George E. McCarthy is National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Teaching Professor of Sociology at Kenyon College. His books include Classical Horizons: The Origins of Sociology in Ancient Greece, also published by SUNY Press; Objectivity and the Silence of Reason: Weber, Habermas, and the Methodological Disputes in German Sociology; Romancing Antiquity: German Critique of the Enlightenment from Weber to Habermas; and Dialectics and Decadence: Echoes of Antiquity in Marx and Nietzsche.

"The best thing about this book is what McCarthy has to say about the origins of critical theory, especially in Hume and Kant, and the way in which he manages to merge—or 'synthesize', as he would say—what Marx, Weber and Durkheim have to say on a number of important questions. Significant discussions of objectivity, justice, the theory of value, socialism, human rights, relativism, democracy, market economics, functionalism and friendship are presented by McCarthy, who also provides us with a number of very telling asides, any one of which might provide inspiration for another book." — Journal of Classical Sociology"…the proposal of a new perspective on the rise of sociology as an ethical, empirically based discipline at the unusual cross-roads of Aristotle and Kant, together with a consideration of its fundamental authors, is certainly the primary merit and point of interest of this book. By highlighting the 'ethical' dimension of social theory McCarthy thus displays the possibilities of drawing upon the classics as resources of critique for the present." — Critical Sociology"…[a] remarkable book." — CHOICE"George McCarthy has been exploring paradoxes of this kind for a quarter of a century, and this new book … offers one of the fullest accounts yet published on these themes." — Contemporary Sociology

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionConversing with Traditions: Ancients and Moderns in Nineteenth-Century Practical Science1. Aristotle on the Constitution of Social Justice and Classical DemocracyHappiness as Virtue, Nobility, and Reason Defending Moral Economy (Oikonomike) Against Political Economy (Chrematistike) Ancient Dreams of Reciprocal Grace and Communal Justice Friendship of Brothers and Commonwealth of Citizens Practical Wisdom as Deliberation and Discourse Classical Democracy in Herodotus, Pericles, and Thucydides Constitution and Law in the Ideal Polity Collective Judgments and Discursive Rationality in Classical Democracy2. Aristotle and Classical Social Theory: Social Justice and MoralEconomy in Marx, Weber, and DurkheimHuman Need, Emancipation, and Communal Democracy in Marx Understanding, Historical Hermeneutics, and Practical Science in Weber Science of Morality, Functionalism, and Democratic Socialism in Durkheim3. Kant on the Critique of Reason and ScienceHume’s Empiricism and Theory of Sensuous Impressions Skepticism and the Crisis of Modern Reason Kant’s Critical Theory of Knowledge and Judgment Transcendental Aesthetic and Theory of Representations Transcendental Analytic, Categories of the Understanding, and Theory of Objectivity Revolution in Subjectivity and Objectivity Imagination and the Synthetic Unity of Self-Consciousness Practical Reason, Moral Autonomy, and the Kingdom of Ends4. Kant and Classical Social Theory: Epistemology, Logic, and Methods in Marx, Weber, and DurkheimDialectical Science and the Critique of Political Economy in Marx Disenchantment of Reason and Demystification of Objectivity in Weber Moral Ideals and Social Theory of Representations in DurkheimConclusionDreams of Classical Reason: Historical Science between Existentialism and AntiquityNotesIndex

George E. McCarthy is National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Teaching Professor of Sociology at Kenyon College. His books include Classical Horizons: The Origins of Sociology in Ancient Greece, also published by SUNY Press; Objectivity and the Silence of Reason: Weber, Habermas, and the Methodological Disputes in German Sociology; Romancing Antiquity: German Critique of the Enlightenment from Weber to Habermas; and Dialectics and Decadence: Echoes of Antiquity in Marx and Nietzsche.

"The best thing about this book is what McCarthy has to say about the origins of critical theory, especially in Hume and Kant, and the way in which he manages to merge—or 'synthesize', as he would say—what Marx, Weber and Durkheim have to say on a number of important questions. Significant discussions of objectivity, justice, the theory of value, socialism, human rights, relativism, democracy, market economics, functionalism and friendship are presented by McCarthy, who also provides us with a number of very telling asides, any one of which might provide inspiration for another book." — Journal of Classical Sociology"…the proposal of a new perspective on the rise of sociology as an ethical, empirically based discipline at the unusual cross-roads of Aristotle and Kant, together with a consideration of its fundamental authors, is certainly the primary merit and point of interest of this book. By highlighting the 'ethical' dimension of social theory McCarthy thus displays the possibilities of drawing upon the classics as resources of critique for the present." — Critical Sociology"…[a] remarkable book." — CHOICE"George McCarthy has been exploring paradoxes of this kind for a quarter of a century, and this new book … offers one of the fullest accounts yet published on these themes." — Contemporary Sociology

