Politics as a Vocation

It originated in the second lecture of a series (the first was Science as a Vocation) he gave in Munich to the "Free (i.e. Non-incorporated) Students Union" of Bavaria on 28 January 1919.

The Ethic of Responsibility refers to the day-to-day need to use the means of the state's violence in a fashion which preserves the peace for the greater good.

[6] The most effective politician is one who can excite the emotions of the people who follow, while governing strictly with a cold hard reason—the head.

Weber writes that vanity creates unique problems for politicians because they do indeed control the tools of legitimate violence.

[7] Common vanity, Weber writes, means that politicians are tempted to make decisions based on emotional attachments to followers and sycophants, and not on the rational reasoning needed to govern justly and effectively.

In developing these points, he makes reference to the two kingdoms doctrine of Martin Luther, and the holy Hindu Upanishads.

He gloomily predicts that the emotional excitement of the moment in 1919 will bring only "polar nights with an icy darkness and harshness, no matter what group will successfully seize power at present."

After saying this, Weber ends on a mildly optimistic note: "Only someone who is certain that it will not break him when, from where he stands, the world looks too stupid or mean for what he wants to offer it—that in spite of everything he will be able to say ‘but, still!