ABSTRACT
Max Weber's own tragedy is that he never explicitly addressed the tragedy of European civilization. In "Science as a Vocation" and "Politics as a Vocation" Weber deals most directly and explicitly with the tragedy of European civilization by discussing two of its fundamental causes: the modern bureaucratic state, and modern science and technology. Rationalization, intellectualization, and the disenchantment of the world are the most general themes of Weber's sociology and the key to his theory of world history. According to Weber, all the three factors came together in Protestantism and were instrumental in the rise of modern capitalism, modern politics, and modern science and technology. The modern state arose from two parallel and complementary political developments, both of which Weber has studied in considerable depth and detail: the rise of a city administrative apparatus and the consolidation and expansion of royal courts.
