THE CHARISMA OF REASON

When Max Weber introduced the concept of charisma into political socio logy, he conceived of it not only as a quality of a pet-son, but also as a symbolic form with a developmental history of its own, leading fr om magical to religious charisma, and finally to the charisma of reaso n. In this last form, Weber believed, charisma became, by way of routi nization, one of the decisive factors for the formation of the modern rational state. But the charisma of reason developed only in France, d uring the Great Revolution of the 18th century, not in the United Stat es. The essay discusses the reasons for this and shows that it is resp onsible for many differences in the political and administrative syste m of both countries.