SOURCE: "Methodological Writings," in Max Weber: An Introduction to His Life and Work, translated by Philippa Hurd, Polity Press, 1979, pp. 174-96.

Originally published in German in 1979, the following essay examines the three main tenets supporting Weber's methodology.

[If] we speak of Weber's methodology today, we mean for the most part those methodological observations which originally appeared separately in periodicals and which were published posthumously in 1922 by Marianne Weber under the title Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre (Collected Essays on Scientific Methodology). We must realize that these collected texts consisted of casual projects and commissioned work, which for the most part remained fragmentary.

The condition of this source material is in part reasonable for the controversy that divides previous interpretations into two camps; one promotes unity in Weber's scientific doctrine, the other argues for diversity. Both positions were able to put forward good arguments. Doubtless Weber's methodological position itself...