July 18, 2004 10:56 PM
by David J. Heinrich
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These notes are from the seminar Theory and History, given at the Mises University. Any errors are mine, feel free to point them out so that I can correct them. This seminar was conducted by Prof. Hoppe and Prof. Hülsmann.
Errors Made by Historians
- Sequence of events cannot tell us about historical causes.
- Need some theoretical things not based on historical observations, but on good theories:
- Should be something you can logically recognize as true when you hear it.
- Does not need to be, and is not, based on historical observations.
- Prominent historians often give a sequence of events the wrong explanation. You encounter a multitude of clear misinterpretations of hisotircal events based on poor understanding of economic theories.
Positivist/Maintream
- Science:
- Physics.
- Biology.
- Chemistry.
- Experimental physics.
- History:
- Individuality of events.
- Econometrics.
- Quantitative history.
Austrian
- Natural sciences:
- No animism.
- Objects do not make choices.
- Human and social sciences:
- History:
- Individual/singular.
- Events that come to bear on a paticular case.
- Theory: General factors of human action that take place in all times.
- Praxeology: human action.
- Economics: human action insofar as it can rely on economic calculation.
An Illustrative Example:
- The positivist tries to determine if an increase in money supply could result in a decrease in price-levels, accounting for other factors.
- The Austrian knows that because the money-supply has been increased, prices must be higher than they otherwise would have been, ceteris paribus (that is, if there is inflation, if you increase the money-supply, prices will be higher than they would be without that inflation).
