Ah, it sounds like you’re saying Mises was exactly what he wanted to combat: A polylogicist. The laws of logic are uniform throughout time. Mises believed in normative subjective value, which means that goals cannot be questioned, merely means. However, this conflicts with Mises himself because Mises obviously postulated that common man wants prosperity and liberty.
Well, I’m saying that the laws of value are always and everywhere the same, but desired ends require different means in different cultures (ultimately trying to obtain satisfaction by eliminating uneasiness/inadequacies). For example, the desired end may be prestige, but prestige in ancient Rome is not the same as prestige in ancient Nepal, and as such, there will be different means employed for that very same end.
I don’t think this contradicts Mises at all, he states, “The value of the monetary unit is always and everywhere the same, but the desires of men are not always and everywhere the same” [Something like that; I lost my notes for The Theory of Money and Credit ><]. He’s attacking the belief that the same monetary unit’s purchasing power varies regionally; like when people say that the “dollar is weaker in NYC.”
Thank you for your long and detailed response. I didn’t think that Mises was defining his concept of human action in the excerpt I quoted, but it did seem like he was implying that perfect calm/security would be a Good Thing. Laughing Man made a good point, though, about Mises’ value beliefs.
I’ll try to transcribe more of Rand’s comments at some point later this week.
Not necessarily. Means can be similar from place to place. I don’t think similar goals require similar means but I think I am understanding what you are trying to say now.
Well you were saying ‘laws of nature’ which is kind of ambiguous especially in economic terms.
Yeah, I wasn’t really being clear. I was really talking about the laws of value (ends/means, time preference). But my point was that Mises was not some radical subjectivist who denied any and all absolute truth/natural law.
Absolutely. I agree with that.