Sunday, April 3, 2016

praxeology and rationalism

I can't help but be extremely fascinated by the methodology of praxeology. I have a background in Chomskyan linguistics, which is also based in rationalist epistemology and garnered many critiques from empiricist schools of linguistics. The subjective theory of value is also really interesting to me with its emphasis on the non-observability of subjective experience; this ties into interests I've had in philosophy of science and the limits of empiricism and logical positivism, e.g. the work of Thomas Nagel. There is also something deeply humanist and even theological about this approach: when we concede things like the existence of a priori knowledge and the reality of subjective experience and purposeful action, we concede many of the grounds for belief in the reality of the soul. I feel like it would be interesting to read something that ties all this together. I know some of Hoppe's most important contributions has been to ground praxeology more explicitly in the rationalist tradition. Does he or anyone make the connection with Nagel or similar philosophers?

link: http://bit.ly/222uVZM