Max Weber
Max Weber
Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weberwas a German sociologist, philosopher, jurist, and political economist whose ideas profoundly influenced social theory and social research. Weber is often cited, with Émile Durkheim and Karl Marx, as among the three founders of sociology...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth21 April 1864
CountryGermany
cannot ends ethic prescribe whether
One cannot prescribe to anyone whether he should follow an ethic of absolute ends or an ethic of responsibility.
military mean violence
The decisive means for politics is violence.
jesus culture rooms
In the midst of a culture that is rationally organized for a vocational workaday life, there is hardly any room for the cultivation of acosmic brotherliness, unless it is among strata who are economically carefree. Under the technical and social conditions of rational culture, an imitation of the life of Buddha, Jesus, or Francis seems condemned to failure for purely external reasons.
government use politics
A government is an institution that holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence.
opposites evil good-and-evil
It is not true that good can only follow from good and evil only from evil, but that often the opposite is true.
machines doe compare
The fully developed bureaucratic apparatus compares with other organisations exactly as does the machine with the non-mechanical modes of production.
integrity chance social
Power is the chance to impose your will within a social context, even when opposed and regardless of the integrity of that chance.
writing achievement pieces
Not everyone realises that to write a really good piece of journalism is at least as demanding intellectually as the achievement of any scholar.
science fulfillment questioning
Every scientific fulfillment raises new questions; it asks to be surpassed and outdated.
organization office hierarchy
The organization of ofices follows the principle of hierarchy ... each lower office is under the control and supervision of a higher one
destiny men sight
It is true that the path of human destiny cannot but appal him who surveys a section of it. But he will do well to keep his small personal commentarie to himself, as one does at the sight of the sea or of majestic mountains, unless he knows himself to be called and gifted to give them expression in artistic or prophetic form. In most other cases, the voluminous talk about intuition does nothing but conceal a lack of perspective toward the object, which merits the same judgement as a similar lack of perspective toward men.
unique organization unity
A fully developed bureaucratic mechanism stands in the same relationship to other forms as does the machine to the non-mechanical production of goods. Precision, speed, clarity, documentary ability, continuity, discretion, unity, rigid subordination, reduction of friction and material and personal expenses are unique to bureaucratic organization.
government defining action
The great virtue of bureaucracy - indeed, perhaps its defining characteristic ~ was that it was an institutional method for applying general rules to specific cases, thereby making the actions of government fair and predictable.
causes favour hypothesis
Whenever known and sufficient causes are available, it is anti-scientific to discard them in favour of a hypothesis that can never be verified.