Intellectualism in Weber’s work: the process of intellectualization as an avenue for understanding knowledge’s historical development

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the concept of "intellectualism" (and other stemmed notions) in Max Weber's religious textual corpus to pave a sociological theory of knowledge, since we hypothesize that the intellectualization process is the only phenomenon that involve epistemological problems and its possible solutions. For analytical purposes, intelectualism is a systematic complex of elements which should be defined. By examining the concept intellectualism, we conclude that there are three different pathways for addressing the complex of problems related to knowledge: a.) the most central epistemological problem (Erkenntnistheorie) emerges when we try to define what is magic; its relationship with the world; and its relationship with intellectualism; b.) the form of the real existence of knowledge and its changes are placed in the relationship between objectification and interpretation; c.) the current content of knowledge, its changes and the pragmatic relationship with semantic-context dependent people.