agnostic: Specifically, denying the possibility of true knowledge concerning the Deity, or the Absolute. More generally, expressing doubt about all forms of knowledge of "objective" reality. See atheistic.

analogy: A resemblance between some aspects of two things that are in other respects different; a comparison based on such a partial resemblance; and, by extension, an argument based on such a comparison. See metaphor and simile. Analogies are useful rhetorical devices, but reasoning by analogy is always suspect.

analytic: In logic, of or relating to a statement that is necessarily true, either because of the meanings of the words in it, or because it expresses some self-evident truth. "A rose is a rose." "All circles are round." See synthetic.

anchorite: A hermit; a recluse. Specifically, one who renounces the world and seeks seclusion, usually for religious reasons. Compare asceticism.

anthropocentrism: A doctrine, or theory, that places man at the center of the universe. The term may be applied loosely (as in "man is the measure of all things") or more rigorously (as in "the medieval Church adopted an anthropocentric view of the universe"). In a sense, Austrian economic theory is anthropocentric, because it stresses the idea that values are subjective, thus putting the individual at the center of the economic universe.

anthropomorphism: A doctrine, or theory, that ascribes the physical and mental forms of mankind to things that are not essentially human. Specifically, the practice of ascribing human attributes to God. More generally, the practice of ascribing human emotions and human will power to the lower animals, or to inanimate objects.

antitheistic: Opposed to a belief in God. Compare atheistic and agnostic.

asceticism: Rigorous abstention from self-indulgence. The doctrine that through renunciation of the desires of the flesh and of pleasure in worldly things -- and through self-mortification or self-denial -- one can subdue his appetites and discipline himself to reach a higher spiritual or intellectual state.

atheistic: Literally, without reference to God. A theory, such as praxeology, can be atheistic without being antitheistic, despite the fact that atheism and antitheism are commonly conflated. Compare agnostic.

autarkic: Literally, self-ruled. Also spelled autarchic.

autistic: Literally, self-directed. Note that von Mises' use of this word has nothing to do with the psychological disorder known as autism. An autistic exchange is one that one makes with oneself. The decision to trade hours of labor for hours of leisure is an instance of autistic exchange.

autonomous: Independent; free; self-governed. Compare heteronomous. An autonomous individual is one who makes his own choices. Individual autonomy inheres in the category of human action. Interestingly, a famous passage in John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding distinguishes ethical principles, which are autonomous and arise within the individual, from moral and legal principles, which are heteronomous and arise, in Locke's view, from the teachings of religion and the pressure of the majority's opinions, respectively.

barbarism: A state of human culture distinguished by savagery and a total lack of collaboration or cooperation. For instance, Thomas Hobbes' "war of all against all," which he imagined to be the original uncivilized state of primitive man, is a state of barbarism.

Bolsheviks: From Russian. Literally, the majority. The term refers specifically to the faction within the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party led by V.I. Lenin, who altered the standard Marxist doctrine of the dictatorship of the proletariat -- over the objections of the Mensheviks -- into the dictatorship of the Soviets and, eventually, the dictatorship of the Communist party. Lenin and the Bolsheviks instigated the Russian revolution of November, 1917.

Caesarism: Political dictatorship; autocratic rule (rule by a single man); absolute monarchy. From the emperors, or Caesars, of ancient Rome.

cardinal numbers: The ordinary counting numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, ... which denote an objective, absolute number or quantity of things; and, by extension, the real or complex numbers (which also denote quantities). Contrast these with the ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) which imply an ordering relation that is not objectively quantifiable, and is always expressed relative to some starting point.

charisma: Specifically, a special spiritual gift directly from God, exemplified in early Christianity by the gift of healing, the gift of prophecy, speaking in tongues, etc. More generally, personal magnetism, or an unusual ability to excite liking and admiration in others. Mises derogates this term, using it to speak of the unwarranted air of intellectual superiority adopted by some apostles of collectivism.

chiliastic: Literally, lasting for a thousand years. Applied to the millennial reign of Christ at his second coming and, in von Mises, by extension, to any utopian scheme projected to continue for a very long time.

civilization: A state of human culture distinguished by quiet, orderly, and peaceful cooperation among individuals.

coadjuvancy: The action of assisting one another; cooperation; collaboration.

collaboration: The action of working together; cooperation; what individuals do when they pool their means in pursuit of some common end.

collectivism: A political theory or doctrine holding that the totality, or collective, or whole is more important than the individuals comprising that whole. It is a form of conceptual realism, because the collective whole to which it refers (society, the community, the nation, the race, etc.) is an abstract entity and not concrete. See individualism.

conceptual realism: The theory that abstract universals -- unobservable general classes, and ideal types -- possess a reality that is independent of and equal, or even superior, to the reality of their individual components. A. N. Whitehead called it "the fallacy of misplaced concreteness." See universalism.

