114-0315/02 – Methodology of Economic Science (MEV)
| Gurantor department | Department of Economics | Credits | 3 |
| Subject guarantor | prof. Ing. Martin Macháček, Ph.D. et Ph.D. | Subject version guarantor | prof. Ing. Martin Macháček, Ph.D. et Ph.D. |
| Study level | undergraduate or graduate | Requirement | Choice-compulsory |
| Year | 2 | Semester | winter |
| | Study language | Czech |
| Year of introduction | 2009/2010 | Year of cancellation | 2010/2011 |
| Intended for the faculties | EKF | Intended for study types | Follow-up Master |
Subject aims expressed by acquired skills and competences
- To distinguish scientific and non-scientific views of the world
- To analyze the ways of economic category creation
- To formulate basic principles of economic theory building
- To compare different philosophical-methodological base for interpretation of economic events
- To understand ideas of economic theory creation
Teaching methods
Lectures
Seminars
Summary
The course is focused on the consolidation of knowledge gained in economics with a deeper understanding of logic and structure of ideological statements. It is therefore to ensure that students understand how representatives of individual schools of economic thought reached the conclusions presented in a simplified form in economics textbooks.
Compulsory literature:
1. Blaug, M.: The Methodology of Economics: Or, How Economists Explain. 2nd edition. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 1992.
2. Caldwell, B. J.: Beyond Positivism: Economic Methodology in the Twentieth Century. London, Routledge 1994.
Recommended literature:
1. Boland, L. A.: Critical Economic Methodology. A Personal Odyssey. London, Routledge 1997.
2. Hands, W. D.: Reflection without Rules: Economic Methodology and Contemporary Science Theory. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2001.
Way of continuous check of knowledge in the course of semester
E-learning
Other requirements
Prerequisities
Subject has no prerequisities.
Co-requisities
Subject has no co-requisities.
Subject syllabus:
1. Science, its concepts and fields. The origins and development of science (Antiquity, Middle Ages, Modern Period). The crisis of science and the natural world.
2. Philosophy and methodology of science – logical positivism and empirism.
3. Philosophy and methodology of science – critical rationalism and K.R. Popper.
4. History and sociology of science – T.S. Kuhn.
5. Methodology of scientific research programmes – I. Lakatos.
6. Methodology of economic science – the Millian tradition. Deductivism.
7. Logical positivism in economics. Economics as empirical science.
8. Popper´s methodology of social sciences. Falsification principle in economics.
9. Kuhn´s history and sociology of science – an economics application.
10. Methodology of scientific research programmes in economics.
11. Samuelson´s operationalism.
12. Friedman´s methodology of positive economics and the problem of instrumentalism
13. Rhetorical and onthological turns in economics. Critical realism.
14. Naturalistic, sociological, and economic turns in the philosophy of science.
Conditions for subject completion
Occurrence in study plans
Occurrence in special blocks
Assessment of instruction