"Politics as a Vocation," writes Franklin Sherman, "is perhaps the most famous essay of the man who can justly be called the 20th century's most famous, and most influential, sociologist. It is a classic state- ment of the ethical dilemmas involved in a political career, and a forceful challenge to the pertinence of Christian ethics in this realm." Weber distin- guishes between an "ethics of ultimate ends" which emphasizes purity of motive, and an "ethics of re- sponsibility" which pursues ends that are politically attainable and that the politician is obligared to pursue.