Darwinism: Specifically, the theory of evolution or natural selection advanced by Charles Darwin: that biological changes occur in every generation; that some of these changes result in enhanced chances of survival; and that over time the better adapted specimens are more likely to reproduce, leading to gradual changes in the morphological structure of each species and eventually to the evolution of entirely new species. Compare holism. Mises objects to the concept of social Darwinism, which is a complete distortion of Darwin's theory. Instead of considering man's struggle with the forces of nature, the social Darwinists focus on wars among groups of people, and claim that these unnecessary conflicts improve the human race by destroying "the weak."

division of labor: The basis of civil society. Briefly, if there are at least two people in the world, they can all advance their own personal interests by concentrating their productive energies on those activities in which each one excels, and then trading with one another. See Ricardo's law of association.

eclecticism: The practice, or policy, of choosing what one likes best from a wide variety of source material. Perfectly natural and harmless in the artistic, musical, and aesthetic spheres, this practice is positively dangerous to science, which is always the relentless pursuit of truth. Mises particularly objects to economic eclecticism, which during the 20th century resulted in widespread public acceptance of contradictory economic theories.

ephemeral: Literally, lasting for a single day. Temporary; transient; not durable.

Epicureanism: The Greek school of philosophy founded by Epicurus, who held that the joys of the mind are superior to the pleasures of the body.

ex definitione: By definition.

fatalism: A doctrine or theory which holds that the course of historical events is subject to a law of fate, or preordination -- that the broad course of future events cannot be changed by human intervention. This doctrine necessarily entails the categorial denial of human action. See meliorism.

fiat justitia, ne pereat mundi: Let justice prevail, that the world may not perish.

fiat justitia, pereat mundi: Let justice prevail, though the world perish.

Gestalt: A structure or configuration of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable from its parts in summation.

hegemony: Preponderant influence or authority, especially governmental authority; dominance. In Human Action, Mises uses this English word to represent Herrschaftlichkeit, which is literally "fatherhoodlikeness," or "manhoodlikeness;" this conveys a sense of paternalism, as in the Fatherland of German nationalism, or even Mother Russia (both Tsarist Russia and Germany under the Kaisers were hegemonic states).

heteronomous: Subject to external control; imposed by an external force; not the product of the individual's will. Specifically, a heteronomous ethic is prescribed by some (presumably higher) authority and enforced against the individual whether or not he acquiesces. Contrast this with an autonomous ethic, which arises within the individual, and is his own free choice.

holism: Specifically, a philosophic theory formulated by Jan C. Smuts (a South African politician, soldier, botanist, and sometime philosopher) to amplify and explain simple Darwinism -- Smuts held that complex living organisms should be apprehended as undivided wholes, and not merely as assemblages of simpler parts (compare Gestalt). More generally, any doctrine or theory which holds that the whole cannot be understood as the sum of its parts. Mises derogates this term, and may mislead his reader slightly when he equates it with collectivism and conceptual realism while simultaneously speaking in glowing terms of "the great basic principles of cosmic becoming and evolutionary change." Clearly, any holistic view of human society is a form of collectivism. But Mises himself adopts a holistic view of the entire human organism when he speaks of action and the individual will, and insists that psychological subdivision of the mind into components is fruitless.

humanitarianism: Concern for human welfare, especially as expressed through philanthropic activities, or by active support for social reforms. Mises uses this idea more broadly. Something as simple as the impulse toward cooperation with others is a humanitarian impulse.

