Disenchantment and Rationalization

Disenchantment is a philosophical term used in describing undesirable changes of situations or facts in the society (Delanty, 2013). It can also be defined as the disillusionment of facts that results in disappointment. There are many factors in the society that illustrate disenchantment, for instance, different aspects of religion have changed over years such that its true meaning and objective has faded. The people have become disenchanted with the religious leaders’ inability to control and maintain morals of religion. The beliefs that made the people respect and adhere to the ethics of religion have been revised and replaced by simple facts that are logical or rational, however, these new theories are unrealistic. Schools have been disenchanted in the sense that the objective of their establishment has been rationalized to make the process simple and logical. The purpose of school initially was to identify talent and transform people into professionals with regard to their interests; this is different from what is currently embraced in the education system as humans are being converted to ‘robots.’ The education system does not focus on building professionals based on talents and interests; instead, the trend in the society determines the topics and theories taught in school. Disenchantment has affected the culture such that new ideas from scientific evidence and discoveries have been integrated into beliefs to rationalize them; this has changed the meaning and importance of traditions (Balcomb, 2014).

Currently, some communities lack a specific culture due to the rationalization that has been achieved through socialization and education. Some communities are convinced that their culture is primitive thus, they adopt new beliefs that create separation and lack of understanding among people from the same society.
Modernization of society has also resulted to disenchantment in different ways, for instance, the establishment of industries globally was considered a positive aspect that will promote employment and better living standards. In the current situation, industrialization has promoted more hazards than its projected benefits (Grosby, 2013). The rates of pollution are high and result in complex health problems. However, this has been rationalized by different scientists to reflect the hazards are controllable. The political system also causes the disenchantment of the world especially through irresponsibility in leadership. Many leaders in the modern society have compromised the aspect of democracy and responsibility; instead, they embrace individuality and corruption, which affect the society negatively.
The aspect of disenchantment and rationalization has been discussed by the two philosophers, Max Weber and Jürgen Habermas; in this regard, the paper will present an analysis of the differences and similarities in their viewpoints. The discussion will enable the readers to understand the concept of disenchantment and rationalization thus, formulate their opinions on the topic.
Difference and Similarities in Weber and Habermas’ Arguments
Rationalists and the Reality
According to Weber, disenchantment makes things simple in the society than the reality. He believes that every fact should be presented in a historical manner that shows consistency (Jenkins, 2012). Weber’s perceives simplicity as a hindrance to cumulative historical facts that help the society in predicting the future; however, it encourages discontinuity and repetition of events that should be avoided. For instance, he argues that during natural calamities or disasters, the society develops appropriate solutions. After a few years, the procedure used in solving the problems is rationalized through replacing it with recent ideas (Gray, 2014). The absence of a similar problem to test the new procedure’s accuracy results in approximations. The original plan gets distorted and eventually fades or is forgotten. When the calamity reappears in the future, the disenchanted society suffers from the rationalization since the new strategy does not solve the issue as perceived. The people are forced to draw another plan that is similar to the original. This results in time wastage and sometimes advanced problems in the society. The people in this regard are disenchanted in the advancement they perceived beneficial and efficient. Habermas, on the other hand, argues that simplicity does not result in disenchantment; instead, it is a way of making the society revolutionary. He continues to claim that ideas that worked in the past may not be applicable in solving current problems in the society due to changes in people’s perceptions and interests. His views reflect that the society should be aware of evolution and be ready to rationalize everything. When problems reoccur in the society, rationalized people should be ready to develop new strategies to counter the issues, especially since old ideas may be outdated and inefficient. Habermas presents that disenchantment does not occur due to simplicity, but the attitude the people have towards change (Grosby, 2013). The people in the society are in most instances conservative of the ideas they already know. Despite the fact that they may be comfortable with the old ideas, it is important for them to adapt to a dynamic system; in this regard, rationalization enables the people to adapt to important societal change that improves their lives through simplification of different aspects of beliefs and science.
Reversibility and the Society
Weber argues that the society should be built on ideas that are reversible; in this perspective, people should embrace temporary change. When the traditions are changed permanently through replacement of beliefs with scientific facts, the disenchantment of the world is inevitable. Weber perceives that the reversibility enables the people to evaluate their socio-economic progress. Additionally, it facilitates learning through experience (Weber, 2013. Habermas on the other side argues that there is no need of reversibility; in fact, the society is always on a progressive trend, and the past does not apply in the future (Balcomb, 2014). The society should be an irreversible system since time cannot be controlled. Furthermore, the discontinuity that is created through permanent changes in the societal ideas and facts mark the aspect of change in a rationalized world. Habermas however, agrees with Weber’s belief that experience is core in the learning process thus rationalization should not be misinterpreted as a motivation to lose personal experience.
