Rethinking Max Weber. Premodern Interpretations of Weber in Critical Focus

  • Takács M. Péter
doi: 10.32575/ppb.2024.2.4

Abstract

This study examines criticisms of Max Weber by Leo Strauss and Mihály Polányi. When we claim that we act on the basis of moral considerations, the same is true for the case when we judge others on a moral basis, and in these cases, we also refer to generally recognised moral standards that we consider to be valid. Are these premodern interpretations of Weber critiques or indictments? Namely: the criticism of objectivity, criticism of historicism and criticism of positivism. Analysing Max Weber, we cannot go beyond Rudolph Sohm’s concept of charisma and Weber’s charisma. Weber was greatly influenced by Sohm, from whom the concept of charisma comes. Indeed, Weber perfected Sohm’s concept of charisma, but also adapted it to his own. Neither Polányi nor Strauss find the theory developed by Weber to be completely consistent. The Weberian system of ideas requires renewal, the steps of which are embodied in the criticism of the two authors Mihály Polányi and Leo Strauss. In this study, I undertake to give the body an understanding soul in which both criticism and the Weberian system of ideas meet.

Keywords:

political science tacit knowledge hermeneutics Strauss Leo Weber Max Mihály Polányi political and state theory political philosophy personal knowledge

References

BRUUN, Hans Henrik (2011): Book Review: David Chalcraft, Fanon Howell, Marisol Lopez Menendez, Hector Vera, editors Max Weber Matters: Interweaving Past and Present Farnham/Burlington, UK: Ashgate. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 41(1), 142–147. Online: https://doi.org/10.1177/0048393110370150

CALDWELL, Raymond (2016): TheWeberian Legacy: Re-Reading Reinhard Bendix’s Intellectual Portrait of MaxWeber. Journal of Classical Sociology, 16(2), 196–218. Online: https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795X15624192

ELIAESON, Sven (2002): Max Weber’s Methodologies. Malden, MA: Polity Press.

GORDON, Peter E. (2020): Max the Fatalist. The New York Review, 11 June 2020. Online: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/06/11/max-weber-fatalist/

JOOSSE, Paul (2018): Countering Trump: Toward a Theory of Charismatic Counter-Roles. Social Forces, 97(2), 921–944. Online: https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soy036

KALBERG, Stephen (2008): The Perpetual and Tight Interweaving of Past and Present in MaxWeber’s Sociology. In CHALCRAFT, David J. – HOWELL, Fannon – MENENDEZ, Marisol L. – VERA, Hector (eds.): Max Weber Matters: Interweaving Past and Present. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 273–289.

KÄSLER, Dirk (1979): Einführung in das Studium Max Webers. München: Beck.

LÁNCZI, András (1999): Modernség és válság. Leo Strauss politikai filozófiája. Budapest: Pallas Stúdió – Attraktor Kft.

POLÁNYI, Mihály (1992): Polányi Mihály filozófiai írásai Vol. II. Budapest: Atlantisz.

POLÁNYI, Mihály (1997): Tudomány és ember: három tanulmány. Budapest: Polányi Mihály Szabadelvű Filozófiai Társaság – Argumentum.

SCAFF, Lawrence A. (2015): Jenseits des heiligen Textes: Max Webers Fragestellung und die Perspektiven für ein weberianisches Denken. Berliner Journal für Soziologie, 24(4), 469–486. Online: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11609-015-0274-y

SOHM, Rudolph (1892): Kirchenrecht. Erster Band. Die geschichtlichen Grundlagen [Canon Law, vol. 1, The Historical Foundations]. Leipzig: Verlag von Duncker & Humblot.

SOHM, Rudolph (1912): Wesen und Ursprung des Katholizismus [Essence and Origin of Catholicism]. Leipzig and Berlin: Verlag B.G. Teubner.

STRAUSS, Leo (1994): Mi a politikai filozófia. Világosság, 35(7), 20–50.

STRAUSS, Leo (1999): Természetjog és történelem. Budapest: Pallas Stúdió – Attraktor Kft,

STRAZZERI, Victor (2016): What Comes Next in the Global Max Weber Reception? Call for Participation in the Young Weber Scholars Network. Max Weber Studies, 16(1), 89–99. Online: https://doi.org/10.1353/max.2016.a808661

WEBER, Max (1922): Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Grundriss der Sozialökonomik. Tübingen: JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck).

WEBER, Max (1976): Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Tübingen: JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck).

WEBER, Max (2001): Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Religiöse Gemeinschaften. Tübingen: JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck).

WEBER, Max (2005): Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Herrschaft. Tübingen: JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck).

WEBER, Max (2009): Allgemeine Staatslehre und Politik (Staatssoziologie). Unvollendet. Mit- und Nachschriften 1920. Tübingen: JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck).

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.