A First Analysis of the Category of Action

I’m now going to sum up the most important points Mises makes in the section titled “Ends and Means.” We’ve talked about this before; what is an end? According to Mises, an end is the result an actor intends to achieve with his action. And what is a means? (Remember that in English, “means” always ends with an “s,” even when it’s singular.) A means is anything the actor subjectively believes will permit him to achieve his end. Bear in mind that both ends and means are always subjective. In what sense? In the sense that the subject involved in the action is the one who discovers the end worthwhile to her and seeks out the means she subjectively believes—that is, from her own, particular viewpoint—will be necessary to accomplish her objective. Now, let’s delve into this a bit more.