Weber's most famous collection of speeches, Academics and Politics, contains two of his most classic speeches, Academics for Business and Politics for Business.
In these two speeches, it is expounded that when religious belief is replaced by modern reason and reason, where can we settle down and how can our hearts be home?
Born in 1864, Weber started his academic career very early. At the age of 25, he got a doctorate in law and soon became a lecturer at the University of Berlin. At the age of 30, he was hired as a full professor by the University of Freiburg. Three years later, he won an important professorship at the University of Heidelberg, which made his peers far behind.
Weber's short career of 56 years has two outstanding characteristics. One is that his research field is very extensive. Academic circles generally call him, Marx and Durkheim the three founders of modern sociology, but his research also spans the fields of economy, politics, history, religion and philosophy, and even has unique research on classical music. It can be said that Weber is a knowledgeable and encyclopedic scholar.
Another feature is that Weber was not a pure scholar, but the most influential intellectual in German politics at that time, and he also had a political side. He widely participated in public discussions, published important political articles in newspapers and magazines, and directly participated in many political activities, including joining the army in World War I, participating in the management and construction of field hospitals, attending the Versailles Peace Conference as a consultant of the German post-war negotiating delegation, and drafting and discussing the Weimar Constitution.
Before human beings entered the modern society, they lived in a fascinating world and believed in the existence of gods, such as elves and ghosts, supernatural things and events, animism and other beings beyond human experience and perception-transcendental existence. There is an unspeakable mystery. Let the world be shrouded in a mysterious spirit. It is difficult to understand, impossible to understand, unclear, unclear, admirable and frightening. Even annoying charm
And this mysterious spirit makes people closely connected with the universe and obtains the meaning of life from it. In the past, man's ultimate value and meaning of life depended on his higher existence and the overall order of the universe. Through religious beliefs and rituals, they establish a relationship with the mysterious things shrouded in their transcendence, thus establishing the meaning and purpose of life. Get the foundation of survival.
Later, when the West entered the modern era, it experienced the religious reform and the Enlightenment, especially the scientific revolution. Westerners were more and more inclined to explore the world and themselves in a rational way, that is, they believed in scientific understanding more and more.
Science is a typical embodiment of intellectualization, which relies on calm observation, reliable evidence, strict logic and clear argument, and has the characteristics of observability, testability, questioning, refutation and correction. This method is fundamentally anti-mysterious, and the past belief world has been "disenchanted" step by step by people's reason and rationality.
Therefore, Weber said that "the world has disenchanted" is to tell us that with the arrival of modern times, great changes have taken place in spirit:
The misty charm of the ancient world was dispelled by the light of reason in the modern "early morning". When modern people look back at the ancient world, they will have a feeling of "awakening from a big dream", which is the so-called "disenchantment of the world", that is, Weber said that the modern world broke the earth.
This disenchantment is an objective fact, not a value judgment. He is not saying that this change is gratifying, nor is he praising the world after charm. In fact, Weber holds a complicated and ambiguous attitude towards the disenchantment of the world.
When I wake up from this dream, for many people, the spirit is particularly desolate, which will make people feel lost. "Those ultimate and noblest values have disappeared from public life."
Because faith has lost its mysterious foundation, science cannot provide a new fundamental basis for the meaning of life.
Although it was cold and cruel to expose these facts at that time, he firmly believed that the highest principle that scholars followed was "wisdom and sincerity" (knowing what they know), or translated as "wisdom and wisdom" (rational wisdom and clever wisdom), that is, scholars should reveal the truth, no matter how harsh the truth is. He doesn't want people to be scared by cruel facts. The purpose of revealing the truth is to make people clear-headed, not to fall into sadness, despair, nothingness or fanaticism after discovering the truth. This is of course a very difficult task, which requires a rare sense of caution and balance.
