Only the Specialist’s Work Lasts

On 7 November 1917, Max Weber gave his lecture Wissenschaft als Beruf, Science as a Vocation, in a Munich bookshop. Science, he said, had entered a stage of specialization. Work that reaches into a neighboring field carries a resigned awareness. At best it gives the specialist useful questions, but the work itself must remain highly imperfect. Nur durch strenge Spezialisierung kann der wissenschaftliche Arbeiter tatsächlich das Vollgefühl, einmal und vielleicht nie wieder im Leben, sich zu eigen machen: hier habe ich etwas geleistet, was dauern wird. Only through strict specialization can the scholar have, once and perhaps never again, the full feeling that he has done something that will last. Eine wirklich endgültige und tüchtige Leistung ist heute stets: eine spezialistische Leistung. A truly final and sound achievement today is always a specialist’s achievement.

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