Weber, Goethe, and the Nietzschean Allusion: Capturing the Source of the “Iron Cage” Metaphor

@article{Kent1983WeberGA,  title={Weber, Goethe, and the Nietzschean Allusion: Capturing the Source of the “Iron Cage” Metaphor},  author={Stephen A. Kent},  journal={Sociology of Religion},  year={1983},  volume={44},  pages={297-319},  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:170414384}}
  • S. Kent
  • Published1 December 1983
  • Philosophy, History
  • Sociology of Religion
Edward Tiryakian recently argued that Max Weber was so deeply affected by John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress that he personally identified with one of its characters, a man who was trapped in an iron cage of despair. Therein, Tiryakian claimed, lies the origins of the famous "iron cage" metaphor that appears in the final pages of Talcott Parsons' translation of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Challenging his view, this article argues that Weber was little affected by 

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