Max Weber on Causal Analysis,Interpretation, and Comparison

Max Weber's methodological writings offered a model of singular causal analysis that anticipated key elements of contemporary Anglo‐American philosophy of the social and cultural sciences. The model accurately portrayed crucial steps and dimensions of causal reasoning in these disciplines, outlining a dynamic and probabilistic conception of historical processes, counterfactual reasoning, and comparison as a substitute for counterfactual argument. Above all, Weber recognized the interpretation of human actions as a subcategory of causal analysis, in which the agents‘ visions of desired outcomes, together with their beliefs about how to bring them about, cause them to act as they do.     

Max Weber,charisma and nationalist leadership1

ABSTRACT. One of Max Weber's most well‐known achievements was the formulation of three concepts of legitimate authority: traditional, legal‐rational and charismatic. However, there are particular problems with the last of these, which is not historically grounded in the manner of the other two concepts. The charisma concept originated with Weber's sociology of religion, was pressed into service in pre‐war writing on the sociology of domination, shifted focus in his wartime political writings and changed meaning again in his post‐war writing on basic sociological concepts. To use the concept in historical‐political analysis, I argue, one must distinguish between a pre‐modern and modern form of charismatic domination. I argue that doing this enables us to understand features of the leadership of colonial nationalist and fascist movements.     

Liberation from the Weberian Iron Cage: Pierre Manent on Max Weber

Abstract

In this article I contend that conventional social contract theory is self-referentially incoherent. Conventional contractarianism therefore fails to provide an adequate foundation for the authority of the state and for the obligation of citizens to obey. The insistence on consent for legitimate political authority has usually been rendered in contractarian terms. Thus, the fall of conventional social contract theory seemingly entails that we should reject the principle of consent as well. Yet, the necessity of consent for the authority of the state and, concomitantly, for the obligation of citizens to obey seems to be an entailment of human equality. Thus, insofar as human persons are equal, the legitimacy of the state seems to require a foundation logically precluded to it. We are therefore confronted with a theoretical crisis. Even so, I will argue that we need not reject the principle of consent. The self-referential incoherency of conventional contractarianism results from its conventionalism. We can begin the work of salvaging the principle of consent from the demise of conventional social contract theory by erecting it upon the foundation of moral and ontological realism.     

马克斯·韦伯与古代史研究

一、引言马克斯·韦伯 (ＭａｘＷｅｂｅｒ)由于在方法论、比较宗教研究和社会经济学领域的开创性著作 ,①长期以来作为“社会学之父”著称于世 ,相对而言 ,他的带有历史学色彩的早期著作则较少受到人们的关注和重视。这种偏差由于学科体制形成方面的原因而受到进一步强化。在韦伯的时代 ,社会学作为一门自成体系的学科尚处于草创时期 ,“在海德堡 ,尽管已经以社会学为出发点来考虑许多问题 ,但作为研究社会的科学尚未在学院体系中出现。”②其前身在日耳曼地区是被称为国家学的学科 ,它由 (用现在的学科分类标准 )经济史、法理学、社会学和…     

Vergemeinschaftung and Vergesellschaftung in Max Weber: A reconstruction of his linguistic usage

When Max Weber made use of the terms “Vergemeinschaftung” and “Vergesellschaftung” in the first chapter of “Economy and Society”, he was among other things alluding to Ferdinand Tönnies' well- known usage of “Gemeinschaft” and “Gesellschaft”, as well as to related conceptions in the work of Georg Simmel. However, Weber's usage not only differed from the senses in which Tönnies and Simmel used these terms; he had himself altered his own usage since the early draft of this chapter, published in 1913 as “On some Categories of Interpretive Sociology”. The tangled resonances that result from this are carefully identified and separated, and in so doing light is shed upon the nature and status of Weber's intentions in writing his important chapter on “Basic Sociological Categories”.     

