Barbarism of Reason: Max Weber and the twilight of enlightenment

328 Pages·1994·12.916 MB·English

by  Asher Horowitz, Terry Maley

THE
BARBARISM
OF
REASON
MAX WEBER
AND THE
TWILIGHT!
OF
ENLIGHTEN
MENT
EDITED BY ASHER HOROWITZ
AND TERRY MALEY
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2019 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/barbarismofreasoOOOOunse

THE BARBARISM OF REASON
Max Weber and the Twilight of Enlightenment
The recent renewal of interest in Max Weber evidences an attempt to enlist
his thought in the service of a renewed dream of Enlightenment individual¬
ism. Yet he was the first twentieth-century thinker to fully appreciate the
pervasiveness and ambiguity of rationalization which threatened to under¬
mine the hopes of the Enlightenment.
Asher Horowitz and Terry Maley present a collection of essays tracing
the contemporary significance of Weber’s work for the tradition of Enlight¬
enment political thought and its critiques. In its critical inquiry into Weber’s
thought, The Barbarism of Reason continues the exploration of the limits and
prospects of politics in a rationalizing society.
The first section comprises a set of both historical and philosophical
reflections on the political implications of Weber’s central concepts. The
second section examines the institutional and historical context that framed
Weber’s inquiries into structures of the modern mode of domination, as
well as his understanding of the nature of the modern state. Among the
topics examined are Weber’s strategic intervention in the development of
the liberal theory of the state, the theoretical and pre-theoretical roots of
his construction of the subject, and the schizophrenic structure of modern
subjectivity. The third and last section attempts to trace the vicissitudes of
Weber’s problematic assumptions concerning rationalization, power, and
disenchantment through some of the most important responses to his work
in the twentieth century.
asher horowitz is an associate professor in the Department of Political
Science at York University. He is the author of Rousseau, Nature, and History
and, with G. Horowitz, Everywhere They Are in Chains: Political Thought from
Rousseau to Marx.
terry maley is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at
the University of Toronto.

ASHER HOROWITZ AND TERRY MALEY, EDITORS
The Barbarism of Reason:
Max Weber and the
Twilight of Enlightenment
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
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© University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1994
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
isbn 0-8020-0558-6 (cloth)
isbn 0-8020-6980-0 (paper)
e
Printed on acid-free paper
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
The Barbarism of reason : Max Weber and the twilight of
enlightenment
Includes index.
isbn 0-8020-0558-6 (bound) isbn 0-8020-6980-0 (pbk.)
1. Weber, Max, 1864-1920. 1. Horowitz, Asher,
1950- • n. Maley, Terry.
B336i-Z7 B37 1994 3°i'-092 094-931820-5
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing
program of the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Council.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1 Introduction 3
ASHER HOROWITZ and TERRY MALEY
Part I Reason and Disenchantment
2 Max Weber and the Legacy of Critical Idealism 21
CHRISTIAN LENHARDT
3 Max Weber and the Modern State 49
FRED DALLMAYR
4 Nietzsche and Weber: When Does Reason Become Power? * 68
MARK E. WARREN
Part II Politics, Time, and Bourgeois Modernity
5 Max Weber and the Liberal Political Tradition 99
DAVID BEETHAM
6 Max Weber and the Bourgeoisie 113
TRACY B. STRONG
7 The Politics of Time: Subjectivity and Modernity in Max Weber 139
TERRY MALEY
vi Contents
Part III The Dilemmas of Rationalization
8 Mannheim and the Early Frankfurt School: The Weber
Reception of Rival Traditions of Critical Sociology 169
RAYMOND MORROW
9 The Comedy of Enlightenment: Weber, Habermas, and
the Critique of Reification 195
ASHER HOROWITZ
10 The World Disenchanted, and the Return of Gods and Demons » 223
ALKIS KONTOS
11 The Revenge of the Sacred: Technology and Re-enchantment * 248
GILBERT G. GERMAIN
12 Max Weber and Post-Positivist Social Theory 267
SUSAN HERMAN
13 Max Weber: Legitimation, Method, and the Politics of Theory 287
SHELDON S. WOLIN
Notes on Contributors
3ii