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Jordan Peterson's Biblical Sacrifice and Hans Hoppe's Time Preference:

• lewrockwell.com By David Giessel

Jordan Peterson draws immense meaning out of the short story of Cain and Abel in Genesis. One of the main concepts in this story is the idea of sacrificing that which you value most, embodied by Abel's sacrifice of his best animals.  Cain, on the other hand, sacrifices a pile of vegetables.

While both brothers offer sacrifices, God only finds favor with Abel's sacrifice. It is a bigger (actual?) sacrifice, and it is sincere. Abel is "all in" when it comes to foregoing present enjoyment for future (or spiritual) enjoyment. Cain, on the other hand, isn't offering his best, so can he be said to be truly sacrificing anything?

What struck me the first time I heard Peterson articulate the evolutionary significance of humans learning to practice sacrifice (stay tuned for Part 2) is that it is exactly Hans Hoppe's description of Time Preference.

Hoppe notes that the basis of savings (and all of civilization) is the willingness to sacrifice present enjoyment for future enjoyment. Even better, in a honest system, this sacrifice results in MORE future enjoyment than what is sacrificed in the present. Exactly as the story of Cain and Abel describes.


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