Volume I/7 of Weber's Collected Works provides textual criticism of and commentates on his early writings on methodology, including the essay on objectivity and the foreword.
Against the backdrop of the nineteenth century's mechanical-deterministic worldview, Max Weber wanted to overcome the quarrel about methods in economics and bring into being a theory of science that took the wealth of historical life into account. To this end, he made use of the neo-Kantianism philosophy of south western Germany, supplementing it with the natural sciences' theory of probability and aesthetics' doctrine of ideal type. From 1904, an important medium in this quest was the "Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik", co-edited by him. Volume I/7 of Weber's Collected Works provides textual criticism of and commentates on his early writings on methodology, including the essay on objectivity and the foreword. The "Stammler" addendum has been re-edited according to the original manuscript, while the subject explanations document the diverse references. Citations, literature sources, and references are itemised in the apparatus.
Max Weber
Geboren 1864 in Erfurt; Studium der Jurisprudenz, Geschichte, Nationalökonomie und Philosophie in Heidelberg, Berlin und Göttingen; 1889 Promotion über die Geschichte der Handelsgesellschaften im Mittelalter; 1891 Habilitationsschrift über Römische Agrargeschichte; Ordinarius für Nationalökonomie in Freiburg (ab 1894) und Heidelberg (ab 1897); Mitherausgeber des Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik und Redakteur des Grundriß der Sozialökonomik; umfassende Beiträge zur Methodologie der Sozialwissenschaften, zur Politik des deutschen Kaiserreichs, zu Wirtschaft, Politik, Religion, Recht und Kunst in universalgeschichtlicher Perspektive; nach langem, krankheitsbedingtem Interim schließlich Professor für Gesellschaftswissenschaft, Wirtschaftsgeschichte und Nationalökonomie in München (ab 1919); gestorben 1920 in München.
Methodenstreit Objektivität Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie Kausalität Wissenschaftslehre