to deal with men as the breeder deals with his cattle
Ludwig von Mises, Human Action (p. 243):
It has been asserted that the physiological needs of all men are of the same kind and that this equality provides a standard for the measurement of the degree of their objective satisfaction. In expressing such opinions and in recommending the use of such criteria to guide the government's policy, one proposes to deal with men as the breeder deals with his cattle. But the reformers fail to realize that there is no universal principle of alimentation valid for all men. Which one of the various principles one chooses depends entirely on the aims one wants to attain. The cattle breeder does not feed his cows in order to make them happy, but in order to attain the ends which he has assigned to them in his own plans. He may prefer more milk or more meat or something else. What type of men do the man breeders want to rear — athletes or mathematicians? Warriors or factory hands? He who would make man the material of a purposeful system of breeding and feeding would arrogate to himself despotic powers and would use his fellow citizens as means for the attainment of his own ends, which differ from those they themselves are aiming at.
Comments (3)
Bruce Koerber
The economy exists only because humans exist. It is a reflection of their reality - physical, intellectual and spiritual.
The breeders of cattle are working more or less with a biological system bound by the laws of the physical sciences.
Human sciences as defined by natural law must account for much more, for the human qualities of the intellect and spirit, which necessitates subjectivism!
Since economics is a social science any economist who does not use the subjectivist methodology is a quack. Excuse me for being so direct but to move into the age of maturity these childish playthings have to be abandoned.
Published: May 27, 2008 7:55 PM
Robert
What a perfectly fitting metaphor for life in the feedlot. This excerpt brings forth visions of turn of the century industrialists and money changers moving to remake our education system in order to produce a more docile, maleable citizenry. Can you say Dewey, et al? These men, at the behest of the monied oligarchy, colluded to ensure a semi-literate, uneducated working class was made available to "attain the ends which [they] he has assigned to them in his own plans."
Fast forward nearly a century and the evidence abounds. A knowledge stunted, adolescent citizenry, unable to ascertain the source of their own disquiet, stumbles headlong through life unable to recognize, let alone attempt, a life well lived.
NCLB, to be sure, is emblematic of state sponsored indoctrination plans devised by bureaucrats to "use his fellow citizens as means for the attainment of his own ends, which differ from those they themselves are aiming at." Our current cadre of education cowpokes, complacent to their desired ends, may soon wake to hear the herd stampeding toward camp, unstoppable.
Published: May 27, 2008 9:18 PM
Rafe
That sounds like Plato's Republic, the racist totalitarian state where the Guardians and their Auxilliaries ruled over the masses, an isolated state where foreign trade was banned in case subversive ideas might come in with the goods. Because western philosophy has been described as footnotes to the work of Plato, he can be seen as the most influential anti-libertarian who ever lived. Mises saw him in that way and so did Karl Popper who devoted the first ten chapters of The Open Society and its Enemies to a critique of Plato's political philosophy. Regrettably the whole book runs to about 800 pages, (comparable to Human Action) and a short form may be helpful to get in touch with the leading ideas, prior to reading the whole of the original.
http://www.the-rathouse.com/OpenSocietyOnLIne/AATheProjectwithIndex.html
Popper's critique of Marx is conducted from a social democrat point of view but it is apparent that he only needed to learn a little more economics to become a full fledged classical liberal.
Published: May 28, 2008 7:51 AM