Disenchantment, Rationality and the Modernity of Max Weber

Anthony J. Carroll

Disenchantment, Rationality and the Modernity of Max Weber

Article

16/1 - Spring 2011, pages 117-137

Date of online publication: 24 mars 2011

Date of publication: 24 mars 2011

Abstract

Following Aristotle's distinction between theoretical and practical rationality, Max Weber holds that beliefs about the world and actions within the world must follow procedures consistently and be appropriately formed if they are to count as rational. Here, I argue that Weber's account of theoretical and practical rationality, as disclosed through his conception of the disenchantment of the world, displays a confessional architecture consistently structured by a nineteenth century German Protestant outlook. I develop this thesis through a review of the concepts of rationality and disenchantment in Weber's major works and conclude that this conceptual framework depicts a Protestant account of modernity.

Keywords

Cite this article

Carroll, Anthony J. “Disenchantment, Rationality and the Modernity of Max Weber.” Forum Philosophicum 16, no. 1 (2011): 117–37. doi:10.35765/forphil.2011.1601.08.

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