RELG 2260 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Verstehen, Abstract And Concrete, Reductionism
16 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Unlike freud, durkheim, marx weber is not a depth hermeneutics of religion, and not reductionist. Weber sees a great deal of contemporary society rooted in the processes of religion. Society not as an abstract entity (durkheim), but as made up of individuals, groups, sub-groups, leaders, etc. Weber sees the driving force of history as material interests and not ideas, as found in religious beliefs. Weber believed that religion (and specifically calvinism) actually helped to give rise to modern capitalism. The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Religion provides the tools for both stability and social change. The realm of religious behavior = ordering relations between gods / demons / etc. and men. Weber often explains religious beliefs as effects of economic factors, like marx. Verstehen: an intuitive doctrine or method of interpreting human culture especially in its subjective motivational and valuational aspects through the understanding of symbolic relationships. Disenchantment: the cultural rationalization devaluation of mysticism apparent in modern society.
