Weber and Simmel’s philosophical and political stances : a dialogue in three acts

Frade, C and Pyyhtinen, O 2017, 'Weber and Simmel’s philosophical and political stances : a dialogue in three acts' , Journal of Classical Sociology, 17 (2) , pp. 87-100.

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Abstract

This article is an imagined dialogue between Weber and Simmel which makes a modest use of some of the resources of theatrical play in order to provide an overall portrait of both thinkers and to bring their thought to bear on our present. The dialogue consists of three acts focused on three central problematics in as many critical moments in Weber and Simmel’s lives: Act I takes place during the preparations for the first conference of the German Sociological Association and thus deals with the constitution of sociology as a socio-cultural science. Act II takes place amidst the First World War and its theme is evidently politics. Finally, Act III, where our two characters correspond instead of maintaining a face-to-face dialogue, is situated towards the end of the war and focuses on the attitude to life and indeed to death, as Simmel’s tragic yet admirable death takes place then. A brief introduction explains how we tried to use the possibilities of the dialogical form to expound Weber’s and Simmel’s thought, to compel them to confront their own blind spots and ‘unthoughts’, as well as to explore new ways of teaching the classics and transmitting their thought.

Item Type:	Article
Schools:	Schools > School of Health and Society > Centre for Applied Research in Health, Welfare and Policy
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Classical Sociology
Publisher:	Sage
ISSN:	1468-795X
Related URLs:	Publication
Depositing User:	C Frade
Date Deposited:	11 Apr 2017 08:45
Last Modified:	09 Aug 2017 19:36
URI:	http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/42126

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