Western Culture
Based on Weber’s belief, the term modernity is significantly used to reflect western culture. A community is disenchanted in the sense that it cannot be perceived as civilized or modern without copying the western culture. The people rationalize their culture by replacing important aspects such as religious beliefs with western ideas however they do not analyze the type of culture that is appropriate in their context or environment. The culture in this perspective represents clothing, eating habits and language (Habermas, 2015). People do not understand the fact that the future generation may not have anything to associate with their history. Additionally, they will not identify with a definite family as defined by culture. The western culture lacks a specific organization, and it causes random activities that motivate conflicts and disagreements. Habermas, however, argues that the western culture does not cause disenchantment in the society; instead, it is an agent of modernization. When people embrace the western culture, they easily understand the need to develop new industries, policies, and knowledge. The western culture, in addition, enables the people to apply new ideas in real life situations. For instance, the equipment used in learning, hospitals and other sectors are made in the perception of western culture. Habermas points out that there is no randomness in the western culture; instead, it contains specific discontinuations. The missing sections that result in inconsistencies are not useful in the society. The western culture presents the people with an opportunity to manipulate norms, therefore, they are able to replace sections that are outdated (Habermas, 2015). However, Weber strongly disagrees with the fact that culture should be subject to manipulation. He believes that the society is defined by its culture thus, manipulating it will reflect the change of traditions and the people will cease to belong to the initial society. His perception in this regard is that every human in the society should try to conserve culture rather than encourage its manipulation.
Politics and the Law
According to Weber, rationalization of facts in the society has promoted inaccuracies in different sectors. For instance, concepts and traditions have been rationalized through replacing beliefs with scientific evidence. The result is disenchantment of the world where people are forced to learn inconsistent ideas that have been theoretically proved but lack a practical basis. The laws of the society have been rationalized through manipulating the formulation process such that political leaders have an influence on the implementation process (Fantuzzo, 2015). Laws are meant to apply to the entire society, but in the disenchanted world, politicians and wealthy people are excluded from certain practices. For example, during the establishment of taxation policies, the politicians influence the rates that should be implemented for every sector; in this regard, they exclude their private organizations from the taxation list and sometimes increase governmental subsidies for selfish interests. Weber continues to argue that the disenchantment makes every aspect of the world understandable and human-centered. In his perception, the world should not be influenced to fit people’s ideologies instead humans should follow the rules of nature in developing facts. Habermas argues on the issue of rationalization as a cause of inaccuracies presenting the issue of politics and laws. He agrees with the fact that the leaders have taken advantage of rationalization and logic in exploiting the society especially through implementing laws that favor them (Borradori, 2013). He continues to claim that despite his perception that rationalization is best for the society, he understands that there are limitations accrued to its application; in this regard, the element of political issues such as influencing the formulation of laws is one of the limitations. Societies can, however, deal with the political issues through ensuring the system is open and democratic.
Habermas argues that the disenchanted world is a result of political influence on different aspects of the society and in order to control it, people should focus on changing the political system. The government should be concerned with the development of policies that are citizen-oriented rather than initiating unjustified dominance. He believes that rationalization facilitates the identification of current needs of the society and should be applied when formulating laws and policies (Jenkins, 2012). The new laws, however, should be derived from existing limitations in the political or constitutional system. Weber presents an argument that is consistent with Habermas’ ideas; he claims that the disenchantment of the political system can be avoided through establishing strategies that regulate the conduct and activities of leaders. During the formulation of laws, the individual citizens should participate. He, however, believes that using the existing laws as a basis for developing new laws is not sufficient. Instead, the cultural beliefs should be incorporated and used as a reference. The morals of the society should be reflected in the new laws. Consequences of violating the laws should be based on the morals and beliefs of the society; this allows for corrupt and selfish leaders to be compromised without favoritism (Gray, 2014). The aspect of legal dominance should be reflected in the society through informing people on the importance of understanding the law and following its provisions. Weber also claims that the people should not interpret the laws based on the individuals that issue them. Instead, the laws should be perceived as independent and thus responded accordingly (Weber, 2013). In politics, Habermas and Weber only differ in the aspect of the source of laws and policies in the society. Weber in this regard believes that the culture of the society should be solely referenced when developing laws. Habermas, however, argues that if traditions are considered during the development of laws, then modernity will lose its meaning He continues to claim that the current innovation and creativity in the world is as a result of the change in the way people perceive things and to encourage it, the laws should be based on most recent scientific facts that are rationalized and consistent.