Humanité: The name August Comte gave to the deity of his proposed new "Positive" religion. It is the class of all men and women, past, present, and future, whose lives are devoted to the progress of the human race. Under the "Positive" religion, the social tendencies of mankind will be strengthened at the expense of the individual. Compare Geist.

hypostatize: To assume that some abstract entity is concrete, or actual; to reify. See conceptual realism.

ideology: The assertions, theories, and aims that constitute a socio-political program. In Marxism, a false doctrine that serves the interests of the class that created it. "The bourgeoisie have used their damnable capitalist ideology to exploit the long-suffering proletariat." Mises carefully separates the concerns of religion and metaphysics from the purely social concerns of ideologies. Compare world view.

imprescriptible: Unalienable; not subject to prescription. In the common law, a prescriptible right (as a right to property) is acquired by long use or enjoyment of that right. By implication, then, an imprescriptible right is one which cannot be so acquired; i.e., it is innate, or inherent. This word was popularized by Thomas Paine in The Rights of Man, his justification of the French Revolution.

in abstracto: Literally, in the abstract.

individualism: A doctrine or theory maintaining the political and economic independence of the individual, or maintaining the independence of individual action, initiative, and interests. Compare collectivism.

law of comparative cost: An economic principle first enunciated by David Ricardo early in the 19th century. Trade among nations is beneficial, and human wealth is maximized by such trade, even when one nation enjoys an absolute competitive edge in the cost of producing every kind of economic good. The inferior nation makes a positive contribution to total human wealth by specializing in the mode of production in which its relative inferiority is least. This economic law is closely associated with the law of returns, and is also known as Ricardo's law of association.

liberalism: A political philosophy based on material progress, the perfectibility of man, and the autonomy of the individual; and advocating the protection of personal liberties as the essential function of government. Jeffersonianism. Mises says that, beginning in the mid-18th century with the work of the Physiocrats and the classical economists like David Hume and Adam Smith, the liberal philosophy "substituted free enterprise and the market economy for the precapitalistic methods of production; constitutional representative government for the absolutism of kings or oligarchies; and freedom of all individuals for slavery, serfdom, and other forms of bondage."

meliorism: A doctrine or theory which holds that the world is bettering itself. Mises says "There is no room within a system of praxeology for meliorism or optimistic fatalism" by which he means the world cannot better itself -- the individual can act to make his own life better, and that is all.

Mensheviks: From Russian -- literally, the minority. The term refers specifically to the splinter group within the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party led by L. Martov, which opposed the Bolsheviks, the majority faction of that party, between 1903 and 1912. See Bolsheviks.

metaphor: A term applied specifically to linguistic or rhetorical forms. Literally, to transfer (a meaning) from one context to another. An indirect form of comparison. For example, "All the world's a stage" is a metaphor, while "The world is like a stage" is a simile. See analogy and simile. While analogies, metaphors, and similes are useful rhetorical devices commonly employed in argument, they are not, strictly speaking, rational or logical devices.

monetary cranks: People who propose to solve economic problems by simply printing more money, by abolishing it altogether, or by using the power of government to affect the level of interest rates.

monotheism: Belief in one and only one God. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are monotheistic religions, as over against Hinduism and the ancient Greek and Roman religions, which are polytheistic, and Zoroastrianism, which posits the ultimate existence of exactly two gods (Good and Evil, basically).

mystic communion: See unio mystica.

nationalism: A doctrine or theory which holds that the interests of the nation -- as interpreted by officials in the government, or leaders of a political party -- take precedence over the interests of the individual. This doctrine is commonly used as a justification for governmental interference in the market.

omnipotence: The condition or state of being all powerful. Christian theologians have traditionally held that God is omnipotent. The notion is self-contradictory: can God make a rock so big that even He can't move it? (If not, there's something He can't do; if so, there's still something He can't do.)

omniscience: The condition or state of having complete and perfect knowledge. In Christian theology, God is said to be omniscient. An omniscient being is incomprehensible to the human mind. For man, the future is necessarily uncertain. Perfect knowledge of the future entails the cessation of human action.

opprobrious: Disgraceful; contemptible; infamous.

ordinal numbers: The numbers we use to order things, as first, second, third, etc. These are not only logically distinct from the finite cardinal numbers -- but also, as Georg Kantor showed, there are transfinite cardinal numbers of different orders; there are distinct transfinite ordinals; and the transfinite ordinal numbers do not even correspond one-to-one with the transfinite cardinalities. Mises lays great stress on the fact that the individual subjective act of valuing things imposes an ordering relation -- but not a quantitative relation -- on the objects under consideration.

pacification: Literally, the process of bringing peace, or of making peaceful. Mises uses the term ironically: in totalitarian regimes, pacification is a euphemism for wholesale mayhem and murder.

partisan: Adhering or associated with a party, faction, or cause.

party: A body of persons forming one side in a conflict; a group united in opinion or action and opposed to some similar group.

per analogiam: By analogy. See analogy, metaphor, and simile.

