Ebook216 pages5 hours
Leo Strauss, Max Weber, and the Scientific Study of Politics
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
Can politics be studied scientifically, and if so, how? Assuming it is impossible to justify values by human reason alone, social science has come to consider an unreflective relativism the only viable basis, not only for its own operations, but for liberal societies more generally. Although the experience of the sixties has made social scientists more sensitive to the importance of values, it has not led to a fundamental reexamination of value relativism, which remains the basis of contemporary social science. Almost three decades after Leo Strauss's death, Nasser Behnegar offers the first sustained exposition of what Strauss was best known for: his radical critique of contemporary social science, and particularly of political science.
Behnegar's impressive book argues that Strauss was not against the scientific study of politics, but he did reject the idea that it could be built upon political science's unexamined assumption of the distinction between facts and values. Max Weber was, for Strauss, the most profound exponent of values relativism in social science, and Behnegar's explication artfully illuminates Strauss's critique of Weber's belief in the ultimate insolubility of all value conflicts.
Strauss's polemic against contemporary political science was meant to make clear the contradiction between its claim of value-free premises and its commitment to democratic principles. As Behnegar ultimately shows, values—the ethical component lacking in a contemporary social science—are essential to Strauss's project of constructing a genuinely scientific study of politics.
Behnegar's impressive book argues that Strauss was not against the scientific study of politics, but he did reject the idea that it could be built upon political science's unexamined assumption of the distinction between facts and values. Max Weber was, for Strauss, the most profound exponent of values relativism in social science, and Behnegar's explication artfully illuminates Strauss's critique of Weber's belief in the ultimate insolubility of all value conflicts.
Strauss's polemic against contemporary political science was meant to make clear the contradiction between its claim of value-free premises and its commitment to democratic principles. As Behnegar ultimately shows, values—the ethical component lacking in a contemporary social science—are essential to Strauss's project of constructing a genuinely scientific study of politics.
Related to Leo Strauss, Max Weber, and the Scientific Study of Politics
Related ebooks
Montesquieu and the Despotic Ideas of Europe: An Interpretation of "The Spirit of the Laws" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Opinion of Mankind: Sociability and the Theory of the State from Hobbes to Smith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy: A Conservative Critique Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5History of Political Philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPolitics without Vision: Thinking without a Banister in the Twentieth Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What's the Matter with Liberalism? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Past and Present: The Challenges of Modernity, from the Pre-Victorians to the Postmodernists Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Legendary Past: Michael Oakeshott on Imagination and Political Identity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSetting the People Free: The Story of Democracy, Second Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Place of Michael Oakeshott in Contemporary Western and Non-Western Thought Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Democratic Theory of Michael Oakeshott: Discourse, Contingency, and 'The Politics of Conversation' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Limits of Political Theory: Oakeshott's Philosophy of Civil Association Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEarly Political Writings 1925–30 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Liberty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLiberal Languages: Ideological Imaginations and Twentieth-Century Progressive Thought Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMontesquieu's Philosophy of Liberalism: A Commentary on The Spirit of the Laws Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5General Economic History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Age of Capitalism and Bureaucracy: Perspectives on the Political Sociology of Max Weber Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Enlightenment: History of an Idea - Updated Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Liberal Loyalty: Freedom, Obligation, and the State Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Chicago Companion to Tocqueville's Democracy in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPolitical Philosophy and the Challenge of Revealed Religion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Vocabulary of a Modern European State Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Liberalism: The Life of an Idea, Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
History & Theory For You
Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychology of Totalitarianism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Prince: Second Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bloodbath Nation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Minds for the Future Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wretched of the Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Essential Chomsky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Socialism . . . Seriously: A Brief Guide to Human Liberation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ideas Have Consequences Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reconstruction Updated Edition: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-18 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Origins Of Totalitarianism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Antisemitism: Part One of The Origins of Totalitarianism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is Administrative Law Unlawful? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Student's Guide to Political Philosophy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Consequences of Capitalism: Manufacturing Discontent and Resistance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary Guide: The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene | The Mindset Warrior Summary Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reflections on the Revolution in France Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Intellectuals: From Marx and Tolstoy to Sartre and Chomsky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Leo Strauss, Max Weber, and the Scientific Study of Politics
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Leo Strauss, Max Weber, and the Scientific Study of Politics - Nasser Behnegar
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1