Praxeology is the science of human action. The term was first coined in 1890 by Alfred Espinas in the Revue Philosophique, but the most common use of the term is in connection with the work of the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises and his adherents. Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ... Action, as a concept in philosophy, is what humans can do. ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... The Austrian School, also known as “the Vienna School” and as “the Psychological School”, is a school of economic thought that advocates the adherence to strict methodological individualism. ... Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was a notable economist and a major influence on the modern libertarian movement. ...

Explanation

Mises attempted to find the conceptual root of economics. Like other Austrian and classical economists, he rejected the use of observation, saying that human actors are too complex to be reduced to their component parts and too self-conscious not to have their behaviour affected by the very act of observation. Observation of human action, or extrapolation from historical data, would thus always be contaminated by overlooked factors in the way that the natural sciences would not be (notwithstanding certain theorized quantum mechanics effects suggesting consciousness causes collapse). Face-to-face trading interactions among on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor Economics, as a social science, studies the production, distribution, and consumption of resources. ... Classical economics is widely regarded as the first modern school of economic thought. ... Self-consciousness is the knowledge of ones own presence. ... The term natural science as the way in which different fields of study are defined is determined as much by historical convention as by the present day meaning of the words. ... Fig. ... Consciousness causes collapse is the theory that observation by a conscious observer is responsible for the wavefunction collapse in quantum mechanics. ...

To counter the subjective nature of the results of historical and statistical analysis (see Methodenstreit), Mises proposes that we look at the logical structure of human action (he entitled his magnum opus Human Action). This article is in need of attention. ... HIStory: Past, Present and Future – Book I is a two-disc album by Michael Jackson released in 1995 by the Epic Records division of Sony BMG. The first disc (HIStory Begins) is a fifteen-track greatest hits (later released as Greatest Hits - HIStory Volume I), while the second disc (HIStory... A graph of a bell curve in a normal distribution showing statistics used in educational assessment, comparing various grading methods. ... Methodenstreit is a German term referring to an intellectual controversy or debate over epistemology, research methodology, or the way in which academic inquiry is framed or pursued. ... Logic (from ancient Greek λόγος (logos), meaning reason) is the study of arguments. ... Magnum opus (sometimes Opus magnum, plural magna opera), from the Latin meaning great work,[1] refers to the best, most popular, or most renowned achievement of an author, artist, or composer, and most commonly one who has contributed a very large amount of material. ... Human Action is an economics treatise by the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises. ...

From praxeology Mises derived the idea that every conscious action is intended to improve a person's satisfaction. He was careful to stress that praxeology is not concerned with the individual's definition of end satisfaction, just the way he sought that satisfaction. The way in which a person will increase his satisfaction is by removing a source of dissatisfaction. As the future is uncertain so every action is speculative. Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... Look up Future in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

An acting man is defined as one capable of logical thought — to be otherwise would be to make one a mere creature who simply reacts to stimuli by instinct. Similarly an acting man must have a source of dissatisfaction which he believes capable of removing, otherwise he cannot act. Stimulation is the irritating action of various agents (stimuli) on muscles, nerves, or a sensory end organ, by which activity is evoked; especially, the nervous impulse produced by various agents on nerves, or a sensory end organ, by which the part connected with the nerve is thrown into a state... The suckling of a newborn at its mothers nipple is an example of an instinctive behavior. ...

Another conclusion that Mises reached was that decisions are made on an ordinal basis. That is, it is impossible to carry out more than one action at once, the conscious mind being only capable of one decision at a time — even if those decisions can be made in rapid order. Thus man will act to remove the most pressing source of dissatisfaction first and then move to the next most pressing source of dissatisfaction. Additionally, Mises dismissed the notion that subjective values could be calculated mathematically; man can not treat his values cardinally, e.g., "I prefer owning a television 2.5 times as much as owning a DVD player." Decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among multiple alternatives. ... Ordinal numbers, or ordinals for short, are numbers used to denote the position in an ordered sequence: first, second, third, fourth, etc. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

As a person satisfies his first most important goal and after that his second most important goal then his second most important goal is always less important than his first most important goal. Thus, for every further goal reached, his satisfaction, or utility, is lessened from the preceding goal. This is the rule of diminishing marginal utility. An object in this meaning is the same thing as an objective or task. ... In economics, utility is a measure of the relative happiness or satisfaction (gratification) gained by consuming different bundles of goods and services. ... In economics, diminishing returns is the short form of diminishing marginal returns. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

In human society many actions will be trading activities where one person regards a possession of another person as more desirable than one of his own possessions, and the other person has a similar higher regard for his colleague's possession than he does for his own. This subject of praxeology is known as catallactics, and is the more commonly accepted realm of economics. Look up Trade in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Trade centers on the exchange of goods and/or services. ... Catallactics is the praxeological theory of the way the market economy reaches exchange ratios and prices. ...

Categories of praxeology

The categories of praxeology, the general, formal theory of human action, were outlined[1] by Murray Rothbard (pp. 945-946) as follows: Murray Newton Rothbard (March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was a highly influential American economist, historian and natural law theorist belonging to the Austrian School of Economics who helped define modern libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism. ...

• A. The Theory of the Isolated Individual (Crusoe Economics)

• B. The Theory of Voluntary Interpersonal Exchange (Catallactics, or the Economics of the Market)
  • 1. Barter
  • 2. With Medium of Exchange
    • a. On the Unhampered Market
    • b. Effects of Violent Intervention with the Market
    • c. Effects of Violent Abolition of the Market (Socialism)

• C. The Theory of War--Hostile Action

• D. The Theory of Games (e.g., Von Neumann and Morgenstern)

• E. Unknown

See also

• Austrian school
• Human Action
• Methodological individualism
• Ludwig von Mises
• Cognitive science
• Semiotics

The Austrian School, also known as “the Vienna School” and as “the Psychological School”, is a school of economic thought that advocates the adherence to strict methodological individualism. ... Human Action is an economics treatise by the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises. ... Methodological individualism is a philosophical orientation toward explaining broad society-wide developments as the accumulation of decisions by individuals. ... Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was a notable economist and a major influence on the modern libertarian movement. ... Cognitive science is usually defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence (e. ... Semiotics, or semiology, is the study of signs and symbols, both individually and grouped in sign systems. ...

External links

• Preface to von Mises' book Epistemological Problems of Economics