ABSTRACT
The most powerful and profound interpretation of modernity remains that of Max Weber. Weber’s thesis was that the essence of modernity lies, first, in the emergence of differentiated action spheres in the domain of society and differentiated value spheres in the domain of culture, and then, second, in the spread of rationalization within these spheres. Specifically, in the social domain, economy, state, and law get differentiated from each other—with the economy becoming capitalistic under the pressure of rationalization, the state becoming bureaucratic, and law becoming codified and formalized. In the cultural domain, the cognitive, expressive, and ethical spheres become differentiated from each other. Rationalization in the cognitive sphere takes the form of science and technology; in the expressive sphere, the form of autonomous art; and in the ethical sphere, the form of an ethic of generalized principles.
