Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of Max Weber's view of the problems of education and the university in the light of its latest actualizations. The chosen subject is studied using both philosophical and sociological tools. Max Weber's concept is studied in the context of its historical conditions of formation and development, in comparison with classical and modern concepts, as well as in terms of its heuristic capabilities in describing, analyzing and explaining modern problems and challenges in the field of education in general and in the university world in particular. On the basis of the historical and cultural retrospective of Weber's Germany at the end of the 19th century, the prerequisites for the formation of the Weberian concept are studied and compared with the socio-cultural situation at the beginning of the 21st century. The authors of the article, critically approaching Weberian epistemologiсs, separately focus on the theoretical and methodological limitations and vulnerabilities of the application of the Weberian concept in the modern world, while pointing out the epistemological advantages and opportunities that it offers. Such subjects as the importance of the political in educational activities; perspectives of the university in the society of commodification; the importance of the worldview component in comparison with generally significant knowledge; place of scientific asceticism and its limitations are revealed. Weber's ethical concepts and their heuristic possibilities in the analysis of transformations of the university and education are analyzed in detail. The logical and epistemological gaps in Weber's concept are critically examined, its internal complexity is shown, built on the basis of the ontology of the plurality of social orders. A conclusion is made about the potential of Weber's concepts and ideas for analyzing the current state of the university, science and education.