemological Problems of Economics

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EPISTEMOLOGICAL

PROBLEMS

OF ECONOMICS

THIRD EDITION

Ludwig von Mises

Translated by George ReismanIntroduction to the Third Edition by Jörg Guido Hülsmann

Grundprobleme der Nationalökonomie:Untersuchungen über Verfahren, Aufgaben und Inhalt der Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftslehre

(1933)

Epistemological Problems of Economics

Translated from the German by George ReismanPublished simultaneously in the United States and Canada by D.Van Nostrand Co., 1960Reprinted 1978 by New York University Press, with Foreword by Ludwig M. LachmannCopyright © 1976 Institute for Humane StudiesThird edition 2003 by Ludwig von Mises InstituteCopyright © Bettina Bien GreavesISBN: 0-945466-36-6

C

ONTENTS

Introduction to the Third Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ixForeword to the 1978 Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .lviiPreface to the English-Language Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .lxvPreface to the German Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .lxxi1

T

HE

T

ASKAND

S

COPEOFTHE

S

CIENCEOF

H

UMAN

A

CTION

. . . . . .

1I.The Nature and Development of the Social Sciences . . . . . .11.Origin in the historical and normativesciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12.Economics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33.The program of sociology and the questfor historical laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44. The standpoint of historicism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55.The standpoint of empiricism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86.The logical character of the universallyvalid science of human action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137.Sociology and economics: Some commentson the history of economic thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18II.The Scope and Meaning of the System of

A Priori

Theorems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241.The basic concept of action and itscategorical conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .242.A priori theory and empirical confirmation . . . . . . . .283.Theory and the facts of experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .324.The distinction between means and ends:The “irrational” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33III.Science and Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .371.The meaning of neutrality with regard tovalue judgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .372.Science and technology: Economics and liberalism . . .39

v