全球化形势下的民族主义与阶级斗争

阶级认同与民族认同是两个不同的认同范畴。民族主义与资产阶级民族国家相伴而生,因而具有明显的资产阶级属性。苏联、东欧集团的解体和中国在“文化大革命”中所犯的阶级斗争扩大化的严重错误,使全球化进程中阶级斗争学说的话语权被极大地削弱,但阶级矛盾依然存在。全球化形势下不合理的国际经济秩序造成的“南北”矛盾既有民族矛盾的属性,也有阶级矛盾的属性。     

资本主义精神：新教伦理、个人主义还是“民族主义”

韦伯、桑巴特和托尼对资本主义精神的理解各不相同。韦伯突出宗教改革对资本主义兴起的意义,重视禁欲主义、勤奋、节俭等新教伦理;桑巴特强调个人对财富和享乐的追求,甚至认为资本主义产生于奢侈。但他们都对资本主义的恶性发展和精神危机表示忧虑。托尼同样担忧资本主义活动中道德伦理的缺失,认为宗教冷淡和个人主义的发展会带来恶果。格林菲尔德以某种“集体意识形态”替代韦伯命题中的个体意识,反对用个人主义解释资本主义。但她以“英格兰民族主义”为资本主义兴起与持续发展动因的论述,既不能解释资本主义的兴起,也不符合资本主义发展的历史。     

马克斯·韦伯眼中的孔子:韦伯中国史观中的精神与自然力

[提要]作为德国社会学古典理论的奠基人之一,马克斯·韦伯以“新教伦理与资本主义精神之间具有历史亲和力”的观点在世界范围内享有盛誉。他终其一生都在以摒弃西方人传统偏见的态度去探究非西方的文化。韦伯在中国宗教(尤其是儒教和道教)研究领域取得了巨大成就。他以对孔子和儒者的仰止之心指出儒教是一种高度发达的、冷静的理性主义,深刻剖析了宗教是中国未能发展成为现代化工业社会的决定性因素。韦伯进一步揭示了自然环境及其变迁对于中国历史进程的影响,阐释了自然环境状况也是中国未能发展成为工业资本主义的另一症结所在。     

Vergemeinschaftung and Vergesellschaftung in Max Weber: A reconstruction of his linguistic usage

When Max Weber made use of the terms “Vergemeinschaftung” and “Vergesellschaftung” in the first chapter of “Economy and Society”, he was among other things alluding to Ferdinand Tönnies’ well-known usage of “Gemeinschaft” and “Gesellschaft”, as well as to related conceptions in the work of Georg Simmel. However, Weber's usage not only differed from the senses in which Tönnies and Simmel used these terms; he had himself altered his own usage since the early draft of this chapter, published in 1913 as “On some Categories of Interpretive Sociology”. The tangled resonances that result from this are carefully identified and separated, and in so doing light is shed upon the nature and status of Weber's intentions in writing his important chapter on “Basic Sociological Categories”.     

Class,Religion and the Foundation of the Australian Party System: A Revisionist Interpretation

The Australian party system's historic affiliation between religious identification and party support has generally been explained in terms of overlapping cleavages, with the coincidence of Catholicism and working-class socio-economic status given greatest agency. The evidence, however, is inconclusive for working-class predominance amongst Catholics at the time of Fusion. The accepted explanation fails to recognise the power and agency of religion and so overlooks the role of Protestant values and beliefs in the Deakinite Liberals' response to Labor's organisational demands for the subordination of individual judgement to party discipline, and in the subsequent rhetoric of the nonlabour parties. Nonlabour's easy slippage between the vices of Labor and those of the Roman Catholic Church explains why Catholics preferred Labor more convincingly than does the accepted class-based explanation.     

Language Policy and Nationalism in Wales: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract. This article is based on research conducted between 1987 and 1994. It argues that the Conservative government has increasingly used the Welsh language as an instrument of political accommodation within Wales which has served to highlight the complexity of the relationship between the aims of the language movement and the aspirations of nationalists. The comparative perspective explores the situation in Canada and the Republic of Ireland and considers the proposition that the ‘depoliticisation’ of language in the context of the politics of nationalism is beneficial to a minority language.     

Politicians,Parties, and the Persistence of Weak States: Lessons from the Philippines

Under what conditions will politicians strengthen state capabilities through bureaucratic reform? This article presents a principal–agent model of state capacity that shows that unless competition to influence policy is largely confined to a single dimension, politicians have no incentive or ‘political will’ to adopt bureaucratic reform. The validity of this model is tested using the experience of the Philippines in the period 1946–72. It is found that politically relevant groups in the Philippines were competing to influence policy over issues of social welfare, economic nationalism and control over public spending, and that groups' demands over these issues failed to align along a single dominant dimension. Consistent with expectations derived from the principal–agent model, there were numerous calls for and attempts to improve bureaucratic performance, but the calls went unheeded and the attempts failed miserably. The study highlights a lesson of potential use to countries currently undergoing democratization. It argues that state capacity is not a function of insulating the state from societal forces, but rather of clarifying lines of authority and accountability in the hierarchy of principal–agent relationships between society, politicians and bureaucrats.