Abstract
The book addresses selected key problems in the methodology of science. The book contains three thematic headings, corresponding to the three chapters. The first chapter deals with the paradigm problem. It is based on an analysis of Kuhn's book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. The first section draws attention to the need for a distinction between the term "paradigm" and the term "paradigm". This uses classical semantic analysis (Ogden, Richardson, de Saussire). The other two sections deal with the issue of the incoherence of paradigms, the explanation and interpretation paradigm as two types of paradigms of scientific investigation. For semi-strong theories, a model of subsumption under theory is proposed. The final section of the first chapter examines the genesis of a new paradigm (behavioural economics).
The second chapter is divided into two sections. In the first, a characteristic of the Lakatos methodology of scientific research programmes is presented. The author shows that the Lakatos methodology of scientific research programmes can be used in the field of other sciences. This application is attempted by the second paragraph of the book. The political science and public policy case is examined. Specifically, the Multiple Stream Framework (MSF) model. The third chapter describes basic scientific research approaches. (A dichotomy classification approach is used).
The chapter four attempts to formulate the starting points for a new approach to examining the evolution of historical and social phenomena (the so-called historical-evolutionist approach). This approach uses a retrograde analysis method. On a historical-evolutionary trajectory, it reveals various events and influences of historical development taking the form of "historical residues" and "embedded history", nodal points, branching, disruption, etc. The historical-evolutionist approach is applied in the final section (on the example of the historical development of public administration in the Czech lands).