Wich one is better? Why?
Loppu: Wich one is better?
Wich one is better?
Better for what?
If I wrote it more than a few weeks ago, I probably hate it by now.
Better for studying economics, better for studying austrian economics, better book in your opinion etc.
Man, Economy, and State is much more straight-forward. I'm a little ADD-child; sometimes when I read Human Action I get lost in Mises's long descriptive sentences and I forget the main point. Reading with a highlighter and pen in hand help me with this problem. MES makes for easier reading (at least for me), since it's more concise. Also, HA makes more references to outside ideas which the reader needs to be familiar with before reading it. I feel like MES is better suited for a student, whereas HA is better suited for someone who already has a background in philosophy, economics, etc. That said, the study guides for both are great companion texts which one should definitely read when studying these texts. So if you read HA with its study guide on hand, it'll all be much clearer.
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Here's my standard response for this question:
The two books (Human Action and MES) present their own distinctive challenges. It just depends on what kind of challenges you are more up for. With Human Action, you have to be willing to look unfamiliar things up, because Mises assumes the reader is familiar with certain things that hardly anybody is familiar with these days. This is usually as simple as typing the unfamiliar term or phrase along with site:mises.org into Google, and reading what you find. With MES, you have to be willing to sit with diagrams and the complicated thought experiments they represent, and study them until they make sense. With MES, you don't need to look things up, but with Human Action, the thought experiments presented don't take nearly as much processing. Human Action spends a lot more time on epistemology, but it assumes the reader is already familiar with production theory. MES goes into production theory in depth, but takes the epistemological underpinnings for granted. Human Action is more... almost "poetic". Rothbard's style, even in his treatise, can be somewhat brash for my taste (responding to opposing arguments with phrases like "So what?"). Both require their own kind of concentration. In Human Action you need to concentrate on the beautiful, but "old world" prose. In MES you need to concentrate to decipher the tables and graphs. For both, Dr. Murphy's study guides would be of great help. Hope that helps.
The two books (Human Action and MES) present their own distinctive challenges. It just depends on what kind of challenges you are more up for.
With Human Action, you have to be willing to look unfamiliar things up, because Mises assumes the reader is familiar with certain things that hardly anybody is familiar with these days. This is usually as simple as typing the unfamiliar term or phrase along with site:mises.org into Google, and reading what you find.
With MES, you have to be willing to sit with diagrams and the complicated thought experiments they represent, and study them until they make sense.
With MES, you don't need to look things up, but with Human Action, the thought experiments presented don't take nearly as much processing.
Human Action spends a lot more time on epistemology, but it assumes the reader is already familiar with production theory. MES goes into production theory in depth, but takes the epistemological underpinnings for granted.
Human Action is more... almost "poetic". Rothbard's style, even in his treatise, can be somewhat brash for my taste (responding to opposing arguments with phrases like "So what?").
Both require their own kind of concentration. In Human Action you need to concentrate on the beautiful, but "old world" prose. In MES you need to concentrate to decipher the tables and graphs.
For both, Dr. Murphy's study guides would be of great help.
Hope that helps.
It really depends on the individual. I am still working through HA, and while it is a great book, I don't find it as easy to get into as MES. Also, like previous posters have said, HA requires you to know a bit more, or look things up. I think for a starter AE text, I would suggest MES first, followed by HA.
I found HA an easier read, and more inspiring prose. I'm not particularly interested in cost curves and discussions on MVP so didn't appreciate it in Rothbard's book. At least the 'Power and market' portion is able to extend the logic of free markets to security and courts.
Thanks for all answers!
I have additional question concerning austrian books. I don't want to start another topic for that, so I ask my question in this topic. Is Hoppe's Democracy: The god that failed a good book? Should I read it? Does Hoppe offer good arguments or is it just a waste of time? Please tell me your opinions about DGTF.
Hoppe is the most profound social philosopher in the Austrian tradition since Mises. Even if you don't end up agreeing with him, you should definitely read him. And DGTF is great.