Economic History as a Methodological Implication of Karel Engliš’s Teleology (in Czech)

Abstract

Karel Englis’s teleology emphasizes realistic assumption of virtually acting man. Virtually acting man theoretical assumption is however quite contrary to the mathematical and statistical methods widely used in modern microeconomic analysis. In this paper, I argue that the evidence of historical example is a good method to illuminate the implications of microeconomic theory that emphasizes realistic assumption of virtually acting man, because if implications of microeconomic theoretical models are illustrated in historical perspective, they can be more easily verified by common sense thus particular historical circumstances may be partly revealed. Moreover, historical examples also serve to demonstrate the qualitative content of casual economic relations based on human historical experience, which is ignored by natural science methods. The historical example is thus not only more realistic but it better corresponds with the social nature of economic science.