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionConversing with Traditions: Ancients and Moderns in Nineteenth-Century Practical Science1. Aristotle on the Constitution of Social Justice and Classical DemocracyHappiness as Virtue, Nobility, and Reason Defending Moral Economy (Oikonomike) Against Political Economy (Chrematistike) Ancient Dreams of Reciprocal Grace and Communal Justice Friendship of Brothers and Commonwealth of Citizens Practical Wisdom as Deliberation and Discourse Classical Democracy in Herodotus, Pericles, and Thucydides Constitution and Law in the Ideal Polity Collective Judgments and Discursive Rationality in Classical Democracy2. Aristotle and Classical Social Theory: Social Justice and MoralEconomy in Marx, Weber, and DurkheimHuman Need, Emancipation, and Communal Democracy in Marx Understanding, Historical Hermeneutics, and Practical Science in Weber Science of Morality, Functionalism, and Democratic Socialism in Durkheim3. Kant on the Critique of Reason and ScienceHume’s Empiricism and Theory of Sensuous Impressions Skepticism and the Crisis of Modern Reason Kant’s Critical Theory of Knowledge and Judgment Transcendental Aesthetic and Theory of Representations Transcendental Analytic, Categories of the Understanding, and Theory of Objectivity Revolution in Subjectivity and Objectivity Imagination and the Synthetic Unity of Self-Consciousness Practical Reason, Moral Autonomy, and the Kingdom of Ends4. Kant and Classical Social Theory: Epistemology, Logic, and Methods in Marx, Weber, and DurkheimDialectical Science and the Critique of Political Economy in Marx Disenchantment of Reason and Demystification of Objectivity in Weber Moral Ideals and Social Theory of Representations in DurkheimConclusionDreams of Classical Reason: Historical Science between Existentialism and AntiquityNotesIndex

George E. McCarthy is National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Teaching Professor of Sociology at Kenyon College. His books include Classical Horizons: The Origins of Sociology in Ancient Greece, also published by SUNY Press; Objectivity and the Silence of Reason: Weber, Habermas, and the Methodological Disputes in German Sociology; Romancing Antiquity: German Critique of the Enlightenment from Weber to Habermas; and Dialectics and Decadence: Echoes of Antiquity in Marx and Nietzsche.

"The best thing about this book is what McCarthy has to say about the origins of critical theory, especially in Hume and Kant, and the way in which he manages to merge—or 'synthesize', as he would say—what Marx, Weber and Durkheim have to say on a number of important questions. Significant discussions of objectivity, justice, the theory of value, socialism, human rights, relativism, democracy, market economics, functionalism and friendship are presented by McCarthy, who also provides us with a number of very telling asides, any one of which might provide inspiration for another book." — Journal of Classical Sociology"…the proposal of a new perspective on the rise of sociology as an ethical, empirically based discipline at the unusual cross-roads of Aristotle and Kant, together with a consideration of its fundamental authors, is certainly the primary merit and point of interest of this book. By highlighting the 'ethical' dimension of social theory McCarthy thus displays the possibilities of drawing upon the classics as resources of critique for the present." — Critical Sociology"…[a] remarkable book." — CHOICE"George McCarthy has been exploring paradoxes of this kind for a quarter of a century, and this new book … offers one of the fullest accounts yet published on these themes." — Contemporary Sociology

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionConversing with Traditions: Ancients and Moderns in Nineteenth-Century Practical Science1. Aristotle on the Constitution of Social Justice and Classical DemocracyHappiness as Virtue, Nobility, and Reason Defending Moral Economy (Oikonomike) Against Political Economy (Chrematistike) Ancient Dreams of Reciprocal Grace and Communal Justice Friendship of Brothers and Commonwealth of Citizens Practical Wisdom as Deliberation and Discourse Classical Democracy in Herodotus, Pericles, and Thucydides Constitution and Law in the Ideal Polity Collective Judgments and Discursive Rationality in Classical Democracy2. Aristotle and Classical Social Theory: Social Justice and MoralEconomy in Marx, Weber, and DurkheimHuman Need, Emancipation, and Communal Democracy in Marx Understanding, Historical Hermeneutics, and Practical Science in Weber Science of Morality, Functionalism, and Democratic Socialism in Durkheim3. Kant on the Critique of Reason and ScienceHume’s Empiricism and Theory of Sensuous Impressions Skepticism and the Crisis of Modern Reason Kant’s Critical Theory of Knowledge and Judgment Transcendental Aesthetic and Theory of Representations Transcendental Analytic, Categories of the Understanding, and Theory of Objectivity Revolution in Subjectivity and Objectivity Imagination and the Synthetic Unity of Self-Consciousness Practical Reason, Moral Autonomy, and the Kingdom of Ends4. Kant and Classical Social Theory: Epistemology, Logic, and Methods in Marx, Weber, and DurkheimDialectical Science and the Critique of Political Economy in Marx Disenchantment of Reason and Demystification of Objectivity in Weber Moral Ideals and Social Theory of Representations in DurkheimConclusionDreams of Classical Reason: Historical Science between Existentialism and AntiquityNotesIndex