The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c5.66

c5.66

The new sociology maintained by the present author will not stand the "religious interpretations" of civilization as presented by de Coulange in his *La Cité Antique*. Nor is it prepared to accept the somewhat similar but modified position of Max Weber. In his *Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie* (1922-23) Weber speaks of the commanding rôle of religion in economic life. But his thesis is untenable as an explanation of historical facts. It may be admitted that religion was a social force in Hindu culture only in the sense in which it is used by Durkheim in his *Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse* (Paris 1912), namely, that the very concept of society is in every region and age essentially religious. But using Max Weber's language we can concede that in India as elsewhere religion was but one of the diverse determinants of *Wirtschaftsethik*, i.e., economic ethics. While dealing with the landmarks of Hindu literature we should therefore take care not to be misled simply because of its religious externals and envelope.