The grammar of prudence : Arendt, Jaspers, and the appraisal of Max Weber
Document Type
Book chapter
Source Publication
Hannah Arendt in Jerusalem
Publication Date
8-1-2001
First Page
306
Last Page
324
Publisher
University of California Press
Keywords
Hannah Arendt, Karl Jaspers, Max Weber, Germany, Germanness
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the exchange between Jaspers and Arendt over a problem — condensed in the name of Max Weber — that had first emerged specifically in their correspondence as early as January 1933 and that retained its salience until roughly three years before Jaspers's death in 1969. It suggests that few authors of the twentieth century offered a more comprehensive alternative to Weber's political and sociological thought than Arendt did. It begins by examining how Jaspers summoned Weber's name to delineate a certain idea of Germanness and how Arendt responded to Jaspers's attempts to encompass her within this idea. It shows that she was much more forthright in rejecting Jaspers's interpretation of Germany than she was in confronting his view of Max Weber, and this also has to be explained. The chapter then answers a couple of related hermeneutical questions. If Arendt and Weber were so markedly at variance as theorists, why did this not emerge in the Arendt–Jaspers correspondence, where Weber's name is so often invoked? And how did Hannah Arendt respond to Jaspers on the Weber question in a way that minimized conflict between her and her erstwhile supervisor? Answering this latter question illustrates some of the major axes of difference that typify Arendt's and Weber's approaches to political and sociological questions.
DOI
10.1525/california/9780520220560.003.0020
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2001 by the Regents of the University of California.
Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Additional Information
ISBN of the source publication: 9780520220577
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Baehr, P. (2001). The grammar of prudence: Arendt, Jaspers, and the appraisal of Max Weber. In S. E. Aschheim (Ed.), Hannah Arendt in Jerusalem (pp. 306-324). Berkeley: University of California Press. doi: 10.1525/california/9780520220560.003.0020