Em busca do centro democrático-progressista: o liberalismo agonístico de Max Weber

abstract

Of what type is Weber’s liberalism? After criticizing some of the current interpretations in Brazil, it is argued that Weber’s ethical-agonistic liberalism is multi-dimensional and unfolds both on the existential and on the collective level of social and political reality. Starting from the fact that modern culture is marked by pluralism and the conflict of values, Weber advocates a social liberalism that defends the free organization of social groups and a political-institutional liberalism in which the State and capitalism, on the one hand, and the set of political institutions, on the other hand, operate under permanent tension, the latter also acting as a system of checks and balances that aims to keep open the space for the struggles for freedom.

Keywords:
Max Weber; Liberalism; Social liberalism; Democracy; Pluralism; Conflict