On the Conclusion of the Max Weber Gesamtausgabe: A meta-critical Review

The Max Weber Gesamtausgabe, which started publication in 1984, has been brought to a successful completion in June 2020. In total it comprises 45 hefty volumes—some of which are divided into half volumes— and two index volumes. The first Section of the Gesamtausgabe has published all the known writings and lectures, and the second Section has published all the letters that have come down to us. The third Section has documented the various lecture courses that Max Weber gave at the universities of Freiburg im Breisgau, Heidelberg and Munich over the period 1894 to 1920.2 Behind these numbers lies a long history and, above all, a huge amount of work by the Gesamtausgabe editors, by the editors and their assistants of the individual volumes, and, in addition, the permanent office of the general redaction of the Gesamtausgabe, which has been based in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and without