===================== HES POSTING ===================== 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. ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]