Is Mises' "Human Action" considered a toxic textbook?

[Shaka]

The original statements by the rebellious French economics students define autistic economics in terms of its one-sided and exclusionary interest in "imaginary worlds," "uncontrolled use of mathematics" and the absence of pluralism of approaches in economics. The hard-core autistic walling off from the societal environment can be seen most strongly in the specific, highly abstract, axiomatic school that the students protested against.

Mises claimed in Human Action that the only pure economic science is radical apriorism – using solely deductive reason without the help of experience. He built his entire system on logic and self-evident assumptions, similar to geometry. Mises rejected all forms of inductive aposteriorism, or the use of empirical studies or history to prove a theory. Mises solemnly declared, “Its particular theorems are not open to any verification or falsification on the grounds of experience.”

Here, Skousen is quoting from page 862 of Human Action. It sounds to me like James Devine has got Ludwig Mises square in his sights. Of course, it is not for the first time.

Ludwig von Mises writes:

Economics in the second German Reich, as represented by the government-appointed university professors, degenerated into an unsystematic, poorly assorted collection of various scraps of knowledge borrowed from history, geography, technology, jurisprudence, and party politics, larded with deprecatory remarks about the errors in the "abstractions" of the Classical School.

After 1866, the men who came into the academic career had only contempt for "bloodless abstractions." They published historical studies, preferably such as dealt with labor conditions of the recent past. Many of them were firmly convinced that the foremost task of economists was to aid the "people" in the war of liberation they were waging against the "exploiters."

This was the position Gustav Schmoller embraced with regard to economics. Again and again he blamed the economists for having prematurely made inferences from quantitatively insufficient material. What, in his opinion, was needed in order to substitute a realistic science of economics for the hasty generalizations of the British "armchair" economists was more statistics, more history, and more collection of "material." Out of the results of such research the economists of the future, he maintained, would one day develop new insights by "induction."

The political significance of the work of the Historical School consisted in the fact that it rendered Germany safe for the ideas, the acceptance of which made popular with the German people all those disastrous policies that resulted in the great catastrophes. The aggressive imperialism that twice ended in war and defeat, the limitless inflation of the early 1920s, the Zwangswirtschaft and all the horrors of the Nazi regime were achievements of politicians who acted as they had been taught by the champions of the Historical School.

At this early stage of the Post-Autistic Movement, the most obvious point of comparison with the Nazis is their campaign to ban academic papers. Just because it is not the government, in the sense of actual federal agents, who are burning books does not mean that it is any less wrong or any different than Nazi book burning. That was not done by the government either. It was the German Student Association.

The German Student Association (Deutsche Studentenschaft) proclaimed a nationwide "Action against the Un-German Spirit," to climax in a literary purge or "cleansing" ("Säuberung") by fire.

Placards publicized the theses, which attacked "Jewish intellectualism," asserted the need to "purify" German language and literature.

On May 10, 1933 the students burned upwards of 25,000 volumes of "un-German" books, presaging an era of state censorship and control of culture. On the night of May 10, in most university towns, nationalist students marched in torchlight parades "against the un-German spirit."

It sounds to me like James Devine, Edward Fullbrook and the other Post-Autistic economists are going after Jewish intellectualism again. No?

[Conza88]

I give this thread 1 stars. The answer to your thread title, is the last word of your post.

[Kludge]

I give this thread 1 stars.

I gived it 5 star, though I didn't read the OP.

[idiom]

Sounds like you are going after post-autisitics in a big way.

[Shaka]

Sounds like you are going after post-autistics in a big way.

They are a threat to me.

In 1999, when I published my book, the Austrians pre-emptively banned me from the libertarian forums. But the internet was not as popular then as it is now and, anyway, my website was still five years away.

The Austrians were never in a position to ban my book outright. In sharp contrast, the Post-Autistics can and will destroy every copy of my book possessed by a university library and prohibit its sale in the United States and England. This is a threat that I am taking seriously.

And it is a threat that the Austrians should take seriously as well. Do not think for a minute that Edward Fullbrook will spare Human Action.

Textbook reform will damage many economic faculties and toxic textbook authors. The former will suffer losses to their reputations, the latter to their royalties, which in some cases run to millions of dollars.

Society can therefore expect well-placed and richly-funded strategic resistance to doing the right and necessary thing.

More economic catastrophes will befall us and our children if we do not replace these toxic textbooks with non-toxic ones immediately.

Do you really want to leave it to Fullbrook, an avowed socialist, to decide if Human Action is "toxic" and whether or not it needs to be "replaced" with a non-toxic book of Fullbrook's choosing?

[krazy kaju]

They are a threat to me.

In 1999, when I published my book, the Austrians pre-emptively banned me from the libertarian forums. But the internet was not as popular then as it is now and, anyway, my website was still five years away.

The Austrians were never in a position to ban my book outright. In sharp contrast, the Post-Autistics can and will destroy every copy of my book possessed by a university library and prohibit its sale in the United States and England. This is a threat that I am taking seriously.

And it is a threat that the Austrians should take seriously as well. Do not think for a minute that Edward Fullbrook will spare Human Action.

You assign yourself way to much importance. You were not preemptively banned by any libertarian forum, AFAIK as a forum moderator at Mises.org. You were banned from forums like Mises.org for spamming, trolling, pompous assery, and not knowing the first thing about the Austrian school. Anyone who doesn't believe the last statement just look at Shaka's economics survey/questionnaire. It's a complete joke.

[Young Paleocon]

I'm more prone to believe the guy with the polish/lithuanian sounding name and the Mises avatar.

[Shaka]

As a forum moderator at Mises.org. You were banned from forums like Mises.org for spamming, trolling, pompous assery, and not knowing the first thing about the Austrian school.

Mises.org has 17-year-old forum moderators?

So you were 16 when I was banned for the first post I ever made on that forum on 5 August 2008. Were you a forum moderator then?

He's clearly not a liberterarian as he makes it clear a number of times that he thinks government intervention is most obviously required and necessary for the welfare of people. These sort of comments make me far more dubious of his work. He clearly lacks an understanding of the free market.

$100 says that you're a liar. Provide a quote of me supporting government intervention and I'll pay you. Otherwise, stop telling lies about me.

It really is the children's forum, isn't it?

[Conza88]

Mises.org has 17-year-old forum moderators?

So you were 16 when I was banned for the first post I ever made on that forum on 5 August 2008. Were you a forum moderator then?

Oddly enough, he knows more about economics than you do.