snortyort

praxeology – action and argumentation

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2026-06-30 02:47:32 UTC

i was reading some more Hoppe (ESAM) and some ideas are starting to “click” related to epistemology:
we can label knowledge as being *analytical* or *synthetic* and within those either *a priori* or *a posteriori*
*analytical* knowledge is like math or definitional truths – think “1+1=2” or “all bachelors are unmarried” – the statements are true via logic alone – no observation or measurement needed – which is what shows that they are *a priori* (as analytical a posteriori *isn’t* actually possible)
*synthetic* knowledge has more to do with facts related to the world – think “the sun rose today” or “mixing these two chemicals causes an explosion” – typically these require observation and experience – so most of them end up being *synthetic a posteriori*
but what about synthetic a priori??
the central claim of empiricism is actually that synthetic knowledge can *only* be a posteriori – no room is made for *synthetic a priori* – it doesn’t believe something can be informative about reality *and* necessarily true independent of specific experiences
praxeology challenges this directly!!
praxeology says that *synthetic a priori* knowledge does exist – these are statements that are necessarily true (you can’t coherently deny them without contradiction) *and* they tell us something real about the world – and it all starts from the action axiom
empiricism rejects this category and shoves all human action into the *synthetic a posteriori* bucket – which is why it obsesses with measuring, observing, and running regressions – instead of *reasoning* from the logic of action
(this doesn’t mean praxeology ignores data or measurement – it actually makes sharper distinctions – like class probability v/s case probability – more on that once i’ve read a bit further)
#praxeology #freedom #economics

2026-06-26 15:18:15 UTC

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great example of how chasing something you enjoy can just unexpectedly open some doors 👍🏼

2026-06-25 10:53:20 UTC

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how so? 🤔

2026-06-24 15:42:03 UTC

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probably using d3.js under-the-hood?
(most complex web visuals do – and a lot of high-level charting libraries are usually built atop of it too)
used to be difficult to learn, but with the help of LLM’s, it’s probably a lot more beginner friendly now (hopefully)
https://d3js.org/

2026-06-24 14:34:14 UTC

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amazing book – it was probably the first substantial libertarian book i read
the one part that kept nagging at me after reading it was the natural rights sitting behind libertarianism – left me feeling like there had to be more behind that – which there certainly is

2026-06-24 13:04:09 UTC

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“It is not difficult to detect that both a priori axioms—of action and argumentation—are intimately related. On the one hand, actions are more fundamental than argumentation with whose existence the idea of validity emerges, as argumentation is only a subclass of action. On the other hand, to recognize what has just been recognized regarding action and argumentation and their relation to each other requires argumentation, and so, in this sense, argumentation must be considered more fundamental than action: without argumentation nothing could be said to be known about action.”
#praxeology #freedom #economics

2026-06-24 12:58:35 UTC

ever since beginning to read into libertarianism i’ve kept trying to find *the starting point* – unsure why
but, i think Hoppe’s book ESAM provides an answer – it seems to be both action *and* argumentation
action via an ontological lens, but argumentation via an epistemological lens – it’s interesting
unsure if it’s accurate – but here’s how i’ve been conceptualising it:
https://image.nostr.build/2998c77ed94c3ae8a2d272dbe6b9b7dcfe264a5f7070626412281bb5cc5968d5.jpg

2026-06-24 11:57:14 UTC

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thanks for writing this – didn’t know what i was opening when i clicked the link – but glad i did – good read!

2026-06-17 02:29:12 UTC

is modern economics (keynesianism, etc) just one of the most successful psyops ever?
let me just raise the interest rates, for everyone, because *some aggregate metric* is *too high*
i cannot believe more people don’t take a step back and think “hmm?”
#praxeology #freedom #economics

2026-06-10 15:45:56 UTC

yo – i’m starting a fresh nym – i’m going to try keep my follows more intentional and see if it helps 🤔
#introductions #praxeology #freedom