Weber: between conviction and responsibility

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36517/Argumentos.28.6

Keywords:

Weber. Kant. Machiavelli. Ethics. Philosophy of Politics.

Abstract

This work aims to focus on Max Weber’s work “Politics as a vocation”, analysing the final part of the work where the author deals with the ethics of conviction and the ethics of responsibility. In our analysis we will try to demonstrate how Weber’s thought is influenced both by the Florentine Nicolas Machiavelli and the German Immanuel Kant. If we understand the ethics of conviction as an ethics aimed at the morally correct choice regardless of the consequences, we will be able to verify a strong relationship with the Kantian categorical imperative developed in the work “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals”. On the other hand, the ethics of responsibility approaches the categorization of politics as separate from the morals made by Machiavelli in the “Prince”. The traces of these two works are present in the subtlety of Weberian writing when conceptualizing the characteristics of politics and its action through the main figure of the one who exercises it, that is, the politician.

Author Biography

Luiz Maurício Bentim da Rocha Menezes, Instituto Federal do Triângulo Mineiro (IFTM)

Doutor em Filosofia pela Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Professor de Filosofia, Ética e Política do Instituto Federal do Triângulo Mineiro (IFTM)

References

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ELIAESON, S.; PALONEN, K. Introduction: Max Weber's Relevance as a Theorist of Politics. Max Weber Studies, v. 4, n. 2, p. 135-142, 2004.

GREEN, J. E. Max Weber and the Reinvention of Popular Power. Max Weber Studies, v. 8, n. 2, p. 187-224, 2008.

KANT, I. Fundamentação da Metafísica dos Costumes. Tradução de Paulo Quintela. Lisboa: Edições 70, 2007.

MAQUIAVEL, N. O Príncipe. Tradução, introdução e notas de Diogo Pires Aurélio. São Paulo: Editora 34, 2017.

ROSELINO, L. F. Max Weber e a ética kantiana: polêmica sobre os Imperativos práticos e seu sentido formal. In: Anais do Seminário dos Estudantes da Pós-Graduação em Filosofia da UFSCar, v. 9, p. 283-298, 2013.

STARR, B. E. The Structure of Max Weber's Ethic of Responsibility. The Journal of Religious Ethics, v. 27, n. 3, p. 407-434, 1999.

WEBER, M. Ciência e Política: duas vocações. Tradução de Leonidas Hegenberg e Octany Silveira da Mota. São Paulo: Cultrix, 2011. (Ebook).

Published

2022-07-01

Issue

Section

Artigos