Abstract

For Weber, the «man's position in the world» is not an anthropological fact, but the pro- duct of a world view (Weltbild). For the definition of man's relationship with the world - adaptation or foreignness, indifference or rejection, flight or domination - what is re- levant is not human nature, but the concrete contents of the world view. The world view is the place where the individual understands her/himself, defines her/his needs and ex- pectations, organizes her/his practical strategies. The world view is an essential tool to understand the subjectivity of a given epoch, the performance that it may be able to carry out, but also what is unthinkable or impossible for it: the key concept for a moral sociology not oriented to establish what individuals ought to do, but devoted to understans if they actually are able to fulfill certain ethical imperatives.