'..Thus the theoretical social sciences for Ludwig, consist of what he calls praxeology — examination of the logical consequences of the fundamental postulate that states people act when they imagine more satisfactory situations, means to achieve them, barriers to their adoption and uncertainty of outcome.''Social theories however, economics in particular, treat regularities applicable to all cases. Like Mill, Mises defends the thesis that economic theory use the a priori method, obtaining results through deductive reasoning (p. 21), starting from basic postulates. Unlike Mill, Mises does not adopt the fundamental principle of the restrictive assumption of Homo economicus. For him<a href="[
www.mises.org.br];[14]</a>, contrary to what his brother believes, economics requires only the assumption that people have unfulfilled purposes, regardless of its nature. Given this generalization, the historicist thesis (defended by Richard and today by critics that have not read the theory of Mill or Mises) that economic theory would depend on the false assumption of egoism, or the impulse to accumulate wealth, loses its meaning.
According to this Misesian conception, there would be no strictly economic subjects, but only economic aspects in which for every kind of activity it's necessary to choose between alternative purposes<a href="[
www.mises.org.br];[15]</a>, regardless of whether the activity is artistic, spiritual, sports or of any other nature. Thus the theoretical social sciences for Ludwig, consist of what he calls praxeology — examination of the logical consequences of the fundamental postulate that states people act when they imagine more satisfactory situations, means to achieve them, barriers to their adoption and uncertainty of outcome.
For Mises, every economic theorem is derived ultimately from the postulate of human action (p. 45). This assumption in turn, consists of true knowledge about the world, derived solely from reason. In Kantian terms, it would be an example of a priori synthetic knowledge, precisely the category whose existence is denied by logical positivism. For Mises (p. 18), the aprioristic character of the postulate of action is derived from the fact that the idea of purposeful action is part of the structure of the human mind: we cannot even imagine the veracity of its denial. Thus, theoretical knowledge in economics would always be true and the only thing that historical observation could do is determine if a certain economic theorem is applicable or not to the existing conditions in a certain concrete situation.'
- Dr. Fabio Barbieri,
The Mises Brothers: Positivism and the Social Sciences, february 5, 2013
ContextOn Politics, Money, and Banking (Hans-Hermann Hoppe)Jesus Huerta de Soto in Bucharest: The Crisis of Statism and the Way Out(Haptonomy - Affectivity) - Praxeology as the Method of the Social Sciences - (Affective) Phenomenology of the Social World(Electric Universe) - '..History speaks only to those people who know how to interpret it on the ground of correct theories.' - Mises(Love) '..scientific and spiritual in equal measure .. truth.'