Max Weber and Charles Taylor: On normative aspects of a theory of human action

Abstract

This paper seeks to make two distinctive sets of contributions through a supplementary reinterpretation of Max Weber in the light of Charles Taylor’s expressivist-hermeneutical theory of human agency. First, it offers a reinterpretation of Weber’s work. Focussing on the concept of stance, the paper highlights that Weber’s theorising on values and their relation to cognition, action and identity is less underpinned by subjectivism, representationalism, emotivism and decisionism than is typically thought. Instead, Weber sets values within a non-naturalist dimension where agents find their bearings and are constituted as such. In this dimension, orientation to meaning takes place; identity, action and thought are constituted; and normative experiences (such as freedom, or responsibility) are made possible. Weber recognised that this non-naturalist dimension has variegated modes, but seemingly studied them in their purest and most logical form (the ‘ideal type’), hence his focus on explicit belief systems and world-images. Second, there is a prospective supplementation of Weber’s theory through Taylor’s notion of expression. For Taylor, we take a stance and orient ourselves expressively through the domain of strongly valued meanings. The notions of strong evaluation and articulation prove central to understanding embodied, symbolic and representational meaning-orientation in the non-naturalist dimensions of values. This supplementary reading places Weber as a central figure in current American, British and French debates about, respectively, the normative nature of human agency; the question of culture, meaning and their different forms and modes of operation; and the question of how to examine identity-formation.

Islam dan Pendidikan Adab Modern: Dakwah Kekinian Sebagai Kontra Narasi di dalam Tiktok

“…Namun, ada kekhawatiran akan merosotnya nalar komunikatif karena ketersediaan informasi palsu, ruang gema, dan percakapan yang dipolitisasi di platform media sosial. Masalah ini membutuhkan analisis kritis tentang bagaimana media sosial membentuk opini publik, memfasilitasi atau menghalangi diskusi yang beralasan, dan menambah wacana sosial yang lebih besar (Raza, 2023).…”

“…Melihat hal yang sudah disampaikan sebelumnya, maka penerapan teori perubahan sosial Weber menjadi lebih menantang karena jangkauan global media sosial (Raza, 2023). Platform media sosial yang melintasi batas-batas negara memunculkan tantangan yang berkaitan dengan situasi politik, rintangan bahasa, dan keragaman budaya.…”

On the Uses of Phenomenology in Sociological Research: A Typology, some Criticisms and a Plea

“…13) announces that his theory of moral action should be complemented with a theory of ‘moral topographies’, which incidentally is the title of one of Taylor's (1988) lesser known but richer articles. This paper makes evident that Taylorian notions of moral sources, frameworks, strong evaluations, articulations and self‐interpretations in fact are part of a basic notion of the self as the constant actualisation of the capacity to engage and become oriented in a world ridden with contradictory and multiple claims laid upon us, with obstacles and dilemmas that demand effort and reflexivity (but not necessarily of the kind that relies on disengagement or detachment) (for a larger exposition of my take on Taylor's theory of the self where I connect it rather idiosyncratically with some themes in Max Weber, see Raza, 2023).…”

Max Weber’s Verstehende Soziologie and Florian Znaniecki’s Cultural Sociology: A Discussion of Two Distinct but Related Notions

“…In his view, values and the cultures based on them may be significant in this sense only. Human individuals as cultural beings are -as one Weber scholar has recently argued-individually "responsible for their judgments, identity and actions" (Raza, 2022). This personal responsibility may hinder cultural integration.…”