Human Action

1. Phenomena that are the result both of human
action and of human design: Suppose that in a fit
of anger I punch you in the face; you lose teeth
and bleed. You’re angry at me. Your suffering is
the result both of human action (my punch) and of
human design (my intention was to harm you by
punching you in the face). You’d act perfectly
sensibly if you get angry with me and retaliate
by punching me back.
2. Phenomena that are the result neither of
human action nor of human design: Suppose that
you’ve planned a picnic with your new girlfriend
on Saturday; when you awaken you find that rain
is pouring from the sky, which is dark in all
directions. You’re angry; that’s quite
understandable. But you don’t shake your fist at
the heavens and blame someone; you don’t demand
that the rain stop; you understand that things,
such as rain storms, happen that are the result
neither of human action nor of human design.
3. Phenomena that are the result of human action
but not of human design: Suppose today you ask a
college student to look up a term – say,
"Hayekian." He or she will likely do so by
"googling it." "Google" has become a verb. You
might like this fact; you might despise this
fact; but a fact it is. It is obviously the
result of human action, but it is not the result
of human design. No one decided, or planned, that
"google" would be a verb.

Few people have difficulty identifying phenomena
that are properly classified in either of the
first two categories. But the third category is
different. People don’t get it easily. Too bad,
for it’s a vitally important category. [My
emphasis.]

See some of the economic consequences of these
bits of human action.

See the post.