Under Weber’s Shadow

by Keith Breen

• ISBN13: 9780754697992
• ISBN10: 0754697991
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781317005254
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2016-02-17
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Summary

This book's central problematic is to examine the impact of Max Weber's legacy on Hannah Arendt, JÜrgen Habermas and Alasdair MacIntyre. Although hailing from very different traditions, these theorists accept Weber's seminal pessimistic diagnosis of the present yet they nonetheless offer alternative conceptions of the subject, ethics and politics that allow for positive future political possibilities. Using recent writings of MacIntyre and Habermas and Arendt's posthumous publications and encompassing all their thoughts under one coherent theoretical framework, Keith Breen exposes the basic claim is that they do so by re-conceiving ethical and political life in 'intersubjective' terms. However, these alternatives are vulnerable to serious criticisms: of depoliticizing key arenas of human endeavour and of neglecting the reality of political struggle and contestation. Contributing to key contemporary debates, this book is a lucid contribution to the existing literature on Weber, Arendt, Habermas, and MacIntyre and a highly accessible and an original intervention within contemporary social and political thought. As such, it will be of interest to students and researchers alike in the area of social and political theory, as well as those within the cognate disciplines of ethics, sociology, and philosophy.