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Max Weber and the origins of the idea of value-free social science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Allan N. Sharlin
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European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , December 1974 , pp. 337 - 353
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Copyright © Archives Européenes de Sociology 1974

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References

(1) Wissenschaft has been translated here as science, but unless modified, it means science in the broad sense of scholarship. Thus, physics and history, for example, are both sciences. When Weber was specific, he generally wrote about social science and specifically, economics, history and sociology. Where appropriate, an attempt has been made here to distinguish between science as a means of investigation and science in its practical and institutional aspects or between science and scientist.

(2) For example, Schelting, Alexander von, Max Webers Wissenschaftslehre (Tübingen 1934)Google Scholar; Parsons, Talcott, The Structure of Social Action2 (Glencoe 1949)Google Scholar; Henrich, Dieter, Die Einheit der Wissenschaftslehre Max Webers (Tübingen 1952)Google Scholar; Bendix, Reinhard, Max Weber: an intellectual portrait (New York 1960)Google Scholar.

(3) Weber, Marianne, Max Weber: ein Lebensbild (Tübingen 1926), pp. 272, 318–332Google Scholar.

(4) Mommsen, Wolfgang, Max Weber und die deutsche Politik 1890–1920 (Tübingen 1959), esp. pp. 27, 41, 44, 69Google Scholar.

(5) Baumgarten, Eduard, Max Weber: Werk und Person (Tübingen 1964), pp. 301–319Google Scholar.

(6) Mitzman, Arthur, The Iron Cage: an historical interpretation of Max Weber (New York 1970), p. 6Google Scholar.

(7) Conrad, Else, Der Verein für Sozial politik und seine Wirksamkeit auf dem Gebiet der gewerblichen Arbeiterfrage (Jena 1906)Google Scholar; Meinecke, Friedrich, Drei Generationen deutscher Gelehrtenpolitik, Stoat und Persönlichkeit (Berlin 1933), pp. 136–164Google Scholar; Boese, Franz, Geschichte des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, 1872–1932, Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, CLXXXVIII (Berlin 1939)Google Scholar; Ringer, Fritz K., The Decline of the German Mandarins, The German Academic Community, 1890–1933 (Cambridge 1966), esp. pp. 144–152Google Scholar; Sheehan, James J., The Career of Lujo Brentano (Chicago 1966), pp. 46 sqq.Google Scholar; Lindenlaub, Dieter, Richtungs-kämpfe im Verein für Sozialpolitik, Viertel-jahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Beiheft 52 and 53 (Wiesbaden 1967)Google Scholar.

(8) Weber, Max, Jugendbriefe (Tübingen 1936) PP. 71, 74–76, 178, 271–273, 298–300, 327Google Scholar. It should be noted that it is very difficult to say anything explicit on Weber's concept of science prior to 1892. In a letter to his cousin, Emmy Baumgarten, in 1887 (pp. 251–262), Weber distinguishes between different kinds of judgement— understanding, moral judgement, taste and what should be done—but this is not in the context of science. Later in 1887, he writes to his uncle Herman Baumgarten (pp. 270–273) about his legal and scientific work and his plans and hopes for both. He notes, however:

Zeitweise hatte auch, wie ich ebenfalls einräume, eine rein wissenschaftliche Tätigkeit für mich ihren Reiz fast eingebüßt gegenüber dem Eindruck, daß Praktischen interessen deren Regulierung die Elementäraufgabe der Rechtsent wicklung ist, vielfach Kombinationen darboten, welche, wie mir schien, mit den Mitteln unserer Wissenschaft nicht zu erfassen waren, so daß für mich der Trieb zur Beschäftigung mit der Wissenschaft um ihrer selbst willen erheblich abnahtm.

Seven months later (pp. 292–301), Weber writes to his uncle about a group of Nationalökonomen und Sozialpolitiker whose views on contemporary affairs he is sympathetic with and believes will succeed to power. They are the only group among his contemporaries that Weber admires. Perhaps Weber became a Nationalökonom in the 1890's in part because it offered scientific activity oriented towards practical ends. He could thus combine his two interests. This interpretation differs from Baum-Garten, (op. cit. pp. 301–319)Google Scholar.

(9) Weber, Marianne, op. cit. pp. 135–136Google Scholar.

(10) Die Verhältnisse der Landarbeiter in Deutschland, Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, LIII (1892), p. XIGoogle Scholar.

(11) Weber, Max, Die Verhältnisse der Landarbeiter im ostelbischen Deutschland, Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, LX (1892)Google Scholar. Thus, Weber analyzes the situation primarily in terms of its crucial importance for interest of state and the nation. He concludes by stating that future developments depend on the use of state power and that this subject will be taken up at the Verein meeting (pp. 799–804). The report on the whole does not contain extensive valuations, but Weber notes:

Auf die Frage: was nur weiter geschehen wird und gar: was geschehen soll [Emphasis is mine], wird man an dieser Stelle eine Antwort nicht erwarten. Zur Beantwortung würde die Erörterung einer Anzahl von Vorfragen gehören, die aus dem Material der Fragebogen ihre Erledigung nicht finden können. Nur darüber ergiebt dies Material eine teilweiee, aber auch nur unvollständige, Antwort: welches die subjecktive Stellungnahme der Arbeiter innerhalb der gegenwärtigen Veränderungen ist (pp. 796–797).

