The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the problems that originally caused Weber to develop his doctrine of a value-free science. For Weber, the question of whether one should assert practical evaluations in science, was one of university politics, and could therefore be decided 'only with reference to those tasks which the individual, according to his own set of values, assigns to the universities'. In 1908, Weber participated in the University Teacher's Congress in Jena, where some of Germany's leading scholars had gathered to propose a resolution on academic freedom. The subject was controversial, and the debate that the conference initiated was later to continue in the daily press. Weber's contributions to the discussion deserves attention especially since they shed light on his motives for propagating a value-free science. It will be argued that his campaign for value-freedom must be viewed against the backdrop of contemporary debates on academic freedom.
As a candidate for president Barack Obama identified Reinhold Niebuhr as one of the most important influences on his political and social thinking. Obama's referencing of Niebuhr was not casual. Frequently, in diverse contexts, and before a variety of audiences, Obama either subtly or overtly offered Niebuhr as a guide for statesmanship. He obliquely referenced Niebuhr's two-fold test of toleration at the 2011 National Prayer Breakfast; he structured his Nobel Prize speech around Niebuhr's consideration of the problem of Christian realism in foreign policy; and, in unveiling the stimulus package, Obama placed the entire work in a context of Christian realism. Clearly, Obama takes his Niebuhr seriously not only in theory, but also in practice. Obama's first term offered a lesson in Christian realism and governance.
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