more on this theme | more from this text
Full Idea
Weber coined the distinction between explanation and clarification, saying that natural phenomena require causal explanation, while social phenomena require clarification by giving reasons or offering possible motives for how things are.
Gist of Idea
Nature requires causal explanations, but society requires clarification by reasons and motives
Source
report of Max Weber (works [1905]) by Simon Critchley - Continental Philosophy - V. Short Intro Ch.7
Book Ref
Critchley,Simon: 'Continental Philosophy - Very Short Intro' [OUP 2001], p.121
A Reaction
This is music to the ears of property dualists and other non-reductivists, but if you go midway in the hierarchy of animals (a mouse, say) the distinction blurs. Weber probably hadn't digested Darwin, whose big impact came around 1905.
| 21132 | Domination is probable obedience by some group of persons [Weber] |
| 22366 | There is no objectivity in social sciences - only viewpoints for selecting and organising data [Weber] |
| 22367 | The results of social research can be true, and not just subjectively valid for one person [Weber] |
| 20719 | Punish the heretic, but be indulgent to the sinner [Weber] |
| 20725 | The idea of duty in one's calling haunts us, like a lost religion [Weber] |
| 20722 | Acquisition and low consumption lead to saving, investment, and increased wealth [Weber] |
| 20724 | When asceticism emerged from the monasteries, it helped to drive the modern economy [Weber] |
| 20717 | Capitalism is not unlimited greed, and may even be opposed to greed [Weber] |
| 20718 | Modern western capitalism has free labour, business separate from household, and book-keeping [Weber] |
| 7082 | Nature requires causal explanations, but society requires clarification by reasons and motives [Weber, by Critchley] |
| 22155 | We are disenchanted because we rely on science, which ignores values [Weber, by Boulter] |