Max Weber - Politics as a Vocation

 

Max Weber – Politics as a Vocation

 

Politics as a Vocation describes Weber’s definitions of charisma and leaders, the type of people that fit the bill as a politician and called to the profession of politics.  Weber claims that a politician must make compromises between moral conviction and the ethic of responsibility which is what is required in the day-to-day affairs of government, getting your hands dirty, and to use the means of the state’s force to pursue and preserve the goals of the national interest of the state.  In other parts of the world where capitalism is not practiced today, Weber would counsel politicians to study that nations culture because it is within that context that a nation fails or flourishes. He contends that knowledge is power, and this is how bureaucracy achieves its power.  Therefore, if a nation is looking to change for the better, it is the knowledge of the state that can be far more important than technology, money, and in some instances the change in president or ruler. 

“Politics is made with the head, not with the other parts of body, nor the soul.”

Weber believed that an effective politician is one that can persuade its followers and greatly influence their emotions while governing with cold discipline and reasoning rationally.  He asserts that not all are called to this profession because of their vanity and often make decisions on their follower’s emotional attachments.

“Only the person who is sure that he will not despair when the world, from his standpoint of view, is too simpleminded and wicked to accept what he has to offer, and only the person is able to say ‘in spite of it all’ has the calling for the profession of politics!”

He also claims that the practice of politics is not a task for someone who seeks salvation for their eternal soul through the practice of religions such as Christianity where people seek peace, love, and brotherhood. 

 “The boss has no firm political ‘principles;’ he is completely unprincipled in attitude and asks merely: What will capture votes? Frequently he is a rather poorly educated man. But as a rule, he leads an inoffensive and correct private life. In his political morals, however, he naturally adjusts to the average ethical standards of political conduct, as a great many of us also may have done during the hoarding period in the field of economic ethics. That as a ‘professional’ politician the boss is socially despised does not worry him.”

This quote leads me to reflect on Nietzsche’s writing “He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster”, where the boss’s way of thinking in his private affairs maintains his or her principal values. However, in his or her political morals, he or she is unprincipled and relinquishes their values to achieve the goals of the national interest of the state. 

Friedriche Nietzsche – Beyond Good and Evil – Aphorism 146

“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee”.

 

“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster”.

I interpret this part of the quote as one’s way of thinking can lead to adopting that way of thinking and could potentially go against and possibly relinquish one’s values.  This leads me to recall a biblical scripture with similar meaning “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he”. Proverbs 23:7.

Although this quote was written in the 19^th century, it seems to gain increasing popularity today because in our political systems, corporate America, religious systems, personal lives, and much more, seem to be taking the approach that principles no longer matter.  What matters is getting to the top, that certain position, or reaching that goal that one is seeking at whatever cost whether it is moral or immoral. 

We can see this in our current political environment where specific groups preach about the good they plan to do and how their principles will perpetuate these intentions but in reality they are merely operating on a specified agenda and dogma and will do whatever it takes to achieve their goal.

Nietzsche, though an atheist, looks at issues from a highly ethical view.  Therefore, it appears that Nietzsche's quote was a mere claim for people stuck in moral nihilism, which happened when God died. To battle nihilism with nihilism is simply ineffective because one cannot escape from the condition one wants to get out of once that person assumed the monster.

I also view this as moral relativism.  You can be a monster (evil) for those who are monsters (evil) to you.  In addition, what is moral for you could be immoral for another.    

“And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee”.

For many decades, our spiritual teachers from Ghandi, Jesus, Buddha, and so on have taught us that what you think about and focus on expands and becomes reality. In other words, do not focus on the wrong things in life because they will take over our life and turn into emptiness and nothingness, thus being parallel to the abyss.  Without principles we have no code of conduct which will eventually lead one into an abyss.   Evil can corrupt you if you are in an environment among it and aren't careful and vigilant against its tempting nature.  Today, there are many reasons why religion is disregarded, and more and more people believe in nothing.  But let’s take Christianity as an example, where a spiritual leader, a pastor or a priest, teaches on the sin of homosexuality or prostitution, yet he is fighting his own monsters because he is guilty of that very sin and the abyss is gazing into him. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God is Dead – Friedriche Nietzsche – The Gay Science – Aphorism 125 – The Madman

I'm a Christian but Nietzsche is an Atheist I can respect. He understood the consequences of the death of God. This phrase is paradoxical in the sense that we know God to be omnipotent thus cannot be dead.  Nietzsche was trying to imply how religion has lost its place in our cultures.

He did not believe in Christianity.  He believed that Christianity emerged in the late Roman Empire where timid slaves lacked bravery. I found it interesting how he related Christianity and drinking alcohol as one in the same.  He despised both because he referred to them as “pain numbers”. Despite his beliefs that religion was false, he thought that religious beliefs were beneficial in helping humanity cope with problems of daily life.  He believed that religion left a gap and that culture should replace scripture. The problem with that today is how we are addressing culture.

            Religion was once deeply rooted in politics, philosophy, science, literature, art, music, education, everyday social life, and the inner spiritual lives of individuals. But we see today that our culture has become secularized. However, this is not a new trend.  In the 18^th century with the Enlightenment, this intellectual and cultural movement emphasized reason and evidence rather than scripture or tradition should be the basis for our beliefs.

I believe the illustration that Nietzsche was trying to point out is that if we no longer see God as a philosophical source of moral values, it gives us the opportunity to create new values.  The issue with that is for thousands of years, our thinking has been anchored in the moral principles we follow have the authority of religion. When we deviate from that code, anxiety, fear, panic, and chaos seems to arise because most humans fear trying “new ways” just as described in the text of the Madman where confusion took root and the people were asking fearful questions.  Some will argue that moral code is not determined by religion and faith is no longer a reliable way to determine moral code.   I've seen horrible religious people and nice atheists, and vice versa.  

Nietzsche believed if one does not believe in God, they reject all religious and moral principles and believe that life is meaningless. In this context, we have an opportunity to create our own moral code beyond the traditional theological concepts of good and evil. He believed we could become superman and overcome all obstacles.