Helmut Strauss – författare

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Sociology - Methodology and Methods, grade: A (1,0), The New School (Graduate Faculty), language: English, abstract: I. IntroductionIn 1902, a new phase in the scientific production of Max Weber began. Still suffering from his breakdown in 1898 which forced him to refrain from any intellectual work for several years, Weber started working on a different field of interest than before his crisis; he focused on methodological issues. Weber had, already at the age of thirteen, actually written an essay which touched upon fundamental questions of the philosophy of history, like establishing of laws of history . The occasion on which Weber started writing his academic methodological works was a request by his colleagues at the University of Heidelberg to contribute an essay for a Festschrift of the university. Roscher und Knies und die logischen Probleme der historischen Nationalokonomie was the first of the methodological essays written by Max Weber from 1902 on. The value of Max Weber s methodological essays was often underestimated. In Reinhard Bendix s Intellectual Portrait e.g. they are intentionally left out in favor of Weber s empirical work . Oakes even judges Weber s metatheoretical project as a failure because of a lack of examination, understanding and evaluation on the part of his successors. In this paper, I am going to focus on the Weber s essay on Roscher and Knies as a primary source, because the conclusions reached by Weber here are premises for his later methodological work. My aim is not to give a comprehensive analysis of this essay, but rather an overview of central points in Weber s concept. As secondary literature, I shall use Oakes Introductory essay to the Roscher and Knies essay, Toby Huff s study in Weber s methodology and for the biographical context, parts of Marianne Weber s biography of her husband. First of all, I shall look at the Methodenstreit in the German sciences which constituted the intellectual context inspiring and -in a way- provoking Weber. Secondly, I shall examine his critiques both of the naturalist and of the intuitionist positions and also take Weber s remarks on irrationality into account. Then, I shall try to reconstruct the main thoughts of Weber s own concept as it is shown in his rejection of Wundt s category of creative synthesis and in his theory of causal explanation and meaningful interpretation . After a short summary of Weber s ideas, I shall conclude with the attempt to show the importance of Weber s methodological concept for the theory of history. [...]

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Sociology - Miscellaneous, grade: A (1,0), The New School (Historical Studies), course: Sciciological Foundations II: Sociology and History, language: English, abstract: "e;1. Deliberative councils shall be widely established and all matters decided by publicdiscussion. 2. All classes, high and low, shall unite in vigorously carrying out the administration of affairsof state. 4. Evil customs of the past shall be broken off and everything based upon the just laws ofnature. 3. The common people, no less than the civil and military officials, shall each be allowed topuse his own calling so that there may be no discontent. 5. Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundations ofimperial rule 1. These progressive pledges constituted the programmatic Charter Oath, issued by the Meijiemperor in April18682 and marking the official beginning of the Meiji restoration. Only fifteen years after the arrival of Commodore Matthew C. Perry s Black Ships 3 and theforced opening to the world in 1853, Japan embarked on a rapid and successful modernizingprocess. By 1894, the Japanese modernization was already seen as a role model for other nations; theChinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen wrote in that year: The first step in China s revolutionwas the Meiji Restoration; the Chinese revolution is the second step in the Meiji revolution 4. Instead of suffering the fate of semi-colonialism 5, Japan was able to start an owndiplomacy of imperialism6. [...]1 Jansen, Marius B.: The Making of Modern Japan, Cambridge, Mass. & London 2000, p. 338. 2 Jansen, Japan, p. 337. 3 Jansen, Japan, p. 277. 4 Takeda, Kiyoko: The Unfinished Meiji Revolution in Intellectual History, in: Nagai, Michio & Urritia, Miguel(eds.): Meiji Ishin: Restoration and Revolution, Tokyo 1985, p. 159-172, here: p. 169. 5 Lu, Wan-he: Western Learning and the Meiji Ishin, in: Nagai, Michio & Urritia, Miguel (eds.): Meiji Ishin:Restoration and Revolution, Tokyo 1985, p. 153-158, here : p. 153. 6 Jansen, Japan, p. 436.

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject History of Germany - National Socialism, World War II, grade: A (1,0), The New School (Historical Studies), course: Modern Dictatorship and Political Religion, language: English, abstract: [...]Since its founding in 1876, the Bayreuth Festival had been a locus of representation forpolitically prominent figures; among the guests of the first Festival were the German EmperorWilhelm I and the Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II2. In the years to come, Bayreuth wouldkeep its meaning as a political symbol 3. From 1933 on, the Wagnerian Hitler used the Festival for both the representation of hisperson and his regime. The Foundations for this appropriation were both ideological andpersonal:Firstly, after Richard Wagner s death, his Bayreuth disciples 4, grouped in the BayreuthCircle 5 especially Hans von Wolzogen and Houston Stewart Chamberlain6, created the Bayreuth idea 7; in this process of formulating their German Wagnerism as a volkischideology, they focused more on Wagner s prose writings8, than on his music, and especiallyemphasized Wagner s anti-Semitism9. 2 Eger, Manfred: Die Bayreuther Festspiele, in: Muller, Ulrich/Wapnewski, Peter (eds.): Richard-Wagner-Handbuch, Stuttgart 1986, p. 589-624, here: p. 596. 3 Schmidt, Michael: Bayreuth als politisches Symbol. 125 Jahre Richard-Wagner-Festspiele, in: NeueGesellschaft. Frankfurter Hefte 48 (2001), p. 470-474. 4 Large, David Clay: Wagner s Bayreuth Disciples, in: Large, David C. & Weber, William (eds.): Wagnerism inEuropean Culture and Politics, Ithaka and London 1984, p. 72-133. 5 Schuler, Winfried: Der Bayreuther Kreis von seiner Entstehung bis zum Ausgang der Wilhelminischen Ara,Munster 1971. 6 The English-born racial theoretician Chamberlain had from 1888 on contact with Wagner s widow Cosima; in1908, he married Eva Wagner, the daughter of Richard and Cosima and moved to Bayreuth; see Large, David Clay: Ein Spiegelbild des Meisters? Die Rassenlehre von Houston Stewart Chamberlain, in: Borchmeyer,Dieter/Maayani, Ami/Vill (eds.), Susanne: Richard Wagner und die Juden, Stuttgart &Weimar 2000., p. 140-159. 7 Large, Disciples, op.cit., p.133. 8 Large, Disciples, op.cit., p. 133. 9 For a differentiated and instructive analysis of Wagner s anti-Semitism see Katz, Jacob: The Darker Side ogGenius. Richard Wagner s Anti-Semitism. Hanover & London, 1986.