1999 Vincent Lemieux Prize

Winner: Jean-Rodrigue Paré (Queen’s University)

La nation, la culture et la science. Les visages de l’engagement dans l’oeuvre de Max Weber

Excerpt from jury report: This thesis, which discusses commitment in Max Weber’s work, offers a very exciting reading of Weber’s contribution from an unusual angle. The author essentially emphasizes the connections between political commitment and science in Weber’s work and emphasizes the fact that these two aspects mutually support each other. In support of this thesis, Jean-Rodrigue Paré returns to the writings of the young Weber, which suggested that science must be used to serve the nation. Then, at the turn of the century, Weber focused his work on the philosophy of commitment, which ultimately results in the sociology of rational action, based on the normative nature of logical consequence as a condition for effective commitment.

The jury felt that the author develops a careful analysis of the progression of Weber’s work, in relation to the subject and its inclusion in the social and political environment. The arguments are methodical and strong and the author demonstrates excellent knowledge of the work and a highly developed analytical ability applied to the history of ideas. The author shows that he has a very good comprehension of at least three languages. This publication is a solid contribution to the history of ideas and its quality is evident. The jury notes that there are very few studies of political philosophy and is proud to encourage work in that area. This award-winning thesis is special in that it was written in French at an English-language university. The jury congratulates the author for the innovative character of his analysis and the suitability of his work for publication in a book.