http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26746 Annales. Etics in Economic Life, vol. 20 No.5 2026-04-07T22:17:42Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26810 The attractiveness of the project of practical methodology and virtue epistemology for the economic history research Bębnowski, Damian Ewa Domańska, a distinguished historian of historiography and the methodologist of history, has provided an insightful commentary on the state of humanities and social sciences. The development of interdisciplinary research in social sciences and humanities has resulted in varying outcomes and interpenetrations. Interdisciplinary research helps the development of science. However, studies undertaken with less rigor may pose some threats into the long term. According to Domańska, the lack of qualifications and care (especially with respect to theory and methodology) may undermine the autonomy of a disciplines and the credibility of research in the given field. This timely warning prompted the author to create the project with the aim to assert the independence of the threatened disciplines and to “re-professionalize” these areas of study. This is to be achieved by emphasizing the role of theory in science—a strong embeddedness of a discipline in the theory. Domańska’s concept, in the form of a dichotomous project, seems to be a recipe for achieving this goal. It presupposes, on the one hand, a “practical methodology”, i.e. constructing the theory basing on empirical research material, and on the other hand the so-called “virtue epistemology”, which stresses an ethical aspect of the researcher’s attitude and labour. The aim of the paper is to discuss Domańska’s project and to draw attention to the originality of her concept in the context of economic and social sciences. The economic history is a peculiar discipline founded at the intersection of history and economics. Thus, it is possible to put forward the thesis that Domańska’s suggestions are relevant to the research of economic history. The author will seek to determine what cognitive opportunities arise from the ontology of economic history and their potential threats to the main disciplines of history and economics. The article will also examine if Domańska’s project is appropriate for the economic history research as it is deeply embedded in “practical methodology”, and so in theory. Next, the author aims to consider the role of new theoretical approaches in this field, and whether it is possible to formulate novel concepts within the scope of the economic history. Finally, the author will attempt to assess the significance of “virtue epistemology” or the ethical aspect of an economic historian’s work. 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26809 The human as capital? A contribution to the critique of the theory of human capital Drobny, Paweł In modern economic theories, human qualities are treated as autonomous production factors, which are called “human capital”. However, these theories provide no description of the relationship between human capital and the man who is its “bearer”, nor an explanation of the formation process of that capital. In the thesis, the author tries to justify it as follows: human qualities, including knowledge and skills, are an integral part of a human being, that is, they are involved in every human act. It is, therefore, wrong to analyse their economic significance in isolation from the whole structure of human activity. Through his or her action, man discovers the potential in things and relationships in the form of the possibility of using them for a particular purpose. Capital is thus realized by the human potential of things that form a system for transforming the world. In the first part of the article, a general description of human capital will be provided. In the second part, it will be criticized, while in the third part, there will be an attempt to show the proper relationship between man and capital from the perspective of personalism. 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26808 Human capital and economic development: The axiological perspective Woźniak, Michał Gabriel Global capitalism is both an outcome and a stimulant of spreading not only the same market economy standards and lifestyles but moral relativism as well. Its origin goes back to Anglo-Saxon liberalism that limits the individuals to maximize their personal benefits that are measured according to the market values. The perception of human nature adopted in this ideology determines solutions as for how to achieve individual and communitarian goals and meet criteria of their validation. As a result, the development of human capital understood as the knowledge necessary to act, is focused on its subjective functions. Thus, human capital plays a more important role in the multiplication of individual benefit than in the improvement of the value of human life. Such developed human capital results in growing disparities in the knowledge assets enabling the harmonization of personal benefit with the responsibility for the valuable life of present and future generations. These disparities lead to an increase in risk of global threats to humanity. The reaction to these threats cannot be based on the development of globalization. The concept that respects the multi-faceted nature of a human being seems to be an appropriate alternative. Due to these efforts, new economics might be developed that may provide applicable educational and institutional tools for long-term sustained economic development and improve the quality of life of an individual. 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26806 The institutional context of rationality Godłów-Legiędź, Janina In the last three decades, mainstream economics has been influenced by authors associated with new institutional economics and new behavioral economics. The dispute over rationality as an assumption of economic theories is becoming particularly evident and is taking new forms. The aim of this article is to examine the connections between the institutional and behavioral approaches as well as between researchers’ ideas as to what rationality is and their beliefs regarding an optimal economic system. It will demonstrate that so-called behavioral and institutional economists have more in common than not. Institutions play a key role in the arguments of behavioural economists, whereas the argument of institutional economists is almost always based on the issue of human cognitive abilities and emotions. What directly links the two trends is the attention given to the rationality of actions that an individual takes as a premise of economic choices and as an assumption of economic theories. Differences in views relate to the understanding of rationality and exist within the framework of behavioral economics itself. At the core of the dispute is the distinction between two concepts of rationality: constructivist and ecological. This distinction serves as a starting point for the second matter discussed in the article. The author argues that the concept of constructivist rationality is related to the vision of the top-down creation of social order, while the proponents of the ecological approach to rationality stress the importance of market institutions. Interestingly, from the perspective of cognitive psychology and the heuristics of Daniel Kahneman, it can be presumed that the convictions of a scholar about the “ideal system” can influence his or her arguments on the essence of human rationality. 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z