Is this statement correct?
Preference is demonstrated through action, yet there can be preference outside of demonstrated action. Someone may prefer without acting on that preference yet there is nothing that can be infered about their preference without them demonstrating it through action
If you agree with this then i would ask how is it that we can determine, holding all else constant, that individuals prefer more to less?
They don’t. They only prefer more satisfaction to less. I certainly prefer less elephant dung in my backyard. Acting or not, choosing or not, these are all done (or not) with the goal of increasing the subject’s satisfaction, up to and including not moving a finger and whithering away into nothingness.
Individuals may hold preferences that are purely “academic.” To use Mises’s example, a man may prefer a sunny day to a cloudy one, but unless this preference compels him to action then it is of no concern to praxeology and thus, to economics.
So when Mises speaks of catallitic “preference” he’s using a different definition than the common one.