Physiocrats: A group of very early (mid 18th century) French economists. They regarded agriculture and mining as the only truly productive forms of economic activity, and their teachings influenced Adam Smith, who traveled to France in 1764. Their motto -- laissez faire, laissez passer (leave it alone, let it pass) -- has come to symbolize non-interventionist governmental policies.

polytheism: Belief (as in Hinduism, or ancient Greek mythology) in many gods.

protectionism: A doctrine or theory that justifies restrictive measures (such as import tariffs) to "protect" an industry or profession from competition. For example, the "Corn Laws which effectively banned the importation of grain into Great Britain for roughly 400 years were a species of protectionism. See restrictionism.

ratiocination: The process of exact thinking. Deductive reasoning, or a train of logically interrelated thoughts.

Realpolitik: Literally, practical politics. Political practice regarded only as a means to power over others, with little concern for the welfare of individuals. Mises points out that Realpolitik must be grounded in some generally accepted ideology, or it will never gain majoritarian support.

Rechtsstaat: Literally, the rights-state. A form of government that protects individual liberty and is characterized by the rule of law.

religion: Specifically, a system of faith and worship; a body of doctrine, or a creed, regarding God, the Almighty, or the Absolute, and its accompanying practices and observances. More generally, a personal conviction or belief with respect to a supreme being, or the Unknowable. Mises is tolerant of religion in the general sense, but has little patience with men of whatever stripe who utilize some systematized form of religious faith to exercise power over the actions of others.

renitent: Resisting pressure, constraint, or compulsion; persistently opposed.

restrictionism: A term coined by Henry George to replace protectionism. Because so-called protectionist legislation always operates by restricting the free market, and because the word protect has warm overtones and connotations that restrict does not share, George thought the defenders of laissez faire would have an easier time of it if this alternative expression could be introduced into the English vernacular.

Ricardo's law of association: Also known as the law of comparative cost, it states that trade between two countries is advantageous to both even when one of the countries possesses an undeniable superiority over the other in every factor of production. This theorem can be proven rigorously and without reference to money, or indirect exchange, under the following assumptions: there are only two products; these products are freely moved from one country to the other; at least one of the factors of production is identical in both production processes, while another is different; and the greater scarcity of the common factor of production determines the extent to which the other factor can be utilized. The law is named after David Ricardo, an English economist of the early 19th century.

Second International: A loose confederation of socialists from many countries first organized at Paris in 1889. It followed on the heels of the First International Workingmen's Association (organized by Karl Marx at London in 1864). After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 it dissolved into two groups -- the "Labor and Socialist International," and the "Third (Communist) International."

simile: A term applied specifically to linguistic and rhetorical forms. A simile is a direct comparison of the resemblances between some aspects of two different things. For example, as poor as a church-mouse; as rich as Croesus; etc. See analogy and metaphor.

social Darwinism: A doctrine or theory based on a distortion of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and holding that the improvement of the human race is driven by a succession of wars and conquests in which the stronger men come to exercise dominion over the weaker. Compare Darwinism.

socialism: A doctrine or theory that advocates collective or governmental ownership of the means of production and centralized control of the distribution of goods and services. The word is a bit vague, and refers to a wide variety of theories (as Marxism, Fourierism, Fabianism, etc.) that have been advanced since (roughly) 1750. Mises criticizes socialistic theories from many angles, but the central idea in all his criticism is that the elimination of markets leads directly to the destruction of money, the medium of exchange -- since economic calculation is impossible without money, any socialist system must collapse under its own weight once it has totally destroyed the free flow of information needed to utilize the means of production effectively and efficiently.