In modern academic circles, it is really a fact judgment, while goodness is a value judgment. There is no unified basis for the three, and both goodness and beauty belong to the value judgment in the field of "should be"
Give the simplest example. For example, I wore a blue coat today, which is a statement of fact, and probably no one will object. If you say green, you are either talking nonsense on purpose or "color-blind". We can measure the "wavelength" of clothes with instruments, and prove that this is the "blue" defined by physics with data. But there is also a saying that this blue color is "particularly beautiful", which is not a statement of facts, but a value judgment.
All value judgments depend on certain premises, and the premises themselves cannot be scientifically proved.
For example, saying that science has the value of "worthy of doing business" is a preset in itself and cannot be proved by science. As for saying that "the world is meaningful", it is even more impossible to prove it. Weber said, "Science never asks such questions."
"The division of knowledge and belief". The resulting dilemma is reflected in two aspects: at the personal level, it is the so-called "spiritual crisis of modern people." What one should believe and how one should live can only depend on one's own subjective choice, which can't be guaranteed by rational argument. As Weber said, "a man must decide which one is God and which one is devil in his own view". Modern people have the right to freely choose their beliefs and ideals, but this freedom may become a heavy burden. We may become at a loss, don't know how to choose, or take the so-called "determinism" position, let our will go and make decisive choices at will.
Important concepts and principles supporting the meaning of human life, including religious beliefs, life ideals, moral norms and aesthetic tastes, all belong to the value judgment in the field of "should be", while rational scientific knowledge belongs to the field of "should be", aiming at discovering the truth of the world, and can only make corresponding factual statements, but can not answer the question of value judgment on how people should live.
On the political level, modern society is facing the challenge of multiple value conflicts. Because faith can't get the objective basis of rationality, people believe in various ultimate values, and the conflict between multiple values can't be solved through knowledge or rational debate. This is what Weber called "the endless struggle between God and God".
However, Weber believes that it is spiritual weakness to escape or cover up the dilemma of modernity, and we must accept this "bleak fate". He believes in Nietzsche's famous saying, "How much truth a person can bear is a test of his spiritual strength."
He admits that subjective choice is inevitable, but "subjectivity" is not completely equivalent to "arbitrariness" or "arbitrariness", and "clear thinking" nourished by academics can play an important role here. Learning theological knowledge will certainly help individuals to choose and practice religious beliefs, and mastering extensive knowledge of political science will certainly help politicians to make judgments and decisions. Although knowledge cannot replace the final belief choice or political decision, choice is no longer simple and arbitrary, and responsibility is not just impulse.
At the end of Taking Learning as a Career, Weber quoted the questions and answers with the night watchman in the Old Testament and Isaiah: Night watchman, how long will the night pass? The night watchman said: the dawn is coming, but the night is not over yet. If you want to ask again, please come back later.
Weber used this passage to warn his audience that if you want to expect a new prophet and a new savior, it is still early and the night is not over yet! This is to crush the illusory dreams of young people and face the reality soberly.
Weber advised young people that the night can't wait, and we should still do what we can in the dark to inspire and encourage a pragmatic and prudent positive attitude.
Through his observation, research and practice all his life, he found that if academics are not prosperous, politics will always be dark, and political darkness doomed Germany to be a failed country, even if you surpassed Britain before World War I and became the second largest economy in the world after the United States. Weber claimed that he never gave prescriptions to others, but he gave Germans a big prescription, that is, only by taking academics and politics as new religions can Germany have hope.
The external conditions of academic work warn young people that it is very difficult to engage in academic work now. But the pursuit of academic inner ambition ",that is, the enthusiasm and passion for academics. This" obsession in the eyes of outsiders "marks the personality temperament of real scholars. However, this kind of enthusiasm is not a display of so-called "personal temperament", nor a "performance", nor is it the narcissism of scholars themselves, but the persistence of academics themselves, which is close to the persistence of believers in religion. If academics are regarded as a profession, then there is a clear reason to devote themselves to academics: this is a passion for academics itself regardless of utility, which comes from the belief of "learning for academics".
