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| Joseph Duplessis, Benjamin Franklin (1778) |
Arguably the foremost social theorist of the twentieth century, Max
Weber (1864-1920) is known as a principal architect of modern social science
along with Karl Marx and Emil Durkheim. Weber's wide-ranging
contributions gave critical impetus to the birth of new academic
disciplines such as sociology and public administration as well as to
the significant reorientation in law, economics, political science,
and religious studies. His methodological writings were instrumental
in establishing the self-identity of modern social science as a
distinct field of inquiry; he is still claimed as the source of
inspiration by empirical positivists and their hermeneutic detractors
alike. More substantively, Weber's two most celebrated contributions
were the “rationalization thesis,” a grand meta-historical
analysis of the dominance of the west in modern times, and the
“Protestant Ethic thesis,” a non-Marxist genealogy of
modern capitalism. Together, these two theses helped launch his
reputation as one of the founding theorists of modernity. In addition,
his avid interest and participation in politics led to a unique strand
of political realism comparable to that of Machiavelli and Hobbes. As
such, Max Weber's influence was far-reaching across the vast array of
disciplinary, methodological, ideological and philosophical reflections
that are still our own and increasingly more so. (From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Read:
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 120 (first section), 1-20 (middle of the page), 23-28
Watch:
Study Questions:
1. Weber structures his argument inductively, meaning that rather than starting with a thesis he works from examples and from that generates a conclusion. While this is a perfectly logical way of structuring an essay, if you are used to a more deductive form of argumentation it might seem unwelcoming. In order to help your comprehension of the piece, I would like you to summarize pages one through seven. What is the problem that Weber poses? Where does he seek to find the solution?
2. How does Benjamin Franklin represent the "spirit of capitalism"? How does this relate to the concept of a "calling"?
