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Although *explicit* attention to Weber's methodological writings has been 
limited among economists to the Austrians, the baleful influence of Weber's 
call for value-free social science has made its way into every intro text 
in some form or another. Even in a time when the critique of postivism has 
finally made its way (30 years late) into the margins of the profession, 
this last dogma of empiricism--the separation of fact from value--remains 
more or less impregnable. The closely related idea that reason cannot have 
a place in the choice of ends but only applies to the selection of 
means--an idea that of course did not originate with Weber, but was given 
some of its most memorable formulations by him**--unites, e.g., the 
Austrians with the neo-classicals depite their otherwise significant 
differences. Here is one part of Weber's legacy to economics, to social 
thought generally, that deserves to be re-examined. 
 
Kevin Quinn 
 
**Weber's notion of "value-ratonality" was not, despite the sounds of it, a 
conception of a non-instrumental reason. Those who are value-rational 
follow norms that are arbitrary. 
 
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