Mises and Rothbard – giants thoughts

Mises is undoubtedly a much greater economist than Rothbard, as the second is not a pioneer of fresh theories, but simply (or fundamentally until) a prominent compiler, an erudite synthesizer, and an imaginative plaintiff in the best sense of the word. However, Rothbard as a philosopher and historian of ideas, he seems to have better intuitions than his master in terms of what the first principles should be based on a comprehensive and interdisciplinary "science on freedom".

Mises is simply a cantist who is yet skeptical about the anticipation of knowing “things in himself”. Rothbard is an aristocrat emphasizing that action is simply a bridge between thought and reality, allowing concrete transformation of the objectively known surrounding world. For Mises, the law of economics is yet only “rights of thought”. For Rothbard, it's the laws of reality. Mises is an ethical subject treating all values and duties as identical to individual preferences that do not undergo technological evaluation. Rothbard is simply a legal naturalist claiming that nonsubjective rules of economics and ethics are derived from the same praxeological core. Mises treats metaphysical and theological considerations as impenetrable research. Rothbard views the most destructive ideology of spiritual heresy and manifestations of metaphysical pride.

In conclusion, Rothbard's economy can be rightly seen as simply (or, again, until) the superb improvement of Mises' economy, but his wider intellectual imagination seems to describe more accurately the general reason why humanity suicidely copies its pits, and more accurately present all sources of knowledge, the drawing from which it is essential to halt this spiral of self-destruction. Hence, it can be considered that Mises and Rothbard are equivalent giants of thought, whose achievements are not only timely, but besides increasingly valuable – which is worth highlighting especially during the century of the latter, given its inactive comparatively lower recognition.

Jakub Bożydar Wiśniewski