Max Weber and Charles Peirce: At the Crossroads of Science, Philosophy, and Culture shows that a relational conception of science is implicit in Max Weber’s reflections on scientific inquiry as a bridge between the Geisteswissenschaften (soft sciences) and Naturwissenschaften (hard sciences). Because he is not a trained philosopher, Weber does not have the precise philosophical language in which to articulate his ideas clearly. Consequently, his relational vision of science remains obscure. Basit Bilal Koshul brings clarity and precision to Weber’s insights using the pragmaticist philosophy of Charles Peirce. He makes explicit the phenomenology, semiotics, and logic that are implicit in Weber’s methodological writings and translates them into Peircean terms. Since Peirce explicitly offers his philosophy of science as a critique of the modern divide between the humanistic and natural sciences and of the divide between religion and science, this translation has a double effect. It clarifies Weber’s insights on the methodology of scientific inquiry, and it extends the reparative force of these insights into the larger culture of which science is one part. The reconstruction of Weber’s relational conception of science along the lines of Peirce’s pragmaticism, in turn, reveals that Weber’s work points toward deep affinities between religion and science. Given the fact that the same phenomenology, semiotics, and logic that underpin Peirce’s philosophy of science are also at the root of his philosophy of religion, we can begin to appreciate the fact that Weber’s work makes an important contribution to bridging the divide between religion and science. In providing models that bridge divides and move towards complementary relationships, Weber and Peirce not only help us to better understand disenchantment as the fate of our times, but also offer uniquely valuable resources to reach for cultural horizons that lie beyond it.

This book explores the latest thinking about Max Weber and his continuing influence on theoretical and empirical interests today. Bringing together the work of leading scholars from a variety of disciplines, it illuminates Weber’s thought in a number of key areas, including the methodology and philosophy of social science, comparative religion, the rationalization process, political sociology, the sociology of law, and the Protestant ethic and the development of capitalism. An international collection that demonstrates the enduring importance of Weber’s thought to contemporary sociology and the discipline’s major concerns, The Routledge International Handbook on Max Weber will appeal to scholars in a range of disciplines, including sociology, social theory, politics, philosophy, law, and international relations.

This book provides an indispensable introduction to Weber's Economy and Society, and should be mandatory reading for social scientists who are interested in Weber. The various contributions to this volume, all written by important Weberian scholars, present the culmination of decades of debates about Weber's various concepts and theories. They are sure guides in the maze of conflicting interpretations, and draw out the implications of Weber's sociology for understanding social change in the 21st century. Gil Eyal, Columbia University Many will value this as the best collection of essays on Max Weber in the English language. It surpasses prior studies in using Weber and the world of his endeavors as entry points into the central issues of social science today. Richard Biernacki, University of California, San Diego"

This book develops a novel approach to critical explanation as a function of logics, taking a distinctive approach to social science explanation, and political studies more specifically, which avoids the problem of scientism.

DIVA sociology collection reviewing the state-of-historical-study in a wide range of areas while showcasing the use of poststructuralist approaches to studying family, gender, war, protest & revolution, state-making, social provisions, colonialism, trans/div

This two-volume handbook provides readers with a comprehensive interpretation of globality through the multifaceted prism of the humanities and social sciences. Key concepts and symbolizations rooted in and shaped by European academic traditions are discussed and reinterpreted under the conditions of the global turn. Highlighting consistent anthropological features and socio-cultural realities, the handbook gathers coherently structured articles written by 110 professors in the humanities and social sciences at Bonn University, Germany, who initiate a global dialogue on meaningful and sustainable notions of human life in the age of globality. Volume 1 introduces readers to various interpretations of globality, and discusses notions of human development, communication and aesthetics. Volume 2 covers notions of technical meaning, of political and moral order, and reflections on the shaping of globality.

Examines the influence of Aristotle and Kant on the nineteenth-century social theory of Marx, Durkheim, and Weber.

About a decade ago, an antagonistic debate on the 'science war' arose on both sides of the Atlantic. At issue was how far the social sciences could intervene in disentangling the practice of science. The debate has now calmed down, but has by no means been solved. As a continuation of the antagonism that once haunted the advocates of Karl Popper against those of Thomas Kuhn, versions of this animated debate are likely to arise again. In this light, the theory of inquiry once launched by Charles S. Peirce may prove valuable. Despite early efforts by, amongst others, Karl-Otto Apel and Juergen Habermas, Peirce's theory of inquiry remains largely unknown in the social sciences. It is the aim of this publication - the bulk of which was written long ago as a doctoral thesis - to place Peirce's theory of inquiry in the centre of social science theory.

Critical Perspectives in International Studies offers an exciting survey of recent approaches to the study of international politics, including critical theory, radical theory, constructivism, postmodernism, system change, and feminist and gender perspectives. The authors--among the founders and leaders of these innovative ways to comprehend and re-present world politics--reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of each school of thought and suggest future research agendas.

The importance of the global rural-urban matrix is often overlooked due to urban-normativity. But sometimes agrarian populism and a pastoral rural imaginary result in the equally fallacy of a rural-normativity, as in Jeffersonian nostalgia for a lost way of life that never existed. The nature of rurality in North America is important to study, but as Alessandro Bonanno makes clear, we cannot limit ourselves to the study of one or two nation-states. We must take a global perspective when it comes to the bio-physical environment and the nature of the world capitalist system. This collection takes such a perspective. The editor frames the contributions with a Meta-Paradigm called the New Political Economy Perspective (NPEP) and explains the roots of that approach in Classical Political Economy and the Canadian Political Economy Tradition of Harold Adams Innis. There are chapters by an anthropologist, a geographer, two generalist sociologists and a group of rural sociologists. There is also a chapter on psychiatry and mental health; and, another chapter which discusses pedagogy. The use of an inter-disciplinary framework to study global issues makes this a stimulating book which provides a window on issues that are often overlooked.