| Abstract [eng] |
The master‘s thesis The Economic Ground of Religious Choice portrays an attempt to divulge the origins of the methodological and, in part, theoretical principles of the economics of religion, a concept which is presently gaining great popularity throughout the world. The work also demonstrates possible limits of application concerning the concepts under consideration. In highlighting the methodological assumptions of the issue, economic studies expose the notion of distinction between utility and meaning: by disproportionately emphasizing the utility dimension, the plane of meaning is hidden or even eliminated, inevitably incorporating the religious component as well. Methodological origins of the utility/meaning distinction are encountered in the prevailing concept of economic basis and means, where particular consideration is given to the comprehension of a rational, economic individual, as well as to the distinction between positive and normative economies. This demonstrates how the internal contradiction of a rational individual’s comprehension and the distinction of positive/normative economy give rise to fact-value distinction that is particularly deeply rooted not only in economic policy, but also in the very foundation of mainstream economic theory. Deliberation of an economics of religion concept, a concept that is gaining popularity, demonstrates how the principle of viewing religious issues exclusively from an economic perspective destroys essential religious dimensions, while an attempt to search for religious and economic connections, without first doing away with the fact/value distinction in the disposition of a subject who is at a choice-making stage, transforms it into a utility/meaning divide. The study shows how the utility/meaning and, accordingly, the fact/value distinctions which have occupied the methodological field of economy are manifested as expressions of the active/passive, technical and meditative existence concealed within an individual’s economic being. Within this context there is also an endeavor to substantiate the specific circumstance of so-called Christian economics, when Christian philosophical and theological insights are used in an attempt to furnish solutions to particularly concrete economic problems. |
