The Influence of the German Idealist Tradition Upon Weberian Thought

Abstract

Max Weber was one of the prominant social figures in this history of the social sciences for he made significant contributions to the development of anthropology, sociology and social theory as a whole. Weber's aim was explicit: he wanted to develop a 'scientific study of man and society:' he sought not only to delineate the scope of the discipline but also wanted to construct a clear-cut methodology whereby data could be rigorously studied in accordance with the testable procedures of science. This paper discusses the influence of the German idealist tradition upon Max Weber. Specifically, this study critically examines Weberion thought in terms of illustrating how he combined the Germanic emphasis on the search for subjective meanings with the positivist notion of scientific rigor, and in so doing was able to bridge the. dichotomy between the idealist and positivist traditions.