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Science, Values and Politics in Max Weber's Methodology SCIENCE, VALUES AND POLITICS IN MAX WEBER’S METHODOLOGY Rethinking Classical Sociology Series Editor: David Chalcraft, University of Derby, UK This series is designed to capture, reflect and promote the major changes that are occurring in the burgeoning field of classical sociology. The series publishes monographs, texts and reference volumes that critically engage with the established figures in classical sociology as well as encouraging examination of thinkers and texts from within the ever-widening canon of classical sociology. Engagement derives from theoretical and substantive advances within sociology and involves critical dialogue between contemporary and classical positions. The series reflects new interests and concerns including feminist perspectives, linguistic and cultural turns, the history of the discipline, the biographical and cultural milieux of texts, authors and interpreters, and the interfaces between the sociological imagination and other discourses including science, anthropology, history, theology and literature. The series offers fresh readings and insights that will ensure the continued relevance of the classical sociological imagination in contemporary work and maintain the highest standards of scholarship and enquiry in this developing area of research. Also in the series: Defending the Durkheimian Tradition Religion, Emotion and Morality Jonathan S. Fish ISBN 978 0 7546 4138 4 What Price the Poor? William Booth, Karl Marx and the London Residuum Ann M. Woodall ISBN 978 0 7546 4203 9 Crossing the Psycho-Social Divide Freud, Weber, Adorno and Elias George Cavalletto ISBN 978 0 7546 4772 0 Vilfredo Pareto’s Sociology A Framework for Political Psychology Alasdair J. Marshall ISBN 978 0 7546 4978 6 Science, Values and Politics in Max Weber’s Methodology New Expanded Edition HANS HENRIK BRUUN University of Copenhagen, Denmark © Hans Henrik Bruun 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Hans Henrik Bruun has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Gower House Suite 420 Croft Road 101 Cherry Street Aldershot Burlington, VT 05401-4405 Hampshire GU11 3HR USA England Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Bruun, H. H. Science, values and politics in Max Weber’s methodology. - Rev. ed. - (Rethinking classical sociology) 1. Weber, Max 1964-1920 2. Sociology - Methodology I. Title 301'.092 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bruun, Hans Henrik. Science, values, and politics in Max Weber’s methodology / by Hans Henrik Bruun. p. cm. -- (Rethinking classical sociology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-4529-0 1. Weber, Max, 1864-1920. 2. Sociology--Methodology. 3. Social sciences and ethics. 4. Values. I. Title. HM511.B78 2006 301.092--dc22 2006025018 ISBN-10: 0 7546 4529 0 ISBN-13: 978 0 7546 4529 0 Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall. Contents List of Abbreviations vii Series Editor’s Preface xiii Preface xvii Introduction 1 Preliminary considerations 1 Value freedom 11 Value relation 20 Value analysis 32 The ideal type 41 Politics and science 48 Chapter 1: Values as a Problem of Scientific Inquiry: Value Freedom 57 The external context of Weber’s demand for value freedom 58 The principle and its premises in their most general form 61 The logical premises of the principle 64 The principle in its more specific form 75 The implementation of the principle 99 Chapter 2: Values as a Precondition of Scientific Inquiry: Value Relation 109 The precursors 111 Max Weber and the break-through to a modern social science 124 Chapter 3: Values as an Object of Scientific Inquiry: Value Analysis 165 Axiological value analysis 167 Teleological value analysis 179 The combined value analysis 185 The “explanatory” value analysis 190 The value conflict 192 Chapter 4: Values as an Instrument of Scientific Inquiry: The Ideal Type 207 The central principle 208 The conceptual aspect: ideal type and value relation 209 The motivational aspect: ideal type and value analysis 218 The prognostic aspect: ideal type and politics 235 vi Science, Values and Politics in Max Weber’s Methodology Chapter 5: The Complementary Relation of Values and Scientific Inquiry: Politics and Science 239 The premises 240 Politics as conflict 243 Politics as power conflict 245 The ethic of conviction and the ethic of responsibility 250 The ethic of conviction, the ethic of responsibility and the ethic of politics 259 Bibliography 275 Name Index 285 Subject Index 289 List of Abbreviations Max Weber’s writings German titles MWG Max Weber Gesamtausgabe, Tübingen: Mohr GARS I/II Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie