Praxeology - Episode 5 - The Rationality of Action

In this lesson I make the case for why all action is necessarily rational.

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[XulChris]

This one needs a link to the next episode at the end.

[praxgirl]

@XulChris thanks Chris :)

[SpeakMouthWords]

I believe you forgot to include cute last-second shoulder lift. Apart from that, good lesson as usual!

[t3hsauce]

@tsummerlee It is value free in that the economist does not apply value judgments to the conclusions of economic analysis. When economists say that a policy is "bad" there is no normative implication; it simply means that the policy does not achieve its stated goal.

[suereed]

When is this Beatles concert anyone?

[dantean]

Did I miss something here? It seems perfectly justified calling Steve's effort to see a concert in New York's Central park--across the street from his Central Park West apartment--as irrational if he goes to JFK Airport to catch a flight to get there via Boston's Logan Airport.

[caisamadrid]

Even the impulsive is rational. The individual values their option differently but still chooses. To deny this would excuse that individual of accountability and I think we know that we are always accountable.

[RealLiveDebates]

@zebart00 Yes he's acting in accordance to his value at that instant. That doesn't make it rational. Rational means to reason, deliberate etc. To think beyond the range of the immediate moment. Too bad Mises didn't seem to understand this. He was a great economist though.

[zebart00]

@RealLiveDebates

We all think this way. I was once told that maturity is the ability to act as if the future matters. Relatedly, educated people and those with higher IQs tend to have a low discount value of time. So it is entirely seemly that a thuggish brute would discount the future results of his action to a degree that might make it appear irrational. Really, he's acting, consistent with his discount value of time, in order to maximize his net present satisfaction.

[zebart00]

On the contrary. It is because human, purpose driven action IS rational that it is useful in predicting behavior. (Or at least explaining it) If behavior were not rational, we'd have correlation coefficients of 1 or 0. (Or nearly) We'd end up with perfect predictability or none at all.

[beretboy22]

I couldn't DISAGREE more. Synonyms for the word "rational" include "reasonable - sensible - sane - logical." For the purposes of economics for example, your definition is neither predictable nor scientific. If everything is rational, then it "rational" behavior is a useless basis for predicting human behavior.