How is social science to be used in the international arena and what public role ("political vocation" Max Weber called it) is the social scientist to play? "Knowledge for what?," as Robert Lynd classically put it, has been a central issue for the established social sciences from their very beginning. The "knowledge for what?" question is of importance for IR as it seeks to find its own voice as a respected scholarly discipline. Moreover, with the growing global distribution of social justice issues and increasing role of transnational and regional actors IR scholars are challenged to chart their public roles in less state-centric ways. Are they to be counselors to new types of transnational authority, scholar activists, or professional scholars - to name but three options? This paper will identify selected types of responses emerging among IR scholars to the "knowledge for what?" question.
