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Max Weber's Science of Reality. Types of Human Being and the Possibility

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Max Weber's Science of Reality. Types of Human Being and the Possibility MAX WEBER ’S SCIENCE OF REALITY . TYPES OF HUMAN BEING AND THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE CONDUCT IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE A thesis submitted to The University of Manchester for the degree of PhD in the Faculty of Humanities 2011 Isabelle Darmon School of Social Sciences LIST OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................... 5 DECLARATION............................................................................................................................. 6 COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ....................................................................................................... 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 8 PART I – THE EMERGENCE OF THE HUMAN TYPE AND MENSCHENTUM AS PROBLEMS IN THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SCIENCES.........................................16 Chapter 1 – Menschentum and the type of human being, categories of a ‘science of reality’ (Wirklichkeitswissenschaft )................................................................................................................... 16 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 16 I – The historical sciences and the notion of personality...................................................... 17 II – Towards a science of reality: Dilthey’s, Simmel’s, Rickert’s and Weber’s notion of Wirklichkeitswissenschaft ................................................................................................................. 23 III – Science of reality and the study of the human being.................................................... 40 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 49 Chapter 2 – The dominant types of human being in the modern and contemporary world 52 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 52 I – Weber’s statement of approach to the human type......................................................... 53 II – Characterising types of human being ............................................................................... 63 III. The advent of modern Menschentum : Troeltsch’s concept of the purposeful type of human being................................................................................................................................. 75 IV – The Kulturmensch and Simmel’s metropolitan type of individuality............................. 87 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 95 2 Part II – THE SHAPING OF MODERN MENSCHENTUM ............................................98 Chapter 3 – Max Weber’s ideal-typical construct of the life orders and value spheres......... 98 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 98 I – The dynamics of differentiation of the life orders........................................................... 99 II – Life orders/value spheres as spheres of human action, endeavour and pursuit...... 109 III – Lessons from a case study: the modern Western music sphere and its inner momentum................................................................................................................................. 119 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 130 Chapter 4 – The ‘cosmos of the modern rational capitalist economy’: the ‘inner tuning’ of the contemporary worker and of the entrepreneur................................................................... 133 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 133 I – The dynamics of the modern rationalised economic life order ................................... 134 II – The shaping of the contemporary worker..................................................................... 143 III – The shaping of the contemporary entrepreneur ......................................................... 151 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 157 Chapter 5 – Modern politics and rule under the modern rationalised State. The shaping of the politician and the nation......................................................................................................... 159 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 159 I – The dynamic of the rationalised political life order and the shaping of the ‘ruled’... 160 II – The forms of democratic politics and the shaping of the ‘public’ ............................. 165 III – The shaping of the professional politician................................................................... 172 IV – The shaping of the nation............................................................................................... 176 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 179 Chapter 6 – The sphere of ‘intellectual knowledge’ and ‘science’ ( Wissenschaft ) in the age of specialisation and the shaping of the contemporary scholar................................................... 181 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 181 I – The inner dynamic of intellectual knowledge and science............................................ 182 3 II – The ‘external conditions’ and the shaping of the contemporary scholar.................. 188 III – The vocation of science and the conditions for scientific vocation......................... 194 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 197 Part III – THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE CONDUCT AND PERSONALITY IN THE MODERN AGE – A COMPARISON BETWEEN WEBER AND SIMMEL...............199 Chapter 7 – Max Weber and the possibility of vocational life conduct................................. 199 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 199 I – The role of the teacher....................................................................................................... 201 II – The construction of the inner being in vocational life conduct................................. 206 III – Ethics, vocation and the possibility of resistance ....................................................... 214 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 219 Chapter 8 – Georg Simmel and the possibility of personality................................................. 221 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 221 I – Culture as objectivation...................................................................................................... 223 II – The all pervasive movement of life................................................................................. 230 III – Objectivation and the possibility of personality.......................................................... 237 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 252 CONCLUSIONS..........................................................................................................................255 Bibliographic references...............................................................................................................268 Wordcount: 130,449 4 ABSTRACT The University of Manchester Isabelle Darmon PhD Max Weber’s science of reality. Types of human being and the possibility of life conduct in contemporary culture. June 2011. Drawing critically on a line of interpretation opened by Wilhelm Hennis more than 20 years ago, this thesis is concerned with Max Weber’s notion of ‘human type’ ( Typus Mensch , Menschentum ) and the way in which it enables to pose a philosophical question – what can leading a truly human life in the modern age mean? – from the perspective of social and cultural sciences. To that end, it brings out Weber’s framework for the analysis of the inner and external shaping of the human type as well as for the consideration of the possibility of life conduct, examining the inner momentum of the life orders in which human beings deploy their actions, and not merely their ‘external’ arrangements. Weber’s theoretical construct of the life orders and value spheres (especially in the ‘Intermediate Reflection’) and his analysis of the workings of the rationality of particular spheres of human action (as
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