German Cosmopolitan Social Thought and the Idea of the West

Voices from Weimar

Bibliographic Data

ID19931014
AuthorsAustin Harrington (0000-0003-4635-2741, University of Leeds, corresponding author)
Year2016
Publication date2016-01-31
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueGerman Cosmopolitan Social Thought and the Idea of the West (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9781316275658
OpenAlexW4234726027
Open LibraryOL34714583M
ISBN9781316275658
LanguageEN
Citations received14

There has been considerable interest in recent years in German social thinkers of the Weimar era. Generally, this has focused on reactionary and nationalist figures such as Schmitt and Heidegger. In this book, Austin Harrington offers a broader account of the German intellectual legacy of the period. He explores the ideas of a circle of left-liberal cosmopolitan thinkers (Troeltsch, Scheler, Tönnies, Max Weber, Alfred Weber, Mannheim, Jaspers, Curtius, and Simmel) who responded to Germany's crisis by rejecting the popular appeal of nationalism. Instead, they promoted pan-European reconciliation based on notions of a shared European heritage between East and West. Harrington examines their concepts of nationhood, religion, and 'civilization' in the context of their time and in their bearing on subsequent debates about European identity and the place of the modern West in global social change. The result is a groundbreaking contribution to current questions in social, cultural and historical theory

Aesthetics · Appeal · Civilization · Context (archaeology) · German · Identity (music) · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Reactionary · Social thought · Sociology · Weimar Republic · Central European national history · Global Economic and Social Development · Globalization, Historical Perspectives, and International Relations · History · Law · Philosophy · Political and Social Issues · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory · Germany · Social conditions

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