Introduction to the Problem

Today, we live in an epoch of human relations much different from the past. In the west, everything is calculated and precise a degree to which was never known in previous history. But what is it that differentiates the state of the west from past society? One could attribute it to the growth of rational economics and capitalistic enterprise but this in itself does not address the problem for, "the impulse to acquisition, pursuit of gain, of money, of the greatest amount of money has in itself nothing to do with capitalism. He supports this claim with historiographic evidence. This impulse has existed amongst gamblers, artists, prostitutes, and beggars. "we shall define a capitalistic economic action as one which rests on the expectation of profit by the utilization of opportunities for exchange." Capitalistic enterprises thusly defined have existed in all societies from the orient, to the middle ages, to the modern age. Among some of the reasons for the differentiation of western Capitalism from past capitalism are the rational structures of law and administration. "Modern rational capitalism has need of a calculable legal system and of administration in terms of formal rules." If this system of laws and norms is the cause for Western development, then the answer we seek is wherein did this system of law arise. This may not be the only reason for the change boom in economic enterprise that the west has experienced but it is undoubtedly one of significance.

Chapter 1: Religious Affiliation and Social Stratification

Weber begins his novel by noting the fact that, "Business leaders and owners of capital, as well as the higher grades of skilled labor and even more the higher technically and commercially trained personnel of modern enterprises, are overwhelmingly protestant." This trend, he claims, is true regardless of location and supersedes the boundaries of nations. "among the Catholic graduates themselves the percentage of those graduating from the institutions preparing.... still farther behind the percentage of Protestants" doing the same. Also, statistically, Catholic journeymen show a stronger propensity to remain in a certain field of craft and to perfect their art than do protestants. Protestants are attracted to a larger extent into the factories in order to fill the upper ranks of skilled labor and administrative positions. The explanation of these cases is undoubtedly that the mental and spiritual peculiarities acquired from the environment have determined the choice of occupation and through it, the professional career." Weber proceeds to provide an argument based on historical and statistical records to support his thesis that religious affiliations are the cause for the disparities in business and capital. He comes to the conclusion that, " the principal explanation of this difference must be sought in the permanent intrinsic character of their religious beliefs, and not only in their temporary external historio-political situations." It must not be attributed to things such as political circumstances alone which are only temporary. He goes on to say that the purpose of this investigation will henceforth be to find the peculiarities in religious beliefs that may have resulted in the behavior

described. He provides the following quote to express his viewpoint on the character of protestant sand Catholics. "The Catholic is quieter, having less of the acquisitive impulse; he prefers a life of the greatest possible security, even with a smaller income, to a life of risk and excitement, even though it may bring the chance of gaining honor and riches. The proverb says jokingly, 'either eat well or sleep well', In the present case the Protestant prefers to eat well, the Catholic to sleep undisturbed." Catholics tend to have a world view that is expressively otherworldly whereas the Protestant is materialistic.

Chapter 2: The Spirit of Capitalism

He quotes the sermons of Benjamin Franklin: "Remember that time is money. he that can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent five shillings besides....Remember that credit is money. If a man lets his money lie in my hands after it is due, he gives me the interest, or so much as I can make of it during that time....Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more, and so on. Five shillings turned is six, turned again it is seven and threepense, and so on, till it becomes a hundred pounds...He that murders a crown, destroys all that it might have produced, even scores of pounds.....After industry and frugality, nothing contributes more to the raising of a young man in the world than punctuality and justice in all his dealings; therefore never keep borrowed money an hour beyond the time you promised, lest a disappointment shut up your friend's purse forever....The most trifling actions that affect a man's credit are to be regarded." "He that spends a groat a day idly, spends idly above six pounds a year, which is the price for the use of one hundred pounds. He that wastes idly a groat's worth of his time per day, one day with another, wastes the privilege of using one hundred pounds each day. He that idly loses five shillings worth of time, loses five shillings, and might as prudently throw five shillings into the sea. He that loses five shillings, not only loses that sum, but all the advantages that might be made by turning it in dealing, which by the time that a young man becomes old, will amount to a considerable sum of money." What is preached in this section is a work ethic, not only a philosophical approach to living. This ethos composes the spirit of capitalism. Capitalism existed in ages past, but it lacked this specific ethos. Benjamin Franklin despairs at spontaneous enjoyments and any sign of hedonism. The set of virtues he lays out are thought of as an end to themselves, an end that appears to be transcendental. He advocates a position of rationality but at the same time abstains from enjoyment. Acquisition is made the ultimate purpose of life. When explaining to the foreigners to whom this code of virtue seems irrational (why would anyone abstain from things that bring joy?), he responded in his autobiography with a quote from the Bible, "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings." Thus, the ethos he describes is attached with a religious end.

