Specialized Science

I found the concept of specialized labor and its presence in scientific fields interesting in Science as a Vocation. Specialized labor, as we have discussed in class, is helpful for a worker because it allows him to be in higher demand than an unskilled worker. Specialization in science, however, is important for a scientific scholar because he wants to feel as though “he has achieved something that will last” (7). Weber notices that young scholars today believe they can be very methodical, just as workers are in a factory. Weber states, however, that in a factory, just as in a laboratory, inspiration must occur. Weber believes that a “man may be an outstanding worker and yet never have an idea of his own” (9). He believes that inspiration is the key for solving mysteries in science and problems in life.

Weber goes on to analyze the importance of scientific scholars to the world. He questions the meaning of science as everything in science is based on progress. If discoveries will be outdated in a matter of years, why do them? Weber wonders if this devotion of progress can be its own vocation (or specific professional calling). Weber believes that people have falsely attributed science as the key to happiness. He believes that science cannot answer questions of how we shall live. We must consider why, then is science important as it cannot answer the questions we desire to have answered?