Economy, Society, and History Quotes

“(...) Most cannibals realized, at some point, after smartening up a little bit, that slavery was definitely superior over this, unless you are very, very hungry at this particular moment.”
― Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Economy, Society, and History

“The superiority of the more highly developed societies lies not only in their material welfare, but also quantitatively in the number of their members and qualitatively in the greater solidity of their internal structure. For this, precisely, is the key to higher social development: the widening of the social range, the inclusion in the division of labor of more human beings and its stronger grip on each individual. The more highly developed society differs from the less developed in the closer union of its members; this precludes the violent solution of internal conflict and forms externally a close defensive front against any enemy. In less developed societies, where the social bond is still weak, and between the separate parts of which there exists a confederation for the purposes of war rather than true solidarity based on joint work and economic cooperation—disagreement breaks out more easily and more quickly than in highly developed societies. For the military confederation has no firm and lasting hold upon its members. By its very nature it is merely a temporary bond which is upheld by the prospect of momentary advantage, but dissolves as soon as the enemy has been defeated and the scramble for the booty sets in. In fighting against the less developed societies the more developed ones have always found that their greatest advantage lay in the lack of unity in the enemy’s ranks. Only temporarily do the nations in a lower state of organization manage to cooperate for great military enterprises. Internal disunity has always dispersed their armies quickly. Take for example the Mongol raids on the Central European civilization of the thirteenth century or the efforts of the Turks to penetrate into the West. The superiority of the industrial over the military type of society, to use Herbert Spencer’s expression, consists largely in the fact that associations which are merely military always fall to pieces through internal disunity.”
― Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Economy, Society, and History

“(...) I always thought that that was so obvious, almost beyond dispute, and then pointed out in the next sentence, that this helps us understand, for instance, the attitude of a man like Keynes, whose economic philosophy was “in the long run, we are all dead.” Now, this is true for some people, but it is not true for most people, who, of course, have their own children and so forth, future generations to come...”
― Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Economy, Society, and History