New Horizons in the Translation and Interpretation of Max Weber?

An Interview with Joaquín Abellán

Resumo

The interview with Joaquín Abellán, a teacher at the Complutense University of Madrid and a prominent translator of Max Weber into Spanish, analyzes common errors in traditional translations of his texts, especially in Latin America. Abellán emphasizes the necessity of philological revisions based on the critical edition (Max Weber Gesamtausgabe), pointing out conceptual problems that distort Weber's thought. He criticizes, for example, the translation of Beruf as “vocation” and Herrschaft as “domination,” and questions the usual interpretation of “plebiscitary democracy” as an authoritarian form. According to Abellán, Weber referred to changes in political parties, not to the defense of personalist regimes. The interview also addresses Marianne Weber's role in the posthumous edition of Economy and Society, the international dissemination of the work, and the influence of Talcott Parsons. Abellán proposes translations that are more faithful to the original and advocates for a critical, precise, and contextualized reading of Weber, contributing to the renewal of studies about the author.