Max Weber, Objectivity in Social Science and Social Policy

Erkenntnis des Seins - existential knowledge

knowledge of what is

facts

Erkenntnis des sollens - normative knowledge

knowledge of what should be

values

Empirical knowledge

derived from observation of facts

Normative knowledge

knowledge of value obligation or what should be done

outside what empirical science can prove

value freedom / objectivity

own value judgments should not be presented as empirical findings

when writing clear distinction needed

Value relevance

what is worth studying is determined by value ideas not by facts themselves

Finite amount of things worth knowing

objectivity

not value neutrality but intersubjective validity

must be acknowledged as correct even by the Chinese - someone who rejects the values that motivate inquiry must accept findings

Ultimate values

science can make these explicit but cannot validate them

personal affair - conscience > empirical

Value conflict

idea that ultimate values are formed in the struggle with other ideals

all the same level of sacred

internal consistency of value judgments

science can test an idea only for its logical consistency

Means and ends

science can asses whether means are appropriate to a given end + the cost

Cultural ideals

culturally sig values / goals

Kantian influence

concepts are not reproductions of reality but analytical instruments for mastering empirical data

derived from Kant

Teleology

means-end

science evaluated the fitness of mean to a stated end - the end cannot be scientifically validated

causal explanation

tracing specific event to specific concrete causes

not the end of the investigation but only a means

Social causality

more abstract the law = less contributes to explaining ind / culturally sig event

ideal type

Deliberately one-sided analytical construction

built by emphasising certain features of reality

bridge subjective & cultural meaning

action vs behaviour

action - human behaviour to which the actor attaches subjective meaning

behaviour - unconscious or automatic reflexes

Social action

action oriented to the behaviour of others

subjective meaning

motive / purpose that an ind attaches to their own human behaviour

Verstehen - interpretive understanding

method to study human behaviour through putting urself in once shoes

methodological individualism

large scale social phenomena = results and modes of organisation of individual human actions