Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market
Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market
Chapter 6: Antimarket Ethics: A Praxeological Critique 237 Notable Contributions • Beyond using value-free economics to rule out ethical goals that rest upon false beliefs concerning a market economy, Rothbard explicitly relies on praxeology (p. 1298) when explaining why movements toward an impossible goal are also objectionable. Although most people would likely agree with this position, it would be hard to justify (to those for whom it was not self-evident) without the praxeological argument. • Rothbard’s defense of market “monopoly” in the case of Crusoe and Friday (p. 1299) is particularly clever.
238 Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market Technical Matters 1. By an “existential criticism” (e.g., p. 1298), Rothbard means a criticism that involves a value judgment, but also relies on beliefs about how the world works. Thus if someone criticizes the free market because it leads to famine, this involves the value judgment that “starvation is bad.” However, there is no need to argue over ethics, because praxeology demonstrates that the free market does not lead to famine. 2. When Rothbard criticizes utilitarianism (p. 1304), he does not necessarily mean the doctrine of Jeremy Bentham, but rather has in mind a consequentalist ethics of the type espoused by Ludwig von Mises. In this conception, ultimate value judgments really are “arbitrary” in the sense that no one could possibly prove them to be correct or incorrect. However, Mises thought that (coupled with praxeology and other value-free sciences) rational individuals would realize that their (admittedly subjective) goals would best be satisfied by obeying the standard tenets of morality. For example, to the extent that the vast majority prefer wealth to poverty, health to sickness, and so on, then they would understand that they had to refrain from murder and theft. 3. When Rothbard declares, “There is but one way that morality can spread from the enlightened to the unenlightened—and that is by rational persuasion” (p. 1305), he is not advocating pacifism. He would think it perfectly acceptable for a private agency to use force, say, to stop a man from killing his neighbor. However, the point of such force would not be to create a moral man, but rather to prevent a crime.
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Chapter 6: Antimarket Ethics: A Praxeological Critique 237<br />
Notable Contributions<br />
• Beyond using value-free economics <strong>to</strong> rule out ethical<br />
goals that rest upon false beliefs concerning a market<br />
economy, Rothbard explicitly relies on praxeology (p.<br />
1298) when explaining why movements <strong>to</strong>ward an impossible<br />
goal are also objectionable. Although most people<br />
would likely agree <strong>with</strong> this position, it would be hard <strong>to</strong><br />
justify (<strong>to</strong> those for whom it was not self-evident) <strong>with</strong>out<br />
the praxeological argument.<br />
• Rothbard’s defense of market “monopoly” in the case of<br />
Crusoe <strong>and</strong> Friday (p. 1299) is particularly clever.
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