The World in Images. Subjectivity and Politics in Max Weber

This essay sets out to reconstruct the main characteristics and performances of the notion of Weltbild in Max Weber. The underlying idea is that world image is the principal place for deciphering the profile of subjectivity in a particular age and the decisive factor for understanding the subject’s physiognomy. The essay is divided into three parts. The first (§§ 1-2) reconstructs the Weberian notion of world image. The second (§ 3) deals with the relationship between materiality and world images. The third (§ 4) reconstructs Weber’s world image as it emerges from Politics as a Vocation, highlighting how this world image provides the background from which Weber draws lines of argument for his normative proposal on the relationship between ethics and politics.