Historical-evolutionary and Retrograde Approach to the Study of Social Phenomena and Public Administration

Abstract The author of the study presents a new approach to the study of dynamic changes in society. He calls it the historical-evolutionist and retrograde approach. The historical-evolutionist approach is based on the existence of the ontology of the problem. It is based on the reality of evolution. This approach makes it possible to reveal on the historical-evolutionary trajectory the key events (factors) that influenced the historical development and to retrospectively identify their historical significance. On the historical-evolutionary trajectory, we can retrogradely trace various events such as: a node on the trajectory, and a breaking point on an evolutionary trajectory, evolution path branching. disruption, dead end, evolutionary island, embedded history, as well as a form of retrograde revealed possible worlds. These concepts are then demonstrated on the example of the history of public administration in the Czech Republic.