To those born into the capitalistic cosmos, the capitalistic order imprints the individual with its avarice. The individual must conform to the capitalistic schema insofar as he wants to be involved in its system of market relationships; he must adapt to it. Those who counter the norms of the capitalistic market will be spit out and will find themselves without a job. "Thus the capitalism of to-day, educates and selects the economic subjects which it needs through a process of economic survival of the fittest." Weber assesses that in order for such a system to become the general way of life for a massive amount of peoples, it had to originate, not from individuals, but from a group from which its principles and practices were already common. the spirit of capitalism must have fought its way to supremacy against other hostile viewpoints and in the ensuing conflict, reigned supreme. This he claims, is because the principles of capitalism are coherent with those of Protestantism. Weber supports his statement that men by their nature do not desire more money but simply to live as he is accustomed to live by recollecting statistics and personal accounts wherein men chose a smaller amount of pay over having to work harder or longer hours. Labor he says, must be performed as if it were an end to itself, a calling, in order for it to increase; wage increases or small wages do not inspire men. The term "spirit of capitalism" is to be used to designate to describe the attitude which seeks profit rationally and systematically in a spiritual manner. The origins of modern capitalism lies in the profit motive. The historic shift from the traditional leisurely ways was accompanied by the rise in the spirit of capitalism and the protestant work ethic. The spirit and the ethos changed the economic scene drastically and irreversibly. The capitalistic system needs the protestant ethic, the spiritual devotion for the acquisition of material goods. The ethos is intimately bound with the conditions of survival in the economic struggle for existence. As generations pass, the religious connotation towards materialism phase out; all that remains is the ethos. The succeeding generation inherits a culture of materialism and pious devotion towards acquisition and wealth that is devoid of the religious element. Weber proceeds to investigate the origins of the protestant ethic and wherein the ethos was first developed. This is where his argument gets a little lofty, relying on loose facts based on his subjective interpretations of the writings of prominent clergymen, preachers, and historians. He theorizes that in some instances, it was necessary for a community of people to abide by this so called spirit of capitalism in order to ensure the very existence of their communities. When times were bad, they needed to adapt to the changing economic scene in which case, the protestant ethic was the most proper ethos for maintaining their livelihood. It would have been considered moral and proper for citizens in trying conditions to behave according to the ethos. He speculates: "It might thus seem that the development of the spirit of capitalism is best understood as part of the development of rationalism as a whole, and could be deduced from the fundamental position of rationalism on the basic problems of life. The rational approach to life that accompanies Protestantism would ensure stability within an unstable economic system."

Chapter 3 Luther's Conception of the Calling:

The Reformation of the Church ushered in a new era of religious rationalization. The reformation introduced the "valuation of the fulfillment of duty in worldly affairs as the highest form which the moral activity of the individual could assume." This created the concept of " the calling." "The conception of the calling brings out that central dogma... [that] The only way of living acceptably to God was not to surpass worldly morality in monastic asceticism, but solely through the fulfillment of the obligations imposed upon the individual by his position in the world. That was his calling." "The effect of the Reformation as such was only that the moral emphasis on and the religious sanction of, organized worldly labor in a calling was mightily increased. The way in which the concept of the calling, which expressed this change, should develop further depended upon the religious evolution which now took place in the different Protestant Churches." Luther did not by himself take the concept of the calling further. his viewing of the calling became more and more influenced by the traditionalistic interpretation of Providence. "The individual should remain once and for all in the station and calling in which God had placed him, and should restrain his worldly activity within the limits imposed by his established station in life." Thus for Luther, the calling was still traditionalistic. His interpretation saw the calling as something an individual must accept as a divine ordinance, to which he must adapt himself. in the next chapters, Weber sets his goal as "ascertaining whether and to what extent religious forces have taken part in the qualitative formation and the quantitative expansion of that spirit over the world." he does this by performing a historical biographic account on the birth of and changes within these divergent ascetic principles. His interpretation is no doubt subject to certain biases.

