Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Murray Rothbard Puts It In Perspective!

Read this excerpt from and interview of Murray Rothbard for the Austrian Economics Newsletter.
AEN: You have apparently taken an interest in religion as it affects the history of thought.
MNR: Religion was dominant in the history of thought at least through Marshall. The Scholastics emerged out of Catholic doctrine. And John Locke was a Protestant Scholastic. I am convinced that Smith, who came from a Calvinist tradition, skewed the whole theory of value by emphasizing labor pain, typical of a Puritan. The whole objective cost tradition grew out of that.
AEN: Why has all this been overlooked?

MNR: Because the 20th century is the century of atheistic, secularist intellectuals. When I was growing up, anyone who was religious was considered slightly wacky or even unintelligent. That was the basic attitude of all intellectuals. This is the opposite of earlier centuries' attitudes when everyone was religious.

The anti-religious bias even shows up in the interpretations of the history of art, for example, in the secularist and positivist interpretation of Renaissance painting. When Jesus is painted as a real person, they assume that means it is a secular work, whereas the real point of the Renaissance was to emphasize the Incarnation, when God became flesh. Even if art historians aren't interested in theology, they should realize that the people they study were. The same is true for economics. In doing history, you cannot read your own values into the past.

For more information go to my newly renovated website.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Not All Religious People Struggle With Economics!

I enjoyed very much reading this article by Jeffrey Tucker. Pondering questions of significance and importance can never be thought of as unbecoming of the Mises blog.

Part of the fascination for me in the article was the glimpses into the logic of a well-trained Austrian economist and also seeing the expression of what is considered to be the higher values, to the author. The way it was weaved together and unfolded serves as a good example for all of us. Ours is the task to solve difficult problems using logic, appealing to reason, and earning the trust of those who we are guiding to the unparalleled beauty of laissez-faire, or may I say even more accurately - the divine economy.

For more information go to my website.

Go here to read about Mastery of ETHICAL ECONOMICS.

{I am currently taking a partial hiatus from blogging so frequently since I am preparing to write the fourth and final book in the divine economy theory series, due to be published around May 2011.}

Monday, March 14, 2011

Prejudice Does The Same Thing As Interventionism.

Religious prejudice rears its ugly head most often in two ways among Austrian economists. First of all, I am not saying that there are not Austrian economists who do not have religious prejudices.

Wertfrei is a convenient curtain to hide behind. It has been mistakenly used to justify atheism. The methodology of atheism is passed off as 'scientific.' The individuals who approach economic science in this manner have one type of religious prejudice - contempt for all religions.

The other religious prejudice is not regarded as part of economic science even though some may even lean in that direction since religious history is intertwined with economic history. It is really just a specific type of ethnocentricity, passed off as a necessary part of a religious conviction. Not all adherents of religion are locked into an ethnocentric viewpoint but many are and those individuals who are exhibit religious prejudice.

Prejudice of all kinds interferes with the flow of information in society and in human civilization. In that regard it acts in much the same way as interventionism!

For more information go to my website.

Go here to read about Mastery of ETHICAL ECONOMICS.

{I am currently taking a partial hiatus from blogging so frequently since I am preparing to write the fourth and final book in the divine economy theory series, due to be published around May 2011.}

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Bad Fruits Of Economics And Religion.

Those who criticize Islam forget that ego-driven interpretation is a destructive force just like ego-driven interventionism is a destructive force. Why are there not the good fruits of Islam prominent everywhere is the same question as "Why are there not the good fruits of laissez-faire prominent everywhere?"

So just as economists who know that the gems of laissez-faire can be discovered despite ego-driven interventionism so too can they also find the gems of Islam despite the destructiveness of ego-driven interpretation.

Of course if the exploration is preceded by indoctrination in neoclassical positivism or Keynesian nonsense then it may be well nigh impossible for that economist to discover the merits of laissez-faire. Likewise if the economist who tries to explore the merits of Islam begins under the indoctrination that has been foisted upon most of us by the ego-driven interpretations of the opponents of Islam then that pursuit will end in rejection also.

One of the great similarities between religion and economics is that both have been attacked and perverted by the ego-driven. Our job it to understand this and not to be fooled by these foolish ones.

For more information go to my website.

Go here to read about Mastery of ETHICAL ECONOMICS.

{I am currently taking a partial hiatus from blogging so frequently since I am preparing to write the fourth and final book in the divine economy theory series, due to be published around May 2011.}

Friday, March 11, 2011

How Can The Oppressed Find Ethical Government?

It is probably true that the regions of the world which have little philosophical connection to the Western civilization will not be able to readily adopt the principles of classical liberalism without another link to their culture. Religion is one such link.

And so religion will play a major role in the transition from these Dark Ages of economics to the bright future of a peaceful, prosperous, world culture and civilization composed of various classical liberalism societies. Divine economy theory is extremely helpful in this regard!

For more information go to my website.

Go here to read about Mastery of ETHICAL ECONOMICS.

{I am currently taking a partial hiatus from blogging so frequently since I am preparing to write the fourth and final book in the divine economy theory series, due to be published around May 2011.}

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Religion Plays A Role In A Voluntary Society.

A voluntary society can work in many ways. The question becomes: What form of social cooperation will people voluntarily choose and why? What can bind people together almost universally within a society? No amount of science without an understanding of religion can provide that impetus. A chalkboard version of a voluntary society can be made more realistic by recognizing that humans are spiritual beings in addition to being physical and intellectual beings.

For more information go to my website.

Go here to read about Mastery of ETHICAL ECONOMICS.

{I am currently taking a partial hiatus from blogging so frequently since I am preparing to write the fourth and final book in the divine economy theory series, due to be published around May 2011.}

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Chinese Culture Will Change Too!

The speaker, Martin Jacques, has an exagerated belief in the virtue of democracy, not just in political terms. He assumes that what will drive the culture in the future is the relative size of the population. This is also incorporated in his assumption of the importance of the Chinese concept of race that he described.

At the end he sums it all up by saying that all of these trends should be of interest to us 'humanists.' To an ear not alert to the particulars of the information that he shared this statement may just go in one ear and out the other.

The speaker does miss the significance of the 'touch of the finger of God' in the evolution of human civilization even though he does mention that Confucius was indispensable to the Chinese culture. His linear analysis which includes the materialistic empiricism of the 'Goldman Sachs' data is just as blind as the narrow and uninformed view of the West towards other cultures.

Humans are not robotic and are subject to inspiration and the same is true for human civilization because human civilization is always directly or indirectly inspired by the appearance of a Manifestation of God.

For more information go to my website.

Go here to read about Mastery of ETHICAL ECONOMICS.

{I am currently taking a partial hiatus from blogging so frequently since I am preparing to write the fourth and final book in the divine economy theory series, due to be published around May 2011.}