ABSTRACT
The works of Ludwig von Mises dedicated to establishing the foundations of economics are, in chronological order: Epistemological Problems of Economics, Human Action, Theory and History and The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science. Human Action is a book clearly divided into two parts: the first develops the basic categories of all human action: it is a treatise on praxeology, a word coined by Mises from the Greek root praxis or action. The second part is a theory of the market and of economic calculation, catallactics in the Misian terminology – a word from the Greek original katallattein, whose translation is exchange or swap. Every human action is explained with the axiom of action. Every economist is a person and as such can understand the relative importance of the value judgements in an action. In this regard the method of history is the understanding of the particularities which constitute each individual action as a differentiated and unitary whole.
