Forum Philosophicum

Volume 16, Issue 1, Spring 2011

Truth, Reality and Religion New Perspectives In Metaphysics

Disenchantment, rationality and the modernity of Max Weber

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.