Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises
1881-1973 · Liberalism · Prominent
Mises rebuilt economics as praxeology, a deductive science whose theorems are true a priori like those of logic, not findings open to statistical refutation. From that base he mounted the argument he is remembered for: without private ownership of the means of production there are no market prices for them, without such prices there is no way to calculate whether a plan uses resources well or wastes them, and so a socialist economy cannot be rationally run however benevolent its planners. Society, for him, is nothing but individuals cooperating, and to speak of its soul or its will is a metaphor that breeds crass errors. He wanted the whole earth as one economic territory and held that the international division of labour requires the total abolition of war.
Signature
The position Mises is most identified with in the Profiler:
- Polity
- strongly leans Liberalism
- Economy
- Market Capitalism
Positions on the 8 axes the sources answer
- Natural Processes
- leans Mechanistic (25 on a 0–100 scale from Mechanistic to Purposeful)
- Society
- leans Individualism (85 on a 0–100 scale from Collectivism to Individualism)
- Meaning
- leans Constructed (20 on a 0–100 scale from Constructed to Inherent)
- Truth
- strongly leans Objective (96 on a 0–100 scale from Subjective to Objective)
- Polity
- strongly leans Liberalism (100 on a 0–100 scale from Illiberalism to Liberalism)
- Ethics
- leans Ends (25 on a 0–100 scale from Ends to Means)
- War
- mildly between Pacifism and Militarism (42 on a 0–100 scale from Pacifism to Militarism)
- Allegiance
- leans Global (75 on a 0–100 scale from Local to Global)
12 of 20 axes are left blank: the sources do not answer them, or Mises refused the framing. Nothing is imputed; a blank is not a middling score.
Foundational questions
- Government
- Representative Democracy
What is your ideal form of government? - Knowledge
- Pure Reason
What is the ultimate foundation of knowledge? - Ethics Basis
- Utilitarian Calculation
What is the ultimate basis of ethics? - Economy
- Market Capitalism
What is the ideal organization of economic life? - Authority
- Consent of the Governed
What is the legitimate source of authority?