Preview

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Theory and History

By: Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard
Narrated by: John Pruden
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Like F.A. Hayek, Ludwig von Mises moved beyond economics in his later years to address questions regarding the foundation of all social science. But unlike Hayek's attempts, Mises' writings on these matters have received less attention than they deserve. Theory and History, writes Rothbard in his introduction, "remains by far the most neglected masterwork of Mises".

Here Mises defends his all-important idea of methodological dualism: one approach to the hard sciences and another for the social sciences. He defends the epistemological status of economic proposition. He has his most extended analysis of those who want to claim that there is more than one logical structure by which we think about reality. He grapples with the problem of determinism and free will. He presents philosophy of history and historical research. Overall, this is a tremendously lucid defense of the fundamental Misesian approach to social philosophy.

"It is Mises's great methodological work, explaining the basis of his approach to economics, and providing scintillating critiques of such fallacious alternatives as historicism, scientism, and Marxian dialectical materialism.... Austrian economics will never enjoy a genuine renaissance until economists read and absorb the vital lessons of this unfortunately neglected work."

Theory and History should be required for any student of 20th-century ideas.

©2007 Ludwig von Mises Institute (P)2016 Ludwig von Mises Institute
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Theory and History

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    49
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    38
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    39
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

complex but useful

hard to follow, but there is importand points to learn and understand. good read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Without This Book, You Are Uneducated

Pardon the accusatory Subject line. Put it in positive terms: Mises has so clearly & devastatingly explained social process that one will never again have to wonder why our civilization faces the intense problems that challenge us, in civility, peace, individual fulfillment, & perhaps even in simple sanity. A work that may truly be described as magisterial, it nevertheless reads easily & directly. Mises derives today's major trends from the historical context of those founders of great ideas, sound & mistaken, that drive public consciousness today. It would, of course, be demeaning to us & to him to try to make a brief review encompass this great work. Suffice to say that he shows plainly & simply that studying humanity requires the sound development of theory as well as the gathering of facts. Not least, he reminds us that, as in the physical sciences, theory means the definition of natural laws, as a solid basis for interpreting facts.These apply, again, really, quite simply, to the confusion ascribed to economics, to the "scientific" inevitability of socialism, to psychological misinterpretations of history, & to many other topics propagated as truths. The Audible reading of this book does justice to the written work. One may prefer the Audible as a tonic for navigating through traffic, waiting interminably at airports or for appointments. For any young men or women contemplating the time & expense of a university education, they could do well for themselves to simply read/listen to Theory & History before making their decisions - because if they do undertake 4 undergraduate years, or more, they will be well-armed to deal with the horribly mistaken precepts offered to them by the majority of academics today.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Overall disappointing

Based on the cult-like following of Mises I was expecting something more intellectually engaging. Sure, his overview of various sociological theories is good, especially for his times. The rest however is either chapters after chapters of attacking socialism and Marx, down to some truly Facebook-group-like arguments, or him trying to sell you on his idea of pragmatics in a really not that convincing way. Disappointing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful