Max Weber's speech on Science as a Vocation, presented in 1917 to students in Munich, Germany, is considered one of the outstanding presentations of the 20th Century. With his plea for the necessary self-restraint in the service of science and for intellectual honesty, he not only provided a rhetorically brilliant example of self-reflection, but also destroyed all hopes placed in him for leadership and ideology. Following its publication in 1919, this paper caused a storm of reaction and became the focus of a lively, highly-regarded professional debate on the crisis within science, initially centered around Stefan George, but soon encroaching on other aspects of cultural and historical science. The debate bundles the experiences of crisis of the 20's and 30's, as well as the diffused uneasiness with which science and the modern age was viewed. Why did Weber's presentation become the focus of discussion? What critiques and counter critiques did it spark? Richard Pohle answers these questions, tracing the contemporary debate, and clarifies why this is an excellent testimony of the struggle of cultural modernity. German text.