Chapter 4: Religious Foundations of Worldly Asceticism

In history, there have been four principal forms of ascetic Protestantism: 1. 2. 3. 4. Calvinism Pietism Methodism Baptist sects

None of these movements were completely separated from the others and distinctions from them are barely existent. For example, Methodism rose out of the 1700s within the Church of England; it did not intentionally desire to be its own separate church, but a new awakening of the ascetic spirit within the old. During its course though, it developed into an independent entity and thusly deserves its own independent analysis.

Weber professes to be interested mostly in the influence of those psychological sanctions which originated in religious belief and practices and which gave people direction in conducting themselves (in the maintenance of their independent "selfs" and their economic attitudes).( the "self" being used here as their sense of being, or in other words, their world view and sense of normitivity). Calvinism: Associated primarily with the doctrine of pre-destination. He analyzes the historical foundations of Calvinism by researching and providing the reader a portion of Calvinistic doctrines and the works of Calvinist authors. "The schism in the English Church became irrevocable under James I after the Crown and the Puritans came to differ dogmatically over just the doctrine of predestination. The following is a quotation from a Calvinist author. "Chapter IX (of Free Will), No. 3. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation. So that a natural man, being altogether averse from the Good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto..... Chapter III (God's Eternal Decree), No. 3. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death...No 5. Those of mankind that are predestined unto life, God before the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will, hat chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of his mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature as conditions, or causes moving him thereunto, and all to the praise of his glorious grace....No 7. The rest of mankind God was pleased according to the unsearchable counsel of his won will, whereby he extendeth, or with-holdeth mercy, as his creatures, to pass by, and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to praise of his glorious justice....Chapter X (of effectual Calling(, No 1. All those whom God hath predestined unto life, and those only, he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call, by his word and spirit (out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature)...taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good...Chapter V (of Providence), No 6. As for those wicked and ungodly men, whom God as a righteous judge, for former sins doth blind and harden, from them he not only with-holdeth his grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings and wrought upon in their hearts, but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption makes occasion of sin: and withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan: whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, even under those means, which God useth for the softening of others." The Calvinist dogma didn't become a substantial force until Calvin's death. God does not exist for men, but men for the sake of God. Only a small proportion of men are chosen for eternal grace. God is the only being that is absolutely free. A person following the Calvinist perspective was left to wonder alone to meet a destiny that was afforded to him from eternity. "This complete elimination of salvation through the Church (the church being used here as the organization) and the sacraments, was what formed the absolutely decisive difference from Catholicism. " This religious orientation excluded any

means of personally achieving the love of a God and securing salvation in the afterlife. Other faiths like the pantheistic Greeks could use magic and incantations to ensure a good death, but here there was none. The harsh transcendentality of God and the corruption of everything worldly formed the basis for the reason as to why Puritanism viewed all the sensuous and emotional attributes of life negatively. Things of this world are of no use and do not offer salvation which is the ultimate aim of life. They do nothing but promote superstitions and idolatry. "[This proclamation] forms one of the roots of that disillusioned and pessimistically inclined individualism which can be seen today in the national characters and institutions of people with a Puritan past." (America) This stands in contrast to those perspectives shared by people with a different history. Puritan theological beliefs still influence English writings- most advocate a stance of being wary of your neighbor and fellow humankind. God is your single confidant. The Calvinist maintained his relationship with God in spiritual isolation. Though God also wills that social life should be organized according to his commandments and its purpose. The social activity is in majorem gloriam Dei (For the greater glory of God). This character is shared by labor as a calling which serves the mundane life of the community. The cosmos was designed by God as a utility for the human race. "This makes labor in the service of impersonal social usefulness appear to promote the glory of God and hence to be willed by Him. The source of the utilitarian character of Calvinistic ethics lies within this basis. Every Calvinist must ask themselves the question, "Am an elect, chosen for salvation?" The need to answer this question is a source of common heritage amongst Calvinist believers. The elected do not differ in appearance from those who are damned. Calvin believed himself to be an elected, but his followers had no way of knowing if they were chosen, so they instantly began looking for a means of knowing. "they held it be an absolute duty to consider oneself chosen, and to combat all doubts as temptation of the devil, since lack of self-confidence is the result of insufficient faith, hence imperfect grace. In order to attain that self-confidence, intense worldly activity was recommended. It alone disperses religious doubts and gives the certainty of grace. The community of the elect with their God could only take place and be perceptible to them in that God worked through them and that they were conscious of it." selfconfidence had taken the place of priestly assurance that been the previous assurance of salvation prior to the Reformation. Their social actions, such as labor, were originating from their faith; by God's grace. The Calvinist becomes a tool of God's divine will. Since Calvinists viewed pure emotions and feelings with suspicion, faith had to be proved by objective circumstances. Good works becomes a sign of God's divine feelings and a means of relieving fear of damnation. Weber sites Calvinism as the starting point and the source of deviation from the other sects and religious philosophies of the age. Pietism Historically, the doctrine of predestination is also the starting point of Pietism. Election could not be proved by theological learning. Pietism developed as a strain of Predestination and thusly viewed the Church of the theologians with distrust. The Pietists wanted to make the elected known and recognized

