Responsibility and ultimate ends in the age of the unforeseeable: On the current relevance of Max Weber’s political ethics

Abstract

Ethic of responsibility and ethic of ultimate ends are most discussed Weberian concepts. The article reflects on their heuristic value in the present. A common interpretation claims that, in a rationalized society, the ethic of responsibility supplants or integrates the ethic of ultimate ends. The two ethics, however, fundamentally differ according to their relationship with the unforeseeable. Moreover, contrary to the idea of a relentless rationalization of society, the unforeseeable is today gaining relevance, even ceasing to be regarded as a problem. As a result, the ethic of ultimate ends expands its scope. The article dwells on major implications of this. The enduring relevance of Weber’s conceptualization, it is concluded, lies in its independence from the historical conditions in which it was formulated.