The social sciences crystallized without any claim to character formation, unlike earlier sciences.

Evidence

There had thus developed, as in the USA, a triad consisting of the natural sciences, the humanities and the social sciences. However, in contrast to the USA, this account concealed a history of decline in the idea that science could provide education in the sense of character formation (Bildung), an idea that had been characteristic of German Idealism and Humboldt’s university reforms. Originally, mathematics and the natural sciences had also counted as character-forming sciences, since, in Alexander von Humboldt’s view, they were still related to a natural whole that was impelled and animated by inner forces. Dilthey had impressively revived the idea of education as character formation in the humanities, but the notion was already ailing under the influence of historicism, with its tendency to turn history and tradition into museum-pieces. When the social sciences crystallized in their turn as a new complex, it was never claimed that they were character-forming. If any claim to practical relevance was made for them, it was in connection with administrative affairs. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2433

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the German concept of Bildung (character formation through science) and how it was lost in the transition from natural science/humanities to social science.
• XREF: Connects to Weber’s Wertfreiheit debates and the general story of Wissenschaft as bureaucracy; also resonates with the reader’s material on knowledge institutions and their legitimating claims.