tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post550834751715957617..comments2024-03-28T17:08:15.784-07:00Comments on Social Democracy for the 21st Century: A Realist Alternative to the Modern Left: Barrotta’s Kantian Critique of Mises’s EpistemologyLord Keyneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-37437786057087061052013-07-30T14:36:25.889-07:002013-07-30T14:36:25.889-07:00Dear Lord Keynes,
You might remember me, your Ger...Dear Lord Keynes,<br /><br />You might remember me, your German classically liberal friend and admirer, from earlier comments in which I have expressed my appreciation for your excellent work.<br /><br />The above is another brilliant contribution to a thorough and fair analysis of errors and shortcomings in writers of the liberal tradition.<br /><br />I can't think of another source that has provided me with so many fruitfully pertinent criticisms regarding Misesian methodology.<br /><br />I suspect, Mises was traumatised by the terrible attacks levelled against the Austrian school by the hugely preponderant German Historical School. The latter denied the possibility of a general science of economics, and so Mises developed an exaggerated rationalist ambition to provide an unshakable epistemological foundation for economics, and ended up with his highly questionable praxeology - which really is rather an unsavoury attempt at cornering absolute truth. This attitude attracted truly dogmatic minds, especially that of Rothbard who transplanted Mises rationalistic ambition into his hubristic system building efforts in the area of ethics and political theory. As a trained philosopher (and economist), it never ceases to amaze me how easily economists fall for bad philosophical arguments. <br /><br />Thanks ever so much for your great work, Lord Keynes.<br /><br />Best regards,<br /><br />Georg Thomas<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-69016573257050602502013-07-29T03:44:55.686-07:002013-07-29T03:44:55.686-07:00Response to this:
http://fixingtheeconomists.word...Response to this:<br /><br />http://fixingtheeconomists.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/kant-and-his-categories-versus-mises-and-his-praxeology/Philip Pilkingtonhttp://fixingtheeconomists.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-53283685053977104342013-07-28T13:46:07.845-07:002013-07-28T13:46:07.845-07:00"While Kant’s categories can be construed as ..."While Kant’s categories can be construed as fundamental principles underlying experience and perception of reality, they do not provide the axioms of natural or social scientific theories (Barrotta 1996: 58). Mises’s attempt to found an economic theory on Kantian categories was a mistake."<br /><br />Yes! This is absolutely the case. Mises is literally trying to derive a theory of why people do things based on ideas about the fundamental structure of time and space and such. It's bizarre.Philip Pilkingtonhttp://fixingtheeconomists.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com