Weber's extremely concise analysis of the history of thought shows that modern scholarship is precisely the road to "fragmentation of meaning" and also the road to "doubt". Because the result of rational development shows that truth, goodness and beauty are not a harmonious whole, but separated from each other. Scientific truth can't tell us the meaning of the world, lay a foundation for religion or belief, solve disputes among multiple values, and provide fundamental guidance for us to choose the ultimate goal of life and political judgment. Therefore, all the previous "road" ideals are just illusions, and academics have lost the value and self-confidence of traditional expectations.
Three values
1, help people calculate
Through evidence and analysis, we can distinguish the actual situation, so that people can better understand their own situation, thus effectively weighing the pros and cons and controlling behavior.
2. The value of thinking method
Tools that can promote thinking training and expand thinking.
3. Make people's minds "clear" and keep them clear.
What does this "Qingming" mean? As you already know, rationalization and knowledge make the world disenchanted. In modern times, academic exploration cannot demonstrate what kind of religion people should convert to and what kind of ultimate value they believe in. This is also what Weber called "the struggle between gods": people hold different beliefs, you believe yours and I believe mine, but academics can't judge them.
However, Weber believes that academics still help us realize that once a position is selected, what methods should be used to achieve the goal of selection, and how can we not fall into contradiction and avoid backfiring? He also pointed out that academics also help us clearly realize that just because your position is your own choice, you must take responsibility for the consequences. This is what Weber called "clarity of thought". With this clarity, people can obtain "internal consistency" and form a complete personality.
Academics can't relieve us of the burden of choice, and can't take the responsibility and danger of choice instead of us, but academics provide us with an understanding of the means of action and an expectation of possible results, which helps us to act more soberly and wisely after choosing. Although the academic value and significance are limited, Weber believes that the academic cause of "enlightening people and awakening their sense of responsibility", as the "ambition" of the world after charm, is still precious and worth pursuing.
There are two different ways to participate in political activities. One is "living by politics". Politics is only a means of making a living, and politics has only instrumental significance and no intrinsic value. In Weber's mind, such a person who lives by politics cannot be regarded as a real politician. Strictly speaking, politicians are another type. Weber called them "living for politics". For them, what they do is to listen to the "call" of the mission and take politics as their "ambition".
Weber distinguished bureaucrats from politicians. Simply put, bureaucrats live by politics and politicians live by politics.
The best state of bureaucracy is efficient machine politics without "soul".
The first duty of bureaucrats is to obey their superiors and strictly observe discipline. The most important feature is that "specialization" inhibits "personalization". They have no bad feelings or personal beliefs about the job itself. In other words, they must restrain or even eliminate their personal feelings, positions and partisanship, remain neutral and impartial, and be only responsible for rules and instructions, not for the overall political situation and the final result.
People who "live for politics" especially rely on the internal quality of personality. Weber summed up three qualities: enthusiasm, responsibility and judgment.
Politicians in a strict sense, especially "political leaders" as Weber said, have distinct "good feelings and bad feelings". They have distinct beliefs and positions, and they must be responsible for the final result of political actions. In Weber's view, politicians must lead the bureaucratic system and "inject soul" into it in order to make a difference in their political career.
He emphasized that strong political enthusiasm is an indomitable passion, a kind of courage and calmness supported by firm beliefs, rather than the kind of fanaticism or "sensational" rhetoric on a whim.
A good leader can assess the situation and keep a good and appropriate limit.
Weber can combine his extreme internal tension and various contradictions in his external life in a unified state without resorting to hallucinations, and maintain spiritual peace. It is a realm worthy of our pursuit. In this disenchanted and pluralistic world (in fact, the world where spirit and matter have begun to split), we should not live in fantasy, refuse all false spiritual comforts, keep a clear head, pursue the truth of knowledge, and shoulder our own mission and responsibility.
Part of it is taken from "Master Class" and "Learning as a Career"