Max Weber's Elective Affinities: Sociology Within the Bounds of Pure Reason

Several scholars have called attention to the importance of Weber's use of the term "elective affinity," yet nowhere has the term received a treatment both systematic and historically founded. The present paper attempts to fill that gap. Each instance of Weber's usage is cited and discussed. Next, the place of elective affinity in his order of discourse is determined. Then, the lineage of the term in the histories of literature, chemistry, and philosophy is examined with special reference to Weber's knowledge of those histories. Two related terms, "affinity" and "inner affinity," are examined and brought into relationship with Weber's use of elective affinity. These materials suggest that elective affinity, conceived as an "idea" in the Kantian sense, would have served to answer the question, How is social science possible? which was implicit in the neo-Kantian framework of Weber's order of discourse.