Mommsen, (op. cit. p. 27)Google Scholar takes the first sentence in this quote out of context and asserts that the objectivity of the scholar was holding Weber back from openly expressing his political opinions. In fact, Weber was constrained by the structure of the Verein inquiry and by his feeling that it was necessary to apply other materials before coming to a conclusion. Mitzman, (op. cit. pp. 94–99)Google Scholar, similarly misinterprets this work. Indeed, Weber, (Jugendbriefe, p. 365)Google Scholar was not happy how the Kreuzzeitung interpreted his report. Weber thought he had perhaps not made himself clear because ich im Interesse der Objektivität glaubte, die uns Liberalen naturgemaß innewohnende Abneigung gegen die öStlichen Großgrundbesitzer unterdrücken zu müssen. Weber vowed to clear up the misimpression. Despite this, only one of the five other authors in the Verein study went as far as Weber in expressing their opinions. See Karger, Karl, Losch, , Franken-Stein, Kuno, Grossman, Friedrich, Auhagen, Otto, Die Verhältnisse der Landarbeiter in Deutschland, Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, LIII–LIV (1892)Google Scholar. For a detailed examination of this study, see Dibble, Vernon K., Social Sciences and Political Committments in the Young Max Weber, European Journal of Sociology, IX (1968), 92–110CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Dibble, however, perceives Weber as being more at odds with the Verein than he actually was at this time. Dibble does this by examining the solution to Germany's political problems Weber proposed in an essay published in 1918 rather than examining Weber's proposals on the migrant question in the years immediately following the Verein study.

(12) Weber, Max, Die ländliche Arbeits-verfassung, Verhandlungen von 1893 des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, Sckriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, LVIII (1893), pp. 62–86Google Scholar, reprinted in Max Weber, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte (Tübingen 1924), pp. 444–469; Weber, Max, Entwicklungstendenzen in der Lage der ostelbischen Landarbeiter, Archiv für Soziale Gesetzgebung und Statistik, VII (1894), pp. 1–41Google Scholar, second version in Preussiche Jahrbücher, LXXVII, 09 1894, PP. 437–473Google Scholar, reprinted in Gesammelte Aufsātze zur Sozial- und Wirt chaftsgeschichte, pp. 450–507; Weber, Max, Der Nationalstaat und die Volkswirtschaftspolitik, Gesammelte Politische Schriften3 (Tübingen 1971), 1–25Google Scholar. Hereafter, the references will be to the reprinted versions with shortened title and date.

(13) Arbeitsverfassung, 1893, pp. 456–457; Nationalstaat, 1895, pp. 13–16.

(14) Die Verhältnisse der Landarbeiter…, op. cit. p. VIII, Arbeitsverfassung, 1893, p. 455; Entwicklungstendenzen, 1894, p. 470; Nationalstaat, 1895, p. 13.

(15) Arbeitsverfassung, 1893, pp. 450, 456; Nationalstaat, 1895, pp. 19–20.

(16) Nationalstaat, 1895, p. 16.

(17) Arbeitsverfassung, 1893, pp. 456–57; Nationalstaat, 1895, p. 24.

(18) Nationalstaat, 1895, p. 16; Linden-Laub, , op. cit. p. 105Google Scholar.

(19) Verhandlungen von 1893 des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, Sckriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, LVIII (1893), pp. 2–5Google Scholar.

(20) Ibid. pp. 87–133, 179–225. Given the views of the older generation, I think serious problems are raised with Mitzman's, argument (op. cit. pp. 75–147)Google Scholar that Weber associated the Junkers with his father in these writings.

(21) Arbeitsverfassung, 1893, pp. 467–468; Nationalstaat, 1895, pp. 16, 21, 24.

(22) For more details on Weber's breakdown, see Weber, Marianne, op. cit. pp. 239–277Google Scholar, and Mitzman, Arthur, op. cit. pp. 148–163Google Scholar.

(23) Protokoll über die Verhandlungen des Parteitages der Sozialdemokratischen Partei Deutschlands, 1903 (Berlin 1903)Google Scholar.

(24) Lindenlaub, , op. cit. pp. 191–192Google Scholar.