Magic
Weber presents that there is decreased use of magic in the disenchanted world; this demonstrates the extent of rationalization of nature and culture. Magic represents the part of culture and society that science cannot explain (Weber, 2013). The rationalists replaced magical ideas with scientific information and bridged the gaps that make it abstract; however, all these steps were to ensure the components of the world are simplified. Despite the consistency and logicalness of the scientific ideas used to explain magic, the reality remains that some components of the world are not part of science. Instead, they should be regarded as supernatural. The disenchanted world in this perspective portrays a false image about the magical part of the world making everything simple and understandable (Delanty, 2013). Habermas, on the other hand, presents an opposing argument on the issue of magic. He argues that there is no magic or facts that cannot be explained through science. Complex phenomenon that seems impossible to expound is a representation of facts that scientists have not researched properly. He suggests that most of the things that were thought to be magic have been explained scientifically such as the existence of life and death, additionally scientists have made important discoveries to improve one’s life in the universe. Habermas also points out that most problems in the society can be solved scientifically or through interaction; in this regard, the need for magic does not exist (Habermas, 2015). The society solves problems through decision making, and formulation of new laws or policies thus the belief that there exist magic is a mere assumption for facts that are yet to be explained scientifically.
Size of Society
Weber presents that rationalization depends on the size of the society. When the system is large, more time and energy is used to identify and rationalize its components. He believes that it is difficult for the scientists to rationalize everything in nature and make the world a logical society. Weber does not support the fact that humans have the capability of developing procedures to control the society as an organization (Spicer, 2014). The principles that apply to an enclosed small system such as an organization or company cannot work for the entire society; additionally, the aspects of formal and informal bureaucracy are difficult to apply. The leadership system can be categorized as formal with the rules and policies, and in this regard rationalized like any independent organization. He, however, believes that the components of society such as social life, sexuality, and fate, luck and religion cannot be rationalized. Weber portrays that the inability to rationalize part of the society implicate that the rationalization process is not necessary (Fantuzzo, 2015). People should live in the society without necessarily manipulating its components with the objective of rationalization. The rationalists should reflect that justification or reasoning does not make the society a better place instead it causes problems such as misunderstanding between communities or in the leadership system. Habermas, on the other hand, argues that rationalization lies in the abilities of people to develop the attitude of change and modernization rather than the size of the society. Since the people are the greatest component of the society, changing their attitudes simplifies other things. Rationalization in this regard makes the society an organization that is controllable provided the right laws and policies are established to monitor the activities of people. He believes that a rationalized society has minimal problems as people are motivated that everything can be manipulated (Grosby, 2013). Challenging situations does not make the people consult with magic or blame the rationalists instead they strive to establish scientific evidence and theories that can explain the problem. The rationalization process also informs the people about the procedures of scientific research and discoveries such that during problematic situations, they apply experimental methodologies to test the appropriateness of a solution before its implementation; this eliminates chances of errors. Life in the society should be experimental in the sense that people try to understand their environment to control it effectively. Habermas continues to claim that when people understand the surrounding, they easily interact and adapt to its components.
Sexuality and Fate
Habermas agrees with Weber’s claim that some components of nature cannot be rationalized such as sexuality and fate however he believes that the people’s perception on these components is subject to change. Traditionally, the function of sex in humans and animals was perceived as procreation, but rationalization has given it a different meaning in the sense that most people regard it as a form of entertainment. In the case of fate, many people in the society do not believe they are incapable of attaining some things or solve certain problems (Delanty, 2013). To Habermas, Weber’s claim that fate is inevitable reflects that traditions are meant to discourage the people that are willing to try new things in their lives. He believes that modernization should in this regard reflect the opposite through embracing rationalization. In the modern society, the people should be left to make decisions and choose their destiny without necessarily focusing on fate. Weber presents that people should try to establish their talents since it is the motivator to realizing fate; however, Habermas refutes this claim through insisting that people determine or control fate, additionally those that work hard are bound to live a better lifestyle as defined through scientific theories (Spicer, 2014).
Media
Weber presents that the function of the media is to report facts as they occur irrespective of the disenchantment of the world. The government or individual political leaders should not be allowed to interfere with the media process since people have the right to information. Media should also use its independence to ensure the people understand the traditions and morals of the society interfered every day. For instance, when groups of people from different cultural societies disagree, the media should seek to establish their beliefs before initiating resolution (Fantuzzo, 2015). Also, it should be ready to challenge the leadership strategy and represent the sentiments of the citizens in a manner that does not portray rationalization. Habermas, on the other hand, presents an argument that supports Weber’s view on media. He argues that the role of the media is to inform the people about the realities of the world without seeking to simplify facts. Habermas, however, perceives that the facts reflected in the media have been rationalized and there is no need of simplifying them further. In this regard, the modern society should know the reality in this enchanted world. At one instance, Habermas blamed the press for failing to engage President Bush in his 2007 campaign to wage war in Iraq (Borradori, 2013). The president wanted public support, but the media did not discuss the issue for the people to understand the realities and repercussions of the war. According to him, this was a temporary capture of the media that should not be practiced in the modern world. Habermas also reflected on other countries such as Italy describing the media system in the country as permanently dedifferentiated since the government had total control over what the journalists reported. The society in Italy is thus affected with the rationalization of the modern facts such that they are unable to discover the realities of the disenchanted world. Habermas believes that when the media is subject to manipulation, the entire society can be easily controlled. However, this may result in crisis as some individuals may seek realistic information.
