Weber, Rationality, and the Cultural Human: The Role and Position of Rationality in the Formation of Cultural Values
Keywords:
Rationality, ultimate values, enlightenment, cultural manAbstract
This article seeks to evaluate the position of values and culture in modern rational civilization from Weber’s perspective. Despite Weber’s emphasis on the rationalization of various aspects and dimensions of modern everyday life in Western societies—particularly the consequences of such rationalization, including pervasive bureaucracy, technological advancements, and the dominance of technology over human relationships—he argues that what cannot be rationalized are human values and the ultimate values of the cultural human. From this perspective, rationality serves to justify the means developed to achieve a given goal; however, the goals themselves, especially ultimate goals, can never fall within the scope of such rationality. As a result, these values remain irrational. The outcome of this condition is an eternal struggle among gods over these very ultimate goals and values. To this end, this study first traces the intellectual roots of rationality and its relationship with ultimate values within German Idealism. It then examines Weber’s relationship with thinkers such as Nietzsche and Marx, whose theories were, to a significant extent, formulated in both opposition and similarity to his views.
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