The British Journal of Sociology
Volume 50 No.4 December l999
pages 563-574
Abstract
This paper seeks to refute Alasdair MacIntyre's contention that the sociology of Max Weber is emotivist. MacIntyre understands emotivism to involve the collapse of all moral judgment into statements of personal preference. It is shown that Weber's sociology analyses this condition and seeks to repudiate it. Weber does not at all embrace emotivism. MacIntyre misses Weber's repudiation because he misreads Weber's sociological project. The paper shows that MacIntyre's reading of Weber can be refuted if atention is paid to the 'Politics as a Vocation' lecture.
Keywords: Emotivism, judgment, politics, ethics, vocation, character
Keith Tester
School of Social and Historical Studies
University of Portsmouth