Political Theory

Re: Working Towards an Austrian Framework of Political Science

Sage — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:07:33 GMT

Also check out Mark Crovelli's "Toward an A Priori Theory of International Relations" (Mises Institute Working Paper).

Re: Working Towards an Austrian Framework of Political Science

jmw — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:08:25 GMT

Nozick's work would be crucial to establishing some Austrian political framework.

Re: Working Towards an Austrian Framework of Political Science

Jon Irenicus — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:02:57 GMT

Not that I know of. He seems to be a Kantian realist, much like Mises.

-Jon

Re: Working Towards an Austrian Framework of Political Science

jmw — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:01:15 GMT

Are you familiar with Nozick's work "Anarchy, State, and Utopia"

Re: Working Towards an Austrian Framework of Political Science

wombatron — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:56:25 GMT

On a side note, is Knott an Aristotelian?

Re: Working Towards an Austrian Framework of Political Science

Jon Irenicus — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:20:13 GMT

Have a look here then. It might be helpful.

-Jon

Re: Working Towards an Austrian Framework of Political Science

equack — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:16:56 GMT

I knew there some works out there that may have gone into this. I know a lot of Austrian authors have touched on this, but haven't gone its its innermost core or framework. I haven't heard of Adam Knott, but would be interested in his works.

Re: Working Towards an Austrian Framework of Political Science

wombatron — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:14:27 GMT

Very interesting! I think that there have been some fits and starts in this direction (ie; Hoppe's theory of public vs. private government), but a full, consistent theory is much needed.

Re: Working Towards an Austrian Framework of Political Science

Jon Irenicus — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:56:10 GMT

Interesting. Basically is it an extension of what Rothbard considers to be the praxeology of violence? Have you come across Adam Knott BTW? I've not read his work yet, but I think he attempts something like this. The other area Austrianism needs to branch out in is sociology.

-Jon

Working Towards an Austrian Framework of Political Science

equack — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:53:32 GMT

Political science has only been touched on by Austrians to the extent that its been criticized as being empirical and resorting to models. Rothbard's attack in The Ethics of Liberty puts forth the arguement that mainstream political science attempts to follow the methods of the natural science by trying to make a laboratory experiment out of government; finding laws out of past government actions. Therefore, an Austrian approach to political science would need to be built upon its own methodology, namely praxeology, and be deducible the the laws governing human action.

Government exists as an entity composed of various individuals that possess coercive powers over those that they rule . These rulers reach for common or their own respective ends and employ means that can be labeled as 'statist' due to their nature. An Austrian political framework has been touched upon in standard works as Human Action and Man, Economy and State (with Power and Market), however, only the economic consequences (market intervention) resulting from government actions, but have failed to find the praxeological regularities that make up government action.

We know that action is universal and applies to all individuals. Thus, we can start to apply praxeology to the analyze the actions of individuals acting as the "government". They, too, see a higher state of affairs and work to gain satisfaction (usually at your expense). Hopefully, a basic framework can be reached in which the Austrian methodology can clearly treat each phenomena encountered. Resorting to other methodlogies such as psychology or using 'empirical laws' as political science does now will simply not work.

My goal is to start finding the framework through praxeology and see how it pertains to past governments and our present government now. It will not rely on past instances as the Historical School does in their methodology, but will serve to gain a better understanding of political history due to the fact that praxeology is universally valid. Thus, this framework will make our understanding clear and unambiguous (assuming we have all or most of the facts) for the past, present as well as predictions for the future.

Your comments, criticism and thoughts are greatly appreciated. I will add onto this thread as new insights come to me and I'm satisfied my basic framework is consistent and logical.