Hayek sobre Mises

"The arguments by which he supported his unpopular views were not always completely conclusive, even though some reflection could have shown that he was right. But when he was convinced of his conclusions and had presented them in clear and plain language—a gift that he possessed to a high degree—he believed that this would also have to convince others and only prejudice and stubbornness prevented them from understanding. For too long he had lacked the opportunity of discussing problems with intellectual equals who shared his basic moral convictions in order to see how even small differences in one's implicit assumptions can lead to different results (ênfase minha). This manifested itself in a certain impatience that was easily suspected of being an unwillingness to understand, whereas an honest misunderstanding of his arguments was the case.

I must admit that I myself often initially did not think his arguments to be completely convincing and only slowly learned that he was mostly right and that, after some reflection, a justification could be found that he had not made explicit. And today, considering the kind of battle that he had had to lead, I also understand that he was driven to certain exaggerations, like that of the a priori character of economic theory, where I could not follow him."

Essa observação de Hayek é importante. É verdade que sempre devemos dar atenção aos nossos adversários mais antagônicos, mas se ficarmos APENAS NISSO, corremos o risco de não aprofundarmos nossas idéias e não desenvolvermos argumentos mais sutis, e perdermos o gosto pela discórdia amigável. Mises estava imerso num mar de idéias tão equivocadas que foi impedido de desenvolver seu pensamento de maneira mais profunda. Seus insights são corretos, mas não são suficientes para construir uma teoria econômica alternativa. Ao contrário, são princípios que atualmente nos parecem tão trivialmente verdadeiros que ficamos surpresos com o fato deles terem provocado(e ainda provocarem) discórdia entre a classe intelectual, principalmente não-economistas.