Max Weber-Gesamtausgabe

The revised version of Max Weber's famous study on the »Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism« is presented in this volume along with the almost completely rewritten essay on the sects. Weber regarded both essays as being an integral part of volume I of his »Collected Essays on the Sociology of Religion,« which he prefaced with »Preliminary Remarks.« Here he spelled out the thrust of his entire collection: to identify the distinctiveness of Western, especially modern Western, rationalism and explain its rise. In the editor's introduction, the broader context of these three texts is described while in his editorial report, the genesis of this revision is demonstrated on a textual basis.