What Rothbard Could Have Done But Did Not Do. The Merits of Austrian Economics Without Extreme Apriorism

Description

Austrian economics emphasizes a priori components of social scientific theory. Most emphatically, Ludwig Mises and Murray Rothbard champion praxeology, a methodology often criticized as extremely aprioristic. Among the numerous justifications and interpretations of praxeology to be found in the primary and secondary literature, conventionalism avoids the charge of extreme apriorism by construing the fundamental axiom of praxeology as analytic instead of synthetic. This paper (1) clarifies some aspects of a conventionalist defense of praxeology and (2) appraises conventionalist praxeology according to Rothbardian criteria. While Rothbard provides an essentialist justification of praxeology and embraces extreme apriorism, a mildly aprioristic conventionalist defense of praxeology fares better on Rothbard’s own criteria and is much more compatible to other contemporary methodological positions and economic theories.

Period	15 Nov 2023
Event title	Workshop zum Stand der Mises-Forschung
Event type	Conference
Location	AustriaShow on map