Human Action, Chapters 8–10

Date and Time: August 26, 2026, 21:00

Location: Online

Participants: kdg, mori, 자유, g, 벤치프레스

Book Title: Human Action

Author: Ludwig von Mises

Year of Publication: 1949

Assigned Reading: 8–10

Action Within the Framework of Society (Chapters 8–10)

1. The Nature of Society and the Peaceful Principle of the Division of Labor

Society as conscious cooperation: Mises does not regard society as a transcendent species-being or a fixed apparatus established once and for all by contract.

Society is a dynamic complex of “conscious and purposeful cooperation (the division of labor)” chosen by individual actors in order to achieve their respective goals more effectively.

How it differs from Social Contract Theory: Mises rejects the artificial contractual view that the state or society was established by signing some historical contract.

Social cohesion is a spontaneous order that naturally emerges as human reason recognizes the superior productivity of the division of labor and puts mutual exchange and cooperation into practice.

Ricardo’s Law of Association and geographic immobility: Mises extends the theory of comparative advantage, which classical economics had explained only under the special barrier of “international trade,” into a universal principle of social formation.

The limitation that capital and labor (people) cannot freely move to regions of absolute advantage because of geographic and institutional barriers—namely, immobility—actually stimulates a division of labor based on comparative advantage.

By demonstrating that even the weak, who are inferior in every respect, need not be eliminated or excluded but can coexist peacefully with the strong by specializing in the areas best suited to them, Mises breaks with the evolutionary conflict of the survival of the fittest and presents the “principle of cosmic harmony.”

2. The Power of Ideas and the Limits of Human Reason

Worldview, ideology, and the limits of violence: He distinguishes between a “worldview,” a broad system of perception that serves as the compass of human action, and “ideas (ideology),” which are related to the formation of the secular order.

Even physical coercion (violence) cannot endure for long unless it ultimately rests on the “power of ideas,” which justifies that power and elicits obedience.

Innate inequality and a critique of social engineering: Anarchism and social engineering, which begin from the idealistic premise that all human beings possess perfect and equal rationality, are bound to collapse because of the limits of reason.

Mises frankly acknowledges the natural inequality of human abilities. It is precisely because such inequality of conditions exists that the division of labor and social association, which complement differing abilities, could arise in the first place; this is a cosmic blessing that made the development of civilization possible.

3. Exchange Within Society and the Leap from Ordinal to Cardinal

Contractual bonds vs. hegemonic bonds: Contractual bonds, represented by the market economy, are a free and peaceful order in which actors maintain an equal and symmetrical relationship.

By contrast, hegemonic bonds—characteristic of government, the military, and the socialist planned economy, all of which are marked by command and obedience—are an asymmetrical order of coercive domination that restricts individual choice.

From ordinal preference to cardinal economic calculation (calculative action): Human subjective satisfaction or value judgment exists only as an ordinal ranking—“A is better than B”—and therefore cannot be added, subtracted, multiplied, or divided.

However, when many value judgments collide and are traded within a contractual society (the market) where private property and the division of labor are secured, subjective preferences are transformed into objective and cardinal “money prices.”

Using these money prices as a tool, human beings are finally able to carry out rational economic calculation by precisely determining costs and returns, thereby advancing civilization.

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Original title: <인간행동> 8~10장

Author: Jayujuui Ipmun Dokseotoronmoim

Date: 2026-08-27

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=reading01&pn=1&idx=29454