Murray N. Rothbard vs. the Philosophers - Ludwig von Mises Institute
Murray N. Rothbard vs. the Philosophers - Ludwig von Mises Institute
Murray N. Rothbard vs. the Philosophers - Ludwig von Mises Institute
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MURRAY N. ROTHBARD VS. THE PHILOSPHERS: UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS<br />
118 ON HAYEK, MISES, STRAUSS, AND POLYANI<br />
<strong>the</strong> great arts, such as architecture, sculpture,<br />
painting, music, and <strong>the</strong> dance, are built upon<br />
<strong>the</strong>se fixed relationships between <strong>the</strong> unchanging<br />
character of <strong>the</strong> physics of radiant energy (light)<br />
and of material vibrations (sound) and <strong>the</strong> organism.<br />
Hence each art acquires its canons that<br />
determine <strong>the</strong> relationships which are and which<br />
are not evaluated as good or bad by human sight<br />
and hearing. Once such values are established,<br />
only a changing romantic whimsy or caprice can<br />
pretend that <strong>the</strong>y are not fixed and immutable so<br />
long as human brains comprehend and senses<br />
remain fixed. 70<br />
I am enthused over this type of approach because I<br />
believe that work along such paths could bear a great deal<br />
of fruit in working out a viable system of absolute ethics,<br />
es<strong>the</strong>tics, and values in general.<br />
The fact that an eighteenth-century nobleman and a<br />
primitive Indian had different table manners, avers<br />
Carmichael, does not prove relativism, for <strong>the</strong> important<br />
point is that both <strong>the</strong> nobleman and <strong>the</strong> savage needed and<br />
ate food. There is variation, but <strong>the</strong>re is also a nexus of<br />
fixed norms. Monogamy may be demonstrable as absolutely<br />
<strong>the</strong> best form of marriage for developing <strong>the</strong> emotional<br />
characteristics of <strong>the</strong> human personality and also for child<br />
rearing. Then, Carmichael goes on to criticize <strong>the</strong> “Gallup<br />
Poll” moralists for trying to prove that <strong>the</strong> very fact that<br />
some practices exist makes <strong>the</strong>m moral or normal. He maintains<br />
that <strong>the</strong> civilized human race has, over <strong>the</strong> centuries,<br />
found ethical norms and practices that are absolutely better<br />
than o<strong>the</strong>rs; but <strong>the</strong>y must be inculcated in each generation<br />
of <strong>the</strong> young.<br />
Carmichael also has good criticisms of <strong>the</strong> view that<br />
growing up in a New Guinea hut is just as good as going to<br />
Harvard, or that <strong>the</strong> latest nonobjective-art nonsense is as<br />
70 Ibid., pp. 6–7.