Mises on altruism

In reaction to posts of mine below, CN and Miguel try to defend the position of Ludwig von Mises on the issue of egoism vs. altruism. I do not think it is defendable. In some paragraphs of Human Action Mises goes to great pains trying to persuade us that, ultimately, altruism is an egotistical attitude: if A does some good to B it is because A feels better off doing as compared to the alternative state of affairs of doing nothing to B. According to Mises, then, there is no sacrifice in human life, every human action is dictated by calculated self-interest.

I think this position is untenable. As Becker has conclusively shown, and experienced common sense would dictate, altruism is the distinguishing feature of the family - and I would add, of the Church too. Family and Church, the two oldest and strongest institutions of our Civilization are based predominantly on altruism, not calculated self-interest. The mother who stays at home taking care of his sick child, instead of going to the movies with her friends, does it for the child's sake, not for her own sake.

It was, I believe, AAA who recently wrote in O Insurgente that he considers Mises the greatest economist of all times. I must admit that for a period in my life I shared this view. I do not anymore - far from it. The problem with Mises is that he did not live a normal life. He was truly an armchair economist who considered that he could develop a science of human action by pure intellectual argument and without leaving home.

He was a loner and an isolated man. Being a champion of the market he never lived by the market. During the early period of his life in Austria he held government jobs. When he moved to the United States he lived on the altruism of the Volcker Foundation (obviously, I suppose he would rationalize this altruism as an act of egoism: "the Volcker Foundation pays me because it is in their best interests to sponsor such a great thinker as I am").

He was never a father, so he had no experience of raising a family and the amount of altruism it takes. He was not a religious man either, so he could not experience the altruism of the Church. He married late in life. For more than fifteen years he flirted with Margit Selene, later Margit von Mises. Only after his mother's death he married her apparently because he feared his authoritarian mother would not approve of the marriage.

This man had no experience and authority to talk about altruism and the role of altruism in society. What he said on this issue is pure trash. He did not know what he was talking about.