(25) This paper does not attempt to determine the intellectual influences on Weber in forming his ideas on value-freedom. For an effort to draw the intellectual background of the methodological essays, see Tenbruck, Friedrich H., Die Genesis der Methodologie Max Webers, Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, XI (1959), pp. 573–630Google Scholar. However, with regard to the thesis of this paper, Tenbruck, perceives value-freedom in the Objektivität essay (p. 585)Google Scholar, and he asserts that Der Sinn der ‘Wertfreiheit’… and Wissenschaft als Beruf have a rein wiederholenden Charakter (p. 580). Indeed, Tenbruck only analyzes the Objektivität and the Roscher and Knies essays. The over-all interpretation of the methodological essays here thus differs from Tenbruck.

(26) Weber, Max, Die ‘Objektivität’ sozialwissenschaftlicher und sozialpolitischer Erkenntnis, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre3 (Tübingen 1968), pp. 148–149, 151–152, 185Google Scholar. Several of the essays in the Wissenschaftslehre have been translated as Shils, Edward A. and Finch, Henry A. (translators and editors), The Methodology of the Social Sciences (New York 1949)Google Scholar. However, the English reader should be cautioned about this translation. For example, Shils and Finch translate Wertfreiheit as ethical neutrality which is at most a questionable interpretation and hardly a translation. More confusing for the careful reader is the translation of important German concepts (e. g. Wertungen) into different English words and correspondingly, the use of one English word for different German words. On the whole, Shils and Finch have consistently sacrificed accuracy in translation for what seems to be an attempt at good English style.

(27) Ibid. pp. 151–153, 170–182.

(28) Ibid. pp. 152, 178–214.

(29) Ibid. p. 158.

(30) Ibid. pp. 158–160.

(31) Ibid. pp. 158–159.

(32) Weber, Max, Roscher und Knies und die logischen Probleme der historischen Nationalökonomie, Wissenschaftslehre, pp. 1–145Google Scholar.

(33) Weber, Max, Kritische Studien auf dem Gebiet der Kulturwissenschaftlichen Logik, Wissenschaftslehre, pp. 215–290Google Scholar.

(34) Ibid. p. 225.

(35) Ibid. pp. 224, 250–252, 271 sqq.

(36) Weber's presentation was finally published under the title “Gutachten zur Werturteilsdiskussion im Ausschuß des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, in Baum-Garten, Eduard, op. cit. pp. 102–139Google Scholar. Weber himself published a revised version, Der Sinn der ‘Wertfreiheit’ der soziologischen und ökonomischen Wissenschaften, Logos, VII (1918)Google Scholar, reprinted in Wissenschaftslehre, pp. 489–540. References are made to both versions.

(37) Verhandlungen von 1909 des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik, Vol. CXXXII (1910)Google Scholar.

(38) Gutachten…, pp. 110–111; Der Sinn der ‘Wertfreiheit’…, p. 497.

(39) Gutachten…, pp. 113 sqq.; Der Sinn der ‘Wertfreiheit’…, pp. 499 sqq.

(40) Gutachten…, pp. 102–112, 119–120; Der Sinn der ‘Wertfreiheit’…, pp. 489–499, 510–511.

(41) Gutachten…, p. 113; Der Sinn der ‘Wertfreiheit’…, p. 499. Virtually no autobiographical statements on Weber's work survive if indeed they ever existed. In 1913, Weber also noted that he “was no longer able to identify in many important points” with his Freiburg Antrittsrede (Gutachten…, p. 127). Was this meant politically or methologically or both? The task of understanding Weber's intellectual history is made more difficult by this but not less important. Also see Weber, Marianne, op. cit. p. 416Google Scholar.

(42) Verhandlungen von 1909, pp. 329–620.

(43) Boese, , op. cit. pp. 147–148Google Scholar.

(44) On Sombart, , see my Werner Sombart: a study in the relationship between social science and politics (unpublished M. A. Thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1972)Google Scholar.

(45) This general idea has been suggested by others. See, for example, Marianne Weber, Mommsen, Mitzman.

(46) For an excellent personal account of this circle which conveys Weber's attitudes in this matter, see Honigs-Heim, Paul, Erinnerungen an Max Weber, Max Weber zum Geddähtnis, Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, Sonderheft 7 (Köln 1963), pp. 161–271Google Scholar. An English translation of Honigsheim's, essay was published as On Max Weber (New York 1968)Google Scholar.

(47) This comparison is based on Lukes, Steven, Émile Durkheim: his life and work (London 1973), esp. pp. 76–79, 101–102, 320–332, 424–430Google Scholar.

(48) Stammer, Otto (ed.), Max Weber und die Soziologie heute, Verhandlungen des 15. deutschen Soziologentages (Tübingen 1965)Google Scholar. On this occasion Leopold von Wiese drew the outline of a comparison between the situation in Weber's time and that today with respect to value-freedom. He concluded: Heute ist die Lage erhebtich anders. Das Prinzipielle ist eher zu stark zurückgetreten (p. 69). Most of this volume has been translated: Stammer, Otto (ed.), Max Weber and Sociology Today (New York 1972)Google Scholar.