ABSTRACT
In the last few decades, and especially since the excellent translations by Parsons and Gerth appeared, considerable discussion of Max Weber has taken place. This chapter shows that Max Weber's own development was determined, at least to some extent, by the necessity of choosing between the conflicting philosophies outlined. His development reveals an unmistakable shift from national-liberalism to a left-wing and pronounced socially minded liberalism. That is the reason that the entrance of the latter philosophy into Weber's life represents the essential landmark in the chapter. The first part of the chapter deals with the pre-Neo-Kantian Protestant, and the second with the Neo-Kantian Protestant. Weber often listened to and discussed his sermons with him. The religio-ethical problems which involved the relation between autonomy and law already were dominant in Weber's thinking. Max Weber was not just a Protestant by birth; he was one by emotion and feeling.