Stalinists: Followers of Josef Stalin. They were committed to a Marxian ideology and to the investiture of complete political power in one man. (And when he died, in 1953, they fought like bloody hell to be that one man, naturally enough.)

statolatry: Worship of the state. By extension, advocacy of omnipotent government.

synthetic: In logic, of or relating to a statement whose truth or falsity is not immediately evident from the form of the statement itself. Many philosophers assert that a priori truths are necessarily analytic statements, and that synthetic statements can only be verified a posteriori. Austrian economists generally assert that the Misesian axiom of action -- humans act -- is a synthetic statement whose truth is evident a priori. See analytic.

theocracy: Literally, government by God. In practice, government by those who claim to be God's representatives. Mises uses the term more broadly to include atheistic and antitheistic systems based on metaphysical principles: "Theocracy is a social system which lays claim to a superhuman title for its legitimation."

theorem: In mathematics and praxeology, a result or proposition obtained directly from axioms and definitions with the aid of rigorous deductive logic, and therefore known to be true -- apodictically true.

traditionalism: A doctrine or theory that endorses the practices of the past simply because they are old, or traditional.

transcendent: Beyond the reach of the senses; outside the realm of any possible human experience; "way out there."

Trotskyists: Followers of Leon Trotsky. Although they were Bolsheviks, the Trotskyists opposed Lenin's revolutionary theory, preferring to believe that the Marxian "dictatorship of the proletariat" would be established by a single worldwide revolution, and not by a revolution in a single country. They also opposed Stalin's absolute dictatorship, preferring a social-democratic form of government.

unio mystica: Literally, a mystical union. Some nationalistic thinkers speak of a mystical union between the people and the soil, as if they are their country and their country is them. Mises regards this idea as an empty superstition, useful to demagogues because of its emotive power.

universalism: Generally speaking, a theory according to which the whole is logically prior to its parts. In ethics, a theory that the good of all men should take precedence over the interests of the individual. In von Mises, specifically, a collectivist theory that considers society to be an acting entity with its own will and ends entirely separate from those of its individual members. The ends of the group are determined by a superhuman power and revealed by a leader of unquestionable authority. Universalists consider some social aggregate to be an articulated whole to which the interests of the individual must be subordinated, and therefore the ends of society can only be achieved by forcing individuals to fulfill the functions prescribed for them by the political community.

Utilitarianism: A philosophy, or school of thought, exemplified by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, and characterized by the dictum "the greatest good for the greatest number." It holds that social cooperation, ethical precepts, and governments are, or should be, no more than useful means for helping the vast majority achieve their chosen ends. It further holds that means should be judged only by considering the desirability of their final effects. It rejects the notions of human equality; of natural law; of government as an instrument to enforce the laws of God or Destiny; and of any social entity as an end in itself. It recommends popular government, private property, tolerance, freedom, and equality under the law -- not because they are natural or just, but because they are beneficial to the general welfare.

utility: The importance that acting man attaches to his means. See value.

value: The importance that acting man attaches to his ends. Means acquire value -- or, more strictly speaking, utility -- as man considers how they might be employed to attain the end he seeks. Value is not intrinsic. It is not in things. It is within the human mind. It reflects man's reaction to his environment. Value is reflected in human conduct. It is not what men say about value that matters -- it is how they act. Value is always relative, subjective, and human. It is never absolute, objective, or divine.

voice of the blood: A mystical doctrine which holds that people who are directly related to each other -- as mother and child -- can identify one another through some ethereal form of communication. Mises characterizes it as a superstition, much like the unio mystica.

Weltgeist: Literally, the world spirit, or world mind. Figuratively, in philosophies derived from Hegelianism, a great overarching force or will that determines the course of history. Compare fatalism, meliorism.

Wohlfahrtsstaat: German for "welfare state." A paternalistic or hegemonic government.

world view: Rendered in German as Weltanschauung. The entire complex of theories -- theological, philosophical, and scientific -- that shapes the aims and actions of an individual, or of some reasonably homogeneous group. A world view consists of both aesthetic (or valuational) and scientific (or technological) elements. It advises and guides men, both as to the ends they should seek and the means they should employ; and it addresses concerns (as of metaphysics, or religion) of little practical significance. See ideology.