ABSTRACT
The fears that probably gave rise to this secrecy proved justified. The discussion ended in a passionate clash of convictions and personalities, a clash that divided German social scientists into two groups for years and in some respects divides them to the present day. The subject that led to such extraordinary measures and results was precisely the subject of these reflections: values and social science. A consideration of these six points may help to advance the discussion of a value-free sociology beyond its explosive and unsatisfactory state at the end of the Werturteilsstreit. Scientific inquiry begins, at least in temporal terms, with the choice of a subject, and it is that people find the first possible encounter between social science and value judgments. Time and again in the history of sociology, sociologists have been urged to distinguish between “important” and “unimportant” subjects for research.
