"This article explores Max Weber's reasons for claiming that morally exemplary ideas with some regularity produce the unwanted result of highly dubious ethical consequences. The diagnosis of such "normative paradoxes" is Weber's attempt to refute the optimistic philosophies of history with their own tools. If the philosophy of the Enlightenment assumed that bold, progressive ideas could steer the world toward improvement, Weber sought to demonstrate that the opposite was true: once such ideas became historically effective, there was a certain inevitability with which they produced evil and social harm. It will be shown that Weber thought he could justify this thesis by demonstrating that it is ultimately the givens of human nature that stand in the way of any linear and faithful realization of morally well-intentioned ideas, and even cause them to be transformed into their opposites"--
The year 2020 marked the centennial of the death of Max Weber, the German sociologist, scholar of world religions, economic historian, social philosopher, and theoretician of modern political life. This volume presents a collection of essays on the legacy and relevance of his thought. The authors, an international array of distinguished scholars, are drawn from various disciplines--philosophy, political science, intellectual history, and sociology. They comprise both experts who have contributed to the ongoing study of Weber's work and theorists who discern his enduring bond with key problems in the humanities and social sciences. Max Weber at 100 seeks to understand the ways that Weber's legacy may take shape in the century to come. It contends that Weber's sustained relevance will derive not only--and perhaps not even predominantly--from his empirical claims, such as the "Weber thesis" about the origins of capitalism. Two key dimensions of his thought will play an increasingly important role in determining his significance: his inchoate but equally evocative theories about ecology, global capitalism, imperialism, democracy, and gender; and his broader, non-empirical or even philosophical observations concerning questions of human nature, value freedom, objectivity, secularization, rationalization, and disenchantment. The contributors cast a critical eye over Weber's oeuvre to ask what can still be learned from his work, and how his legacy might be contested or transformed.
This volume presents a collection of essays on the enduring legacy and relevance of Max Weber, German sociologist, scholar of world religions, economic historian, social philosopher, and theoretician of modern political life. Published a century after his death, this volume brings together original essays by distinguished historians, philosophers, and social theorists to take stock of his significance in the early decades of the twenty-first century. It offers illuminating perspectives for both the novice and the expert, addressing the broader, more theoretical dimensions of his legacy that remain of central relevance to a wide range of disciplines.
