inscitia on Nostr: A statement recurrently made by Mises in his books is that the existence of constants ...
A statement recurrently made by Mises in his books is that the existence of constants for non-human action opens up the possibility of mathematical formulation . The inexistence of human action constants prevents mathematical formulations epistemologically equivalent to those employed in natural sciences.
The following excerpt from Epistemological Problems of Economics is an example:
Even the mathematical sciences of nature owe their theories not to mathematical, but to nonmathematical reasoning. Mathematics has a significance in the natural sciences altogether different from what it has in sociology and economics. This is because physics is able to discover empirically constant relationships, which it describes in its equations. 89 The scientific technology based on physics is thereby rendered capable of solving given problems with quantitative definiteness. The engineer is able to calculate how a bridge must be constructed in order to bear a given load. These constant relationships cannot be demonstrated in economics.
The following excerpt from Epistemological Problems of Economics is an example:
Even the mathematical sciences of nature owe their theories not to mathematical, but to nonmathematical reasoning. Mathematics has a significance in the natural sciences altogether different from what it has in sociology and economics. This is because physics is able to discover empirically constant relationships, which it describes in its equations. 89 The scientific technology based on physics is thereby rendered capable of solving given problems with quantitative definiteness. The engineer is able to calculate how a bridge must be constructed in order to bear a given load. These constant relationships cannot be demonstrated in economics.