Karl Knies, Austrians, and Max Weber: a Heidelberg connection?

Abstract

Purpose

To establish the place of Karl Knies in the history of economics of the German‐speaking academics.

Design/methodology/approach

Knies's economics teaching is summarized on the basis of a student's notebook of the course on general economics in Heidelberg, 1886. Knies's relation with two Austrian visitors, Friedrich Wieser and Eugen Böhm‐Bawerk, is explored. Finally, Knies's influence on Max Weber and Weber's difference from Knies is discussed.

Findings

This paper provides the structure and the summary of Knies's lecture, illuminates his inability to grasp the significance of Austrian value theory, and shows the new position that Max Weber acquired by absorbing the Austrian theory into the framework of historicism.

Research limitations/implications

The comparison of (possibly) remaining notes of Knies's lectures may reveal the development as well as the wide coverage of his teaching in Heidelberg. Knies's influence on Max Weber should be studied more in detail by an archival investigation of young Weber's unpublished writings.

Originality/value

The mild and synthetic feature of the real teaching of Knies, “the methodologist of the Historical School”, and the true distinction of the Austrian value theory from the “use value” theory of German economists are shown clearly. Thus, the relation between Historicists and Austrians is established from the viewpoint of the economic theory.

Citation

Yagi, K. (2005), "Karl Knies, Austrians, and Max Weber: a Heidelberg connection?", Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 314-330. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443580510618554