On Tour with the "Accidental" Expert: Ethical Dilemmas of the Development Consultant

This paper explores Max Weber's study of the origins of the secularization of the Puritan work ethic and examines the hybridized category of secular science expert. The hybrid construct provides an opening for the critical analysis of the concrete activity of development from two perspectives, the structural and the individual. The individual perspective is the subject of the paper. Sections of the paper include: (1) "The Idea of Expert and the Context of Development: The Global Tour of Ascetic Rationality"; (2) "The Expert and the Assignment Context: The Voyage from Secular Mechanics to Cargo of Values"; (3) "The Possibility of Transformative Development: Ethics Regained"; (4) "From 'Accidental Expert' to Reflective Ethics"; (5) "The Ethical Education of the Expert: From Consultant to What?" and (6) "Ascetic Rationality Revisited: The Expert Re-educated." Contains a chart on the self-reflection model and 49 references. (EH)