Publisher's Synopsis
This book contains a collection of essays debating the "Science as a Vocation" lecture by Max Weber, whose work may be regarded as a starting point for investigation into the nature, meaning and purpose of the social sciences. The aim of this book is to direct attention back to this debate and to indicate its current relevance.;It is hoped that this book will provide an illustration of the way in which historical and philosophical considerations concerning the development of the modern social sciences are intertwined.;Some of the essays have been selected in terms of their considered importance in presenting a cross-section of the debate that was occasioned by Weber's lecture, while others discuss problems and themes in the light of more recent commentaries on political and social thought.
