Regardless what socialists and government interventionists claim; there is only one valid school of economic theory. It is praxeology, the science of human action. It is a deductive science that reasons from a priori principles. Of course, since it is the science of human action, its starting point in all analysis of market phenomena is the individual.

Praxeology is a manifestation of the human mind. It deals with the actions that are open to individuals in achieving their chosen ends. People act—because not to act is non-existence. An individual possesses instincts that may preserve his life—however, what separates him from the lower animals is his power of reason. He is able to reason through possible courses of action, then act purposely to achieve his goals and desires. The strong-willed, reasoning individual, who acts with purpose, is most likely to achieve success in his endeavors. Fortunately some men and women are strong-willed—unfortunately others are weak-willed. Most are somewhere in between.

Society cannot act. It is only a combination of its individuals. Only individuals act. Happily, they can embark on cooperative action to attain common goals.

Praxeology starts it reasoning from an individual action and develops the full implications of that action. As stated in "Mises Made Easier" prepared by Percy L. Greaves Jr. "Praxeology aims at knowledge valid for all the instances in which the conditions correspond to those implied in its assumptions and inferences. Its statements and propositions are not derived from experience, but are antecedent to any comprehension of historical facts." It is a deductive science.

Axiomatic Concepts and A Priori Categories

Action is obviously an a priori category. Try to envision human life without action—void of individuals attempting to satisfy goals and desires. It is absurd—unthinkable.

Ayn Rand identified three axiomatic concepts of existence. They are inherent in the previous sentence.

• Existence - Existence exists
• Identity- Existence is identity
• Consciousness - Consciousness exists

Try to visualize non-existence, non-identity and non-consciousness. Some metaphysicians speak about achieving a higher state of consciousness through arriving at a state of non-consciousness. I’ve been meditating for a long time and never reached this state of non-consciousness. Wait a minute! I have just experienced a profound insight. I am enlightened. I realize that I exist. I have identity as a human being. I do possess consciousness. Without existence, identity and consciousness there would be no me to meditate. I conclude that I exist—I have identity—therefore I possess consciousness.

An a priori premise is the starting point of all deductive reasoning. It is a statement that we can’t question or contradict. It is impossible for us to trace it back to any other prior causes. As far as I can tell, there are six a priori categories of human action. All the categories are present in all human actions.

They are:

• Causality – Cause and Effect – There are cause and effect relationships in every single action. I’m sure you realize that effective actions raise the possibility of you achieving what you desire. Ineffective actions usually end in failure. In addition, you know that regularity exists in natural phenomena. This fact makes it possible for you to plan and act. You certainly couldn’t act effectively in a chaotic physical environment.
• Time – Every action involves the passing of time. Everything you plan or do takes a certain amount of time. The time span can range anywhere from a second to years. Many of your goals and desires require long-term planning. You must plant the seeds and nurture the growth of your ambition before you harvest the results of your efforts. Many people are too impatient to allow their goals and desires to manifest. It is obvious why patience is a prized virtue.
• Uncertainty – As Ludwig von Mises states in "Human Action" "The uncertainty of the future is already implied in the very notion of acting." This uncertainty causes extreme neurosis in some people. They live in constant fear about some unknown happening that may occur in the future. Government intervention on the marketplace disrupts markets—causing chaotic conditions—increasing the amount of fear and uncertainty that people experience.
• Change – Just as love is, change is often a maker of despair. An individual can learn to master change by anticipating future conditions more successfully than most—or he can suffer the consequence of becoming a victim of the unforeseen changes that are inevitable. Try envisioning non-change. It isn’t possible. Non-change is equivalent to non-existence. 0+0=0.
• Logic – All humans possess the same logical structure of the mind. If this weren’t so it would be impossible to communicate with each other. Have you recently attempted a conversation with a grasshopper or an antelope? I admit the logical structure of one individual may be more efficient than that of another. However this doesn’t invalidate the fact of all humans possessing the same logical structure of the mind. All humans are blessed with human brains.
• Value – The theory of subjective value revolutionized the science of economics. The classical economists believe that value was inherent in the goods and services offered on the marketplace. They failed to realize that value is in the minds of men. Each individual decides what he values and doesn’t value. He arranges his values on a scale from his highest value to his lowest. His scale of values is constantly shifting. Once he fulfills one value or desire the individual immediately attempts to fulfill what is next on his scale of values.

The A Priori Categories in Action

The above a priori categories are inherent in all human actions. Every action you embark on involves cause and effect. Each action results in an effect. Each action involves the passage of time. There is uncertainty in every action you take—although in many cases the uncertainty is miniscule. The more steps in a course of action or the more complicated the actions—the more uncertainty you experience. Of course every action brings about change and every action must allow for change. In analyzing any course of action, you reason it out, rely on your intuitive powers, use a combination of both or depend on base instincts. Regardless, your logical structure of the mind—your human brain is involved. Of course, you never make plans and goals and follow a course of action unless it conforms to your scale of values.

Quite often, a person states that he values this and then he values that. He claims that he prefers A to B and B to C. However his actions contradict this. In his behavior he may display the fact that he prefers C to A and that he prefers D to any of the above. What a man or a woman says is irrelevant. Their actions reveal their value system.

Praxeology Refutes Faulty Economic Theory

Mathematical economists attempt to quantify human action in their equations. This is absurd. There is no way an individual’s value system can be quantified. You can say the person prefers A to B—but it is impossible to measure the intensity of his preference for A over B. You might love your spouse more than you love your best friend. But can you honestly state that you love your spouse 33.3% more than you love your best friend? Obviously not. This is the reason that the use of mathematical equations to quantify cause and effect relationships in human action is nonsensical and meaningless.

Equations are quite useful in obtaining knowledge in an inductive science such as physics. However they are useless in discovering knowledge in the deductive sciences of praxeology and logic. Mathematical economists are only fooling themselves when they take a perfectly useful science and misuse it. The deductive science of mathematics is useful when adding up costs and prices. What amazes me is that the mathematical economist then uses his equations to justify interfering with market processes and obliterating the efficiency of the pricing system.

The Praxeologist—the master of human action—realizes that all governmental inference with the market is doomed to failure. He advocates the social system of Laissez faire (unhampered) capitalism—not because this is his unfounded opinion—but because he realizes the theorems of praxeology are scientific and correspond to the nature of reality. Praxeology proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the social system of Laissez faire capitalism is the only one in harmony with the requirements of an individual’s existence.

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