Ma`rifat Farhangi Ejtemaei

One of the important issues in the field of religious studies is the question of religion and the meaning of life. Many thinkers, including Max Weber, have dealt with this subject from different angles. According to Weber, the most important feature of human life is its meaningfulness. Therefore, the difference between man and other animals and between human world and natural world is determined by meaningfulness. The most important question in this discussion is: who is the author of this meaning? According to Weber, only religions can meet this metaphysical human need, and not any other force is capable of playing the role which religion can play. So, Weber analyzes the origin and function of religion according to the role of religion in creating meaning. The problem of Weber's viewpoint is not his observations, because nothing can make human life meaningful except religion; the problem lies in the way he presents this idea. Weber’s main problem originates from his reductionistic view. So he believes that the religion can be explained in materialistic terms. Therefore, he adopts a completely worldly view about meaning, and shows total disregard to transcendent realm of man and religion.