We once again turn to Max Weber and look at one of his most important and noteworthy speeches, “Science as a Vocation,” delivered in 1918 at Munich University. This speech may be seen as a text assigned to rising graduate students in many fields, owing to its exhortations to go beyond researching and writing about important knowledge and consider the ethical and moral implications of that research.
The speech was originally crafted in response to a question about whether science is a vocation. Weber does not answer the question directly but begins with an illustration of what working in the sciences as a junior academic is like between the German and US systems. The contrast was striking regarding the levels of autonomy over one’s teaching and scholarship loads, how their pay was determined (if they got any at all), and how one progresses until ultimately achieving full professor or washing out. The result are institutions that were becoming more and more bureaucratic and thus the fates of junior academics were increasingly subject to chance as much as merit. This is in part because “no amount of such enthusiasm [that a scientists would devote to their field] … can compel a problem to yield scientific results” and that results that do appear are often wrongly attributed to the scientists who made it public and not all those others who delivered the important precursor findings that made the latest result possible.
Weber then proceeds to dispel as sorts of motivations for science and scientists that would argue for science being a vocation. It is a way to know the true being? Weber says no. A way to true art? Again, no. The way to true nature, finding God, or happiness? No, no, and no. Instead, he argues that science is itself meaningless unless there is something else incorporated that argues the knowledge is worth being known. Medicine can produce all sorts of new cures, but society must social construct the rules, ethics, or morals to decide whether those cures are “good”. Does the risk of harm outweigh the benefits of overcoming a disease or condition?
He also devotes attention to the importance of teaching and the roles of the teacher, what it is and what it is not. He specifically argues that the teacher must be objective, or offering information that has been scientifically validated and mastered by the teacher. Philosophers and demagogues – in other words, those who impart their own subjective views – should have no place on the platform.
The speech has incredible enduring value as it touches on a number of themes still relevant to academia today, which we will explore in our discussion.
You may also download the audio files here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Supplement
Read with us:
Weber. M. (1946/1918). Wissenschaft als Beruf[Science as a vocation]. In From Max Weber: Essays in sociology, trans. Gerth, H. H. & Mills, C. W., CA: University of California Press. Available at University of Pennsylvania website.
Related episodes from the Talking About Organizations Podcast:
Episode 135. Boundary Work in Science — Thomas Gieryn
Episode 130. History and Philosophy of Science — Thomas Kuhn