'...Austrian social theory ... [is] not only a bastion of truth but also as inspiring, exciting, and refreshing...'<blockquote>'Finally, with these studies I wish to promote in particular the tradition of Austrian social theory and contribute to its reputation as not only a bastion of truth but also as inspiring, exciting, and refreshing. And by the same token but more generally, I wish to promote and contribute to the tradition of grand social theory, encompassing political economy, political philosophy and history and including normative as well as positive questions. An appropriate term for this sort of intellectual endeavor would seem to be sociology. But while the term sociology has been sometimes used in this meaning, under the dominant influence of the empiricist-positivist philosophy the term has acquired an altogether different meaning and reputation. According to the empiricist doctrine, normative questions are not "scientific" questions at all, and there exists no such thing as a priori theory. That pretty much rules out grand social theory from the outset as "unscientific." Accordingly, most of what passes nowadays as sociology is not only just plain false but also irrelevant and dull. In distinct contrast, the following studies are everything a good positivist claims one cannot and shall not be: interdisciplinary, theoretically oriented, and dealing with both positive-empirical and normative questions. I hope to demonstrate by example that this is the right approach as well as the more interesting one.'
- Hans Hoppe,
Introduction to Democracy, The God That Failed