European values: a liberal doctrine through the methodology of political economy

Abstract

Clarification of the laws of harmonious ordering of the social economy system was largely carried out in the depth of European civilization in the course of the evolution of fundamental scientific knowledge. Thus, the synergy of intellectual efforts of the representatives of classical German philosophy, English political economy and French social doctrines became a catalyst and, at the same time, a fertile cultural ground for the establishment of civic institutions of modern times. Transcendent understanding of civilizational values as a system of social relations is to be carried out by political economy – the science of economic laws. Such a mission of economic science was defined during the formation of its classic research line as the logic of the Middle Way. However, modern economic theory in content remains traditional. It does not conceive its object in a single space-time coordinate system or recognize the economic value (economic good) as its own object and the basis of social relations. For that reason, the most important concepts of civilizational heritage are considerably distorted. Freedom, equality, and brotherhood, which are considered to be political in origin, are the most important universal values that have been promulgated by the European community in modern times. However, the crystallization of the values of freedom, equality, and brotherhood in their syncretic unity is initially carried out in the depths of political economy. In recent times, each of them has been taken as one of the traditional methodological branches of economic science. Thus, the problem of freedom is key to the liberal-margin economic doctrine that today ideologically feeds educational courses in economics. In order to modernize the training courses, experts propose to restore their connection with the provisions of the authentic doctrine of liberal marginalization, and with the conceptual system of L. von Mises. This rethinking makes the logic of functioning of the modern market economy and the basic principles of neoliberal policy more transparent and at the same time shows the imperfection of liberal doctrine in comparison with the original scientific provisions of classical economic thought.