“It is evident that in the act of choosing between giving up or adding units of either X or Y, the actor must have, in effect, placed both goods on a single, unitary value scale. The actor may not and cannot measure differences in utility, but he must be engaged in ranking all the goods considered on one value scale.”
To assume otherwise implies that the actor isn’t acting based on his knowledge (both explicit and implicit), and because that cannot be the case (if so, he is an automaton controlled by its genes, and is not human), the action axiom implies a scale of preferences.
Or put differently, if you assume otherwise (i.e., more than one value scales), you are extending across the multiverse, and that is forbidden by the laws of physics.
Next:
- 13-6c1 The action axiom meaningfully implies corresponding value scales only when the action is mediated via corresponding knowledge
- 13-6d Praxeological laws apply regardless of the content of value scales—regardless of the nature of ends pursued
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