I-II (1920/21), Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck GASS Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Soziologie und Sozialpolitik (1988 (1924)), Tübingen: Mohr GAW Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre (1968 (1922)), (3rd edition, ed. Johannes Winckelmann), Tübingen: Mohr GPS 1 Gesammelte politische Schriften (1921), (1st edition, ed. Marianne Weber), Tübingen: Mohr GPS Gesammelte politische Schriften (1971 (1921)), (3rd edition, ed. Johannes Winckelmann), Tübingen: Mohr JB Jugendbriefe (1936) (ed. Marianne Weber), Tübingen: Mohr/ Siebeck PE I Die protestantische Ethik (1965 (1920)), (ed. Johannes Winckelmann), München/Hamburg: Siebenstern PE II Die protestantische Ethik II. Kritiken und Antikritiken (1968), (ed. Johannes Winckelmann), München/Hamburg: Siebenstern WG Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Grundriss der verstehenden Soziologie (1976 (1921)), (5th edition, ed. Johannes Winckelmann), Tübingen: Mohr English titles (translations) BW The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism (2002), (eds, translation, introduction Peter Baehr and Gordon C. Wells), London/New York: Penguin Books ES Economy and Society (1968), (eds Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich), New York: Bedminster Press EssW The Essential Weber. A Reader (2004), (ed. Sam Whimster), London/New York: Routledge FMW From Max Weber (1948), (eds, translation, introduction H.H. Gerth and C.W. Mills), London: Routledge viii Science, Values and Politics in Max Weber’s Methodology LSPW Weber. Political Writings (1994), (eds, introduction Peter Lassman and Ronald Speirs, translation Ronald Speirs), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press MSS The Methodology of the Social Sciences (1959), (eds, translation Edward A. Shils and Henry A. Finch), New York: The Free Press ORK Roscher and Knies. The Logical Problems of Historical Economics (1975), (translation, introduction Guy Oakes), New York: The Free Press OSt Critique of Stammler (1977), (translation, introduction Guy Oakes), New York: The Free Press Articles The abbreviations after the English titles are the “standard” translations to which the abbreviated references in the text refer (see Preface, pp. xviii-xix). The abbreviations after the German titles refer to the “standard” German editions and also, wherever applicable, to the volume of the Gesamtausgabe where the piece can be found. In Äusserungen Memorandum “ Memorandum” “Gutachten” (1913) (Äusserungen, pp. 147-86) In GARS I Protestant Ethic “The Protestant Ethic and the ‘Spirit’ of Capitalism” (BW, pp. 1-202) “Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus” (1904–05) (GARS I, pp. 17-206) Interm.Refl. “Intermediate Reflection” (FMW, pp. 323-59) “Zwischenbetrachtung” (1916) (GARS I, pp. 536- 73) (MWG I/19, pp. 479-522) In GASS Socialism “Socialism” (LSPW, pp. 272-303) “Der Sozialismus” (1918) (GASS, pp. 492-518) (MWG I/15, pp. 599-633) In GAW Categories “On Some Categories of Interpretative Sociology” “Über einige Kategorien der verstehenden Soziologie” (1913) (GAW, pp. 427-74) List of Abbreviations ix Crit.Stud. “Critical Studies in the Logic of the Cultural Sciences” (MSS, pp. 113-88) “Kritische Studien auf dem Gebiet der kulturwissenschaftlichen Logik” (1906) (GAW, pp. 215-90) Energ.Th.Cult. “‘Energetic’ Theories of Culture” “‘Energetische’ Kulturtheorien” (1909) (GAW, pp. 400-26) Marg.Util. “The Theory of Marginal Utility and the ‘Fundamental Psycho-Physical Law’” “Die Grenznutzlehre und das ‘psychophysische Grundgesetz’” (1908) (GAW, pp. 384-99) Objectivity “‘Objectivity’ in Social Science and Social Policy” (MSS, pp. 49-112) “Die ‘Objektivität’ sozialwissenschaftlicher und sozialpolitischer Erkenntnis” (1904) (GAW, pp. 146-214) Roscher and Knies “Roscher and Knies and the Logical Problems of Historical Economics” (ORK, pp. 53-281) “Roscher und Knies und die logischen Probleme der historischen Nationalökonomie” (1903–06) (GAW, pp. 1-145) Roscher “Roscher’s ‘Historical Method’” (ORK, pp. 55-91, 210-36) “Roschers ‘historische Metode’” (1903) (GAW, pp. 3- 42) Knies I “Knies and the Problem of Irrationality” (ORK, pp. 93-163, 236-62) “Knies und das Irrationalitätsproblem” (1905) (GAW, pp. 42-105) Knies II “Knies and the Problem of Irrationality II” (ORK, pp. 163-207, 262-81) “Knies und das Irrationalitätsproblem II” (1906) (GAW, pp. 105-45) (The three last articles are quoted together as Roscher and Knies, the two last ones as Knies I-II) x Science, Values and Politics in Max Weber’s Methodology Sc.Voc. “Science as a Vocation” (FMW, pp. 129-56) “Wissenschaft als Beruf” (1919) (GAW, pp. 582- 613) (MWG I/17, pp. 71-111) Stammler “R. Stammler’s
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