Charisma and social phenomenology: Gerda Walther, Herman Schmalenbach and Aron Gurwitsch

2021 ◽  
pp. 1468795X2110496
Author(s):  
Dominik Zelinsky

This paper explores the contribution of early social phenomenologists working in the 1920s and 1930s in Germany to charisma theory. Specifically, I focus on the works of Gerda Walther, Herman Schmalenbach and Aron Gurwitsch, whose work is now being re-appreciated in the field of social philosophy. Living in the interbellum German-speaking space, these authors were keenly interested in the issue of charismatic authority and leadership introduced into the social sciences by Max Weber, with whom they engaged in an indirect intellectual dialogue. I argue that their phenomenological background equipped them well to understand the intricacies of the experiential and emotional dimension of charisma, and that their insights remain valid even a century after they have been first published.

1971 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
John W. Petras ◽  
James E. Curtis
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Виктор Александрович Куприянов

Статья посвящена анализу понятий «механизм» и «организм» в социальной философии С.Л. Франка. Социально-философская концепция Франка помещается в широкий контекст философии XIX-начала XX вв. В статье исследуются связи социальной философии Франка и органических теорий государства и общества. Автор статьи приводит обзор органических теорий: демонстрируется их генезис в немецком классическом идеализме и анализируются подходы, наиболее распространенные в XIX в. В статье обосновывается, что органические теории государства исторически связаны с телеологией И. Канта. Именно в философии Канта впервые появляется важное для философии XIX в. противопоставление организма и механизма. В статье указывается, что специфика этого подхода заключается не столько в естественнонаучной аналогии, сколько в интерпретации отношений части и целого. Автор показывает, что оппозиция механизма и организма сыграла важную роль в истории органических представлений об обществе. Русская социально-философская и политологическая мысль рассматривается в контексте общего развития социальных наук XIX в. Русские философы и обществоведы позаимствовали из западной философии идею оппозиции социального механизма и органицизма. На этой основе в России были выработаны аналогичные философско-правовые концепции, которые также можно отнести к традиции органицизма. Автор относит социально-философскую концепцию С.Л. Франка также к указанной традиции социального органицизма. В статье приводится реконструкция социальной философии Франка и отмечается, что его подход близок к идеям, получившим развитие в немецком классической идеализме. Указывается, что Франк критиковал не органическую теорию как таковую, а распространенную в его время натуралистическую концепцию, отождествлявшую общество с организмом. В этой связи автор показывает вклад Франка в историю органических представлений об обществе. The article is devoted to the analysis of the notions «mechanism» and «organism» in S.L. Frank’s social philosophy. The sociophilosophical conception of S.L. Frank is considered in the context of the philosophy of the XIXth - beginning of the XXth centuries. The article deals with the relations of S.L. Frank’s philosophy to the organic theories of society. The author gives an overview of the organic theories: their genesis in the German idealism and analysis of the widespread approaches in the XIXth century philosophy. The article shows that the organic theories were historically connected with the teleology of I. Kant. I. Kant was the first to propose the very opposition of organism and mechanism. The author points out that the speceficity of this approach consists rather in the interpretation of the relations between the part and the whole, than in the scientific analogy. The author shows that this opposition played a significant role in the organic theory of society. Russian social philosophy and political science are considered in the general context of the social sciences of the XIXth century. Russian philosophers and social sciences borrowed the idea of mechanism and organism from the western philosophy. Based on this approach they developed their own conceptions which can also be referred to the organic tradition. The author refers S.L. Frank’s social philosophy to the tradition of social organism. The article reconstructs the Frank’s social philosophy and points out that his approach is derived from the German classical idealism. It is shown that Frank did not criticized the very organic theory, his criticism was directed against naturalistic theories of his time. The author of the article shows the Frank’s contribution to the organic theory of society.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 691-709
Author(s):  
Walden Flores Bello

Democratic elections in the Philippines and India in 2019 yielded a paradoxical result: the strengthening of the political hegemony of personalities partial to authoritarian rule. An examination of economic, social, and political conditions prior to the elections shows that the usual paradigms used to explain voters’ choices – class theory, rational choice theory, and patron–client theory – fail to account for the sweeping victories of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A more useful framework is that of charismatic authority derived from Max Weber. Employing this paradigm, the article discusses the origins of charismatic authority in the two polities, the differences in charismatic appeal, the social construction of charisma, charisma and the creation of the Other, and the democratic dialectic at the heart of charismatic authoritarianism.


1980 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Lassman

AbstractTalcott Parsons and Max Weber, despite the complexities and uncertainties of the latter’s work, represent two competing approaches to the nature of sociological theory. Despite his reliance upon many aspects of the work of Weber, Parsons’ critical remarks on the problems of value-relevance and value-neutrality can be interpreted in this light. The methodological views of both theorists are tied to differing views of the development of western society and of the role of the Social Sciences. Both are haunted by the spectre of relativism.


Isis ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-619
Author(s):  
Martin Albrow
Keyword(s):  

Philosophy ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 42 (159) ◽  
pp. 37-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Haines

Just before the second world war, in a paper read to the British Association, Morris Ginsberg talked about the failure of social philosophy and the social sciences to work together in the universities ‘toward the rational ordering of society’. Some time after the war Alexander Macbeath complained to British sociologists of his own vain search for a social philosopher who could teach in a course on public administration. Then a few years later A. E. Teale told an inter-professional conference at Keele that people who teach and train teachers, those who train social workers of all kinds, were disappointed when philosophers professed themselves unable to help those who had to ‘equip students with the skill to change prevailing moral attitudes and standards’.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 10-29
Author(s):  
Stephen Bennett Bevans

Robert J. Schreiter is one of today's most important and influential theologians. This essay suggests that the key to Schreiter's thought is his identity and spirituality as a Missionary of the Precious Blood. It is this identity and spirituality that moves him to do theology in the context of today's globalized and polarized world, offering reflections on the possibility of reconciliation and peacemaking as effective ways of engaging in mission today. The theology that results from such reflections is grounded not only in theological method, but also in the content and method of social philosophy and the social sciences.


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