The Weberian Presuppositional Analytic

• In Event: 3551 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 11. Interrogating Analytic Constructs

Abstract

This article develops a novel account of an implicit conceptual framework embedded in Max Weber’s writings that offers contemporary sociology leverage on empirical, theoretical, and normative questions and affords new opportunities for research. Max Weber relied on the notion of Voraussetzung – presupposition – across his work to distinguish epistemologically the criteria of concepts of concrete empirical phenomena, accounts of such phenomena, and conditions shaping valuational stands among alternative courses of action. Weber also refers to Denkvoraussetzungen – presuppositions of thought – which refer to sets of fundamental principles that structure experience. Presuppositions of thought represent historically specific putative metaphysical and ontological orientations. Based on a systematic analysis of Weber’s work, this article reconstructs the three main forms taken by the concept Voraussetzung in Weber’s writings (i.e. structuring logics, value stands, and presuppositions of thought) and demonstrates how accounting for presuppositions of thought and articulating them with structuring logics and value stands shines light on constitutive features of social life.

Author

• Eric Malczewski, Virginia Tech