Nation, state, and economy: ’true science’ as a foundation for ideology

Thomas Carlyle famously called economy the 'dismal science.' In fact, technocratic views are often used as foundations for the existence of wide worldviews or ideologies. This relationship can be observed in the early writings of Ludwig von Mises around the First World War. Although Mises was, at all times in his career, explaining and describing economic processes, his writings acquire a decisive political-narrative emphasis in Nation, State, and Economy (1919). As we will try to show, his attempts to ground political solutions in epistemology go far beyond economic scientific work. Can 'true science' serve as a foundation for an ideology? By analysing his political thought (1907-1919), it is argued that Mises shifted in this respect as a reaction against the First World War. Socialism, according to Mises, is based on ideological choices devoid of solid scientific foundations. However, we will argue that Mises is, in the end, conceptually mimicking the socialists he criticizes, notably in both ideologies' claim that they represent a 'true science.' Mises himself seemed more or less aware of this fact.