Research Of Max Weber's Social Science Philosophy

Max Weber (1864-1920) is a famous German sociologist, political economist, and the creator of western religious sociology. He is hailed as "the only master of analysis of the social science and the arts". His social science research was often evaluate as profundity, and in all of his ideology, the most essential characteristic which is the core of his research also is the dissertation on social science methodology. At the same time, he made a stable position in western social research in history for the exploration to methodology and the experience research in other field. Weber wrote a lot on the subject of methodology, most of which were created on the conditions of debating. As for research methods, Weber used the humanistic "methodology of the individual", cultural phenomenon "methodology of the individual" and a kind of specific understanding method that is similar to the explanation, and this method is different from what used by Durkheim, who employed a method that is similar with "methodology collective", which is used to study natural phenomenon by nature science and specific empirical method. Its main purpose is beyond the weakness of positivism and anti-positivism methodology, to form his unique social science and philosophy idea, and finally establish his own methodology.It is necessary to know the background of Weber and the origins of his theoretical thinking, when study Weber's philosophy and social sciences thought. According to the historical background of that time, we can see the shadow of philosophy and various ideologies. From polemics about positivism, this paper reveals Weber's philosophy points and that the establishment of "understanding sociology" is against a common contradictions of the Comte, Spencer, Durkheim sociology thinking, however, its main idea is from Dilthey's "science of spirit" whose core is "understanding" and Rickert's Neo-Kantianism whose core is history and culture concept of anti-naturalism.Weber's methodology idea is the major content of this paper. Weber's sociological is the breakthrough of the traditional methodology and it mainly performs in four areas: (1) the method for sociologist imploring the social behavior, namely, interpretation and understanding;(2) the possibility of objectivity in social sciences, so-called the pluralistic proper causation;(3) the key principles of the study in sociology, namely, "relation to values" and "value-neutral";(4) the universal and key concept of the social sciences, namely, "ideal type". Weber's methodology not only embodies the humanistic tendency but also have the shadow of positivism, the two intersect and reinforce each other. It is really useful to understand Weber's methodology for us to study Weber's social science philosophy.Weber's methodology view has been throughout the historical research, and "Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" is his great achievement when engaged in historical research, and the writer thinks that this book is also a classic case of the use of sociology methodology. In the third part of this paper, it provides a detailed production of the performance of in Protestant ethics. It elaborates how Weber's social methodology influent function sociology and comparative political science in the later years. As well, it illustrates the similarities and differences between Weber's social methodology and Marx's thinking.