Max Weber and Karl Marx by L̈owith Karl

Author:L̈owith, Karl
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)
Published: 2011-07-10T16:00:00+00:00

RATIONALITY AS THE CAPACITY FOR INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY AMIDST UNIVERSAL DEPENDENCY

It is entirely true and confirmed by all historical experience, that the possible would not be attained unless time and again one reached out in the world for the impossible. But he who can do this must not only be a leader but also—in a very straightforward sense of the word—a hero.79

The positive meaning of rationality is, for Weber, its apparent opposite. This is not evident from Weber’s sociology of religion, which is—in intention—a purely historical investigation. (Weber does not pursue the theme of the prophetic sentences cited in note 72 on p. 85.) Rather, it is evident from his political writings, particularly section II of ‘Parliament and government’,80 and from a conference speech.81 Both works fight against rationalisation in its political form as bureaucratisation and nationalisation. Weber asserts that the First World War constitutes a further advance in the process of general rationalisation, that is, in the rationally calculating, labour-dividing, specialised-bureaucratic organisation of all human institutions of authority. The process extends over the way of life of army and state as much as that of factories, scientific-technical schools and universities. Specialised examinations of all kinds increasingly become the precondition for a secure position as an official. ‘This, as one knows, had been even earlier the real “Order of the Day”, supported both by the interest of the universities in high enrolment and by the ambition of their students to obtain official appointments. It applies both within the state and outside it.’ This prosaic fact of bureaucratic specialisation lurks even behind the ‘socialism of the future’.82 Even where socialism strives for the opposite, it ends up strengthening the power of the bureaucracy, which is the characteristic mark of the present era and the foreseeable future.

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