From Mill via Von Kries to Max Weber

causality, explanation, and understanding

Michael Heidelberger

pp. 241-265

in: Uljana Feest (ed), Historical perspectives on Erklären and Verstehen, Berlin, Springer, 2010

Abstract

In the second part of his "Critical studies in the logic of the cultural sciences' published in 1906, which carries the title "Objective possibility and adequate causation in historical explanation" (Weber 1906, 164-188/266-290)¹ Max Weber (1864-1920) wrote that he feels "almost embarrassed in view of the extent to which here again, as in so much of the preceding argument, I am "plundering" von Kries' ideas' (Weber 1906, 186/288).² Weber thus admits a very strong influence on his approach by the physiologist, philosopher, and theoretician of probability, von Kries (1853-1928), who was for sometime his colleague in Freiburg in southwest Germany. Von Kries had suggested a legal criterion for attributing a deed to an agent that exerted a strong influence on German civil law and was also taken up by the legal system of other countries. This earned him the title of an honorary doctor of the law faculty of the University of Erlangen in 1897.

Cited authors

Von Kries Johannes

Weber Max

Mill John Stuart