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Critical Naïveté?

Religion, Science and Action in the Parsons-Voegelin Correspondence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Peter Brickey LeQuire  and
Daniel Silver
Peter Brickey LeQuire
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Samford University [pblequir@samford.edu].
Daniel Silver
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Toronto [dsilver@utsc.utoronto.ca].
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Abstract

Between 1940 and 1944, sociologist Talcott Parsons and political scientist Eric Voegelin engaged in a vigorous correspondence, discussing the origins of totalitarianism and modern anti-Semitism, the legacy of Max Weber, patterns of secularization set in motion by the Protestant Reformation, the methodology and goals of social science, and more. This article introduces and explicates the surprisingly amicable and intellectually rich exchange between these two seemingly different thinkers. Although the letters hold obvious historical interest, their variegated topics are also closely thematically related, revealing an inner logic that we interpret as a theoretical search for “critical naïveté”. This logic, we argue, is relevant to contemporary discussions about the social, political, and scientific legacies of world-transcendent spiritual traditions.

Résumé

De 1940 à 1944, Talcott Parsons et Eric Voegelin, opposant au nazisme récemment émigré entretiennent une correspondance suivie que I'on peut classer sous cinq grandes entrées : Théorie de I'action et histoire des idées politiques, Formes de sécularisation, Méthodologie des sciences sociales, Legs de Max Weber, La transcendance des sciences sociales. Certaines lettres on déjà été publiées, mais I'ensemble ne I'avait pas été. II I'est désormais dans I'édition électronique de la revue. L'article ici proposé entend être une présentation et un guide pour éviter le piège d'anachronisme dans I'interprétation.

Zusammenfassung

Von 1940 bis 1944 führen Talcott Parsons und Eric Voegelin, ein kürzlich ausgewanderter Naziregimegegner, einen Briefwechsel, der in fünf große Abschnitte unterteilt werden kann: Handlungstheorie und politische Ideengeschichte, Säkularisationsformen, sozialwissenschaftliche Methodik, Webers Vermächtnis, Transzendenz der Sozialwissenschaften.

Auch wenn einige Briefe bereits veröffentlicht worden sind, gab es bis dato keine Gesamtausgabe. Sie liegt nun als elektronische Ausgabe der Zeitschrift vor. Der hier veröffentlichte Beitrag versteht sich als Einführung und Leitfaden, um eine Irreführung der Interpretation durch den Anachronismus zu verhindern.

Keywords

ParsonsVoegelinReligionTheory of actionAnti-SemitismTranscendenceAxial ageParsonsVoegelinReligionThéorie de I'actionAntisémitismeTranscendancePériode axialeParsonsVoegelinReligionHandlungstheorieAntisemitismusTranszendenzAxial Age
Type
Research Articles
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , August 2013 , pp. 265 - 293
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2013 

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