Religion
Weber presents that the function of religion in the society is to ensure the people embrace good morals as defined by culture. In the disenchanted world, this role of religion has changed to an organization where people meet to discuss modernization facts such as the rights and wrongs with respect to socio-economic life. However, this is as a result of the rationalization of beliefs and magic, which has led to absolute doubt on the existence of a supernatural being or force that causes things to be the way they are in nature (Satkunanandan, 2014). The rationalists have replaced religious beliefs with scientific facts that explain the origin of humankind and the world at large. Weber notes that the scientists have not been able to explain every aspect of nature and instead, they are ignoring the need for clarification of theories like evolution. Rationalization has facilitated the privatization of religion such that some people perceive it as a source of income. The increased use of technology has assisted the rationalists in rationalizing religion; in this regard, people from different religious backgrounds have interacted and shared information regarding their religions. They have discovered the differences in religions, which has made most of the believers in the world confused about the right religion to follow. Some believers have decided to abandon the idea of believing in magic and Charisma; instead, they are living their lives perceiving that rationalized scientific facts represent the reality of the universe. Habermas, on the other hand, argues that rationalization of religion influences societies to embrace liberalism (Fantuzzo, 2015). Changing the definition of religion, therefore, is crucial in influencing people to live modern lives where beliefs are not a significant hindrance to one’s achievements. Habermas continues to present that rationalization has not changed the meaning of religion in the society since morals are still taught to the believers. Additionally, religion is still considered one of the most important institutions in the society especially in solving communal conflicts. However, he points out that the new system of religion is established on logical facts that easily convince people to believe in certain religions.
Opinion
Weber and Habermas argument on the subject of disenchantment and rationalization portrays two sides of the society; traditional and modernization. Weber focuses on proving that believes are important, and rationalization has resulted to the disenchantment of the world. The people’s social political and economic lifestyles have changed to match the aspects of modernity in the disenchanted world. However, Habermas refutes most of Weber’s claims while agreeing to a few facts such as the political aspect of the society. In my opinion, rationalization of the society has changed many things especially beliefs and norms of the people, however, this does not mean it is responsible for modernization. Innovations and creativities in the world such as technological development are as a result of evaluating the challenges facing the society from a multidimensional perspective. The scientists in this regard incorporate science in some elements of culture such as language in developing new systems that improve the socialization process. I believe that rationalization has enabled the people to abandon primitive behavior that discourages civilization. For instance, the people are able to take responsibility for their health through implementing different aspects of science such as eating a balanced diet. Beliefs are important in ensuring morals in the society, but they cannot improve one’s lifestyle, additionally, believes are constant in a dynamic society. This dynamism makes the existing problems in the society to evolve. The need for new strategies of formulating solutions arises; thus, rationalization intervenes through utilizing scientific facts to develop advanced problem-solving procedures. The claim that rationalization causes disenchantment of the world is not justifiable in the sense that many people prefer to live in the modern society, which signifies human ability to influence the transformation of the environment and control it effectively. My opinion in this regard illustrates that I agree to the facts presented by Habermas since modernity cannot exist without rationalization also, the issue of disenchantment cannot be generalized as some people are not disappointed in the works of the rationalists in the society.
Conclusion
Weber and Habermas differ in many things such as the fact that rationalization has caused people to perceive the world as a logical society and everything are explainable through scientific theories. They disagree about the existence of magic in the world; Habermas argue against the existence of a supernatural force that controls things in the universe while Weber supports the claim. They disagree on the influence of western culture in rationalization; Weber believes that it has caused most societies to abandon their culture thus, should be avoided, Habermas, however, suggests that the western culture favors the transformation of society into modernity and should be embraced. The two philosophers conversely agree on the issue of rationalization and politics; they present that disenchantment of the society can be avoided through embracing good leadership in the society.
Rationalization is perceived as the cause of disenchantment of the world since the beliefs that people entrusted their lives have been replaced by logical scientific facts. Despite the existence of some limitations in the rationalization process, the people should, however, note its importance in creating modernity. If the humans support Weber’s claims that beliefs are important and superior to science, then the existence of modernity is bound to cease; in this regard, I believe that Habermas ideologies with respect to disenchantment and rationalization of the world are true.

References
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