Praxeology

Praxeology is the “science of human action.” Although this term was coined in 1890, it came into widespread use by modern Austrian economists following the publication of Ludwig von Mises's seminal treatise on economics, Human Action.

Misesian praxeology, which is concerned with the formal relationship between means and ends in human action, is a comprehensive discipline that subsumes not only economics, but all the social sciences. Despite general agreement about the subject matter of economics, Mises contended that we could not draw a clear line between economic actions and other types of goal-directed behavior. Because “choosing determines all human decisions,” we must base our analysis of economic activity on a “general theory of choice and preference.”

Mises thus rejects the classical conception of “economic man” as unduly ...