DiZerega on Powerlessness

Gus DiZerega has an interesting post on rationality and powerlessness

I wonder whether the sense of powerlessness Gus describes is engendered because we have become enamored of being able to influence things on a grand scale. We lionize the masters of industry, celebrities, politicians, etc... to an extent that tending our own little gardens well seems a pale imitation of life lived at the highest plane.

I'll be interested in following Gus' development of this line of thinking. I am not sure what distinction he's getting at between an Austrian-style methodological individualism and his own desire to examine human beings in all their complexity. Methodological individualism in Austrian economics does leave one a bit cold, as it deliberately sets aside what von Mises called the "thymological" aspects of humans as a matter of economic analysis. But this thymology remains a philosophical subject that might be developed.. and I believe it is time to attend to this gap in the methodology of the Austrians.

Reflection on philanthropy that acknowledges the benefits of the impersonal features of the market order while grappling with the challenges of personal or impersonal beneficence may be one way to push these considerations forward.

On this theme, the wonderful essay "The Power of the Powerless" by Vaclav Havel might also be worth consideration again on these themes.

Comments

[Troy Camplin]

We feel powerless when we forget that butterfly effects do in fact exist. If we believe big things have big effects, and small things have small effects, most of us naturally feel powerless, thinking ourselves small.