This talk attempts to read Max Weber’s treatise on Chinese Confucianism and Taoism, contained in his magnum opus Wirtschaftsethik der Weltreligionen, as a critique of a rationalism that Weber sees as the core component of Christian puritanism and as the foundational force for the rise of capitalism in Europe and America. This talk is cautious about understanding Weber’s theoretical effort as a triumphant historicist and cultural legitimation for European capitalism in the early twentieth century. Rather it discusses a deep cultural pessimism that informs Weber’s transcultural endeavor. Moreover, the talk hopes to develop the concept „world as method“ through the reading of Weber’s works.

Zhang Chunjie has received a Humboldt-Stiftung scholarship and is based at the Global and Transregional Studies Platform Göttingen.

Primary Organizer: Ostasiatisches Seminar; Co-Hosts: AKI, Global and Transregional Studies Platform Göttingen, Interkulturelle Germanistik; Sponsors: Ostasiatisches Seminar, AKI, Global and Transregional Studies Platform Göttingen