Marx and Weber avoided theorizing imagination because they rejected Romantic liberalism

Evidence

Both Marx’s dialectical materialism and Weber’s idealism were developed under the ominous shadow of Immanuel Kant and the hegemony of German Romanticism on the one hand and the continuing legacy of European Enlightenment rationalism on the other. Though these traditions influenced each thinker in greatly different and complex ways, I would like to draw attention here to one important—­albeit unobserved—­consequence: the fact that both were left with little desire to foreground theoretically the role of imagination in capitalism. … The idea of imagination (Einbildungskraft) in the school of German Romanticism has been intrinsically associated with liberal philosophy’s ethos of individual freedom, from which Marx, Weber, and their present-­ day intellectual heirs have been intent on distancing themselves. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 229

Categorization

• QUESTION: Is it truly accurate that Marx and Weber had ‘little desire’ to theorize imagination? Marx’s 1844 manuscripts and Weber’s charisma concept both engage imagination implicitly — worth checking secondary literature.
• XREF: The linking of imagination to individual freedom and rationalism’s reign over Western political thought resonates with the reader’s broader interest in how finance reshapes social imagination. — connects to: Marx and Weber framed speculation’s contradictions but ignored imagination’s role in capitalism — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 228; Marx avoided theorizing finance because of his insistence, not its unimportance. — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 97; Marx’s drive for theoretical elegance made him dismiss race, gender, and culture (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Marx and Weber framed speculation’s contradictions but ignored imagination’s role in capitalism #expands (0.80) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 228
• Marx avoided theorizing finance because of his insistence, not its unimportance. #expands (0.75) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 97
• German idealism’s elevation of imagination grounded the Romantic artist as prophetic seer. #contradicts (0.75)
• Marx’s drive for theoretical elegance made him dismiss race, gender, and culture #expands (0.72)