The History of Economic Thought: From Marx to Hayek

1. Ideology and Theories of History

Tags: Other Schools of Thought, Philosophy and Methodology, World History

01/13/2006 Murray N. Rothbard

The Whig Theory of History as developed in the 19th century still dominates textbooks today. The Whigs say that history is an inevitable march upward, always improving. The idea is that knowledge is never lost, instead knowledge continues building and adding. This has not been true for history, science, or economics. Contrary to the accepted history of economics, Adam Smith did not create all of modern economic thought in 1776. He was predated (and bettered) by the Spanish Scholastics. Murray Rothbard exposes the Whig Theory and its implications for us today.

The first in a series of six lectures on the History of Economic Thought.

What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Become a Member