Weber’S Historicism As A Way Into Phenomenology

Abstract

Weber’s account of identity and society remains a paradigmatic necessity and shapes our understanding of how individuals get to have preferences and form a sense of self in modern societies. However, for all its paradigmatic importance, Weber’s account of the formation of self and identity has a blind spot in the notion of representation. In our perspective, the centrality of the notion of representation for Weber’s comprehension of social action and selfhood leaves him in a nominalistic position. Thus, though knowledge is produced locally, social life aims at and is limited by the production of knowledge. This issue leaves Weber unable to deal with the problem of disorder in social life without resorting to an interpretation of disorder as irrationality, which, we hold, is no longer acceptable.