here on Earth. They wanted to enjoy the blissfulness of knowing their own salvation during this life. This strain of thought led to sects practicing the enjoyment of salvation in this world rather than an ascetic struggle for certainty about the afterlife. Pietism was less emotionally restrictive than Calvinism. The desire to separate the community of elect from the world fueled a monastic community life. The following are a few points on Pietism 1. the methodical development of one's own state of grace to a higher and higher degree of certainty and perfection in terms of the law was a sign of grace 2. God's Providence works through those in such a state of perfection. He gives them his blessing if they wait patiently and deliberate methodically. Labor was an ascetic activity that was sanctioned by God. The doctrine of Terminism was of Pietist origins. This doctrine, " assumes that grace is offered to all men, but for everyone either once at a definite moment in his life or at some moment for the last time. Anyone who let that moment pass way beyond the help of the universality of grace." Many Pietists viewed the confessional scornfully. This loosened their ties to Lutheranism. Pietism is weaker in consistency than Calvinism in that it could not flesh out a coherent worldview or a unified community. One difference between the two was the emphasis of emotional grace. The Calvinist characteristic, "of self-confidence which the elect sought to attain and continually renew in restless and successful work at his calling, was morphed into an attitude of humility and abnegation. Pietism was also more influenced by Lutheranism's concept of salvation and forgiveness of sins. Methodism "The combination of an emotional but still ascetic type of religion with increasing indifference to or repudiation of the dogmatic basis of Calvinistic ascetics is characteristic of the Anglo-American movement corresponding to Continental Pietism, Methodism." The empathetic emphasis on personal feelings caused the church to take on an emotional character. Repentance was made possible under certain circumstances which typically involved an emotional struggle. To the Methodist, righteous conduct (akin to those of Calvinists) was not enough and must be coupled with the feeling of grace. Methodism, unlike Calvinism ultimately did not add anything new to the concept of "the calling" and instead served as more a religious philosophical viewpoint that was an extension of The Calvinists (or the puritans). The Baptists Sects Pietism and Methodism are to be considered secondary movements- they sprung out from the seeds of a more potent ancestor, Calvinism, and featured characteristics that were not a significant departure. The Baptist movement, however, is a different case. The Baptists sects were founded on a different basis than their Calvinist contemporaries. They repudiated all idolatry of the flesh as a detraction from the reverence to God alone. They formulated the idea of the continuance of revelation and chiseled it into a doctrine that would later be perfected by the Quakers. The Baptists along with the predestinationalists carried out a radical devaluation of all sacraments as means to salvation and

accomplished the religious rationalization of the world in an extreme form. "Only the inner light of continual revelation could enable one truly to understand even the Biblical revelations of God." Without the inner light, the natural man, remained purely a creature of the flesh, a thing to be condemned. "mercantilistic regulations of the State might develop industries but not the spirit of capitalism." The adoption of an ascetic faith effects the individual's social conduct and when employed by a group, a society's conduct. An ecclesiastical regimentation enforces a type of external conformity. This type of conformity is akin to that type of power exercised by the capitalistic marketplace in which a personal is born; it is inescapable. The purpose of the literary analysis up to this point was to show the foundations of certain religious beliefs but now we turn our attention to their affects on the individual in the marketplace.

Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism

"it is only because possession involves the danger of relaxation that it is objectionable at all. For the saints' everlasting rest is in the next world; on earth man must, to be certain of his state of grace, do the works of him who sent him." Not leisure and enjoyment, but only activity serves to increase the glory of God, according to the definite manifestations of his will. Waste of time is the deadliest of sins." Even the wealthy must work in order to acclaim Providence. A man without a calling lacks the systematic, methodical character which is demanded from worldly asceticism. God demands not labor in and of itself but a rational labor in a person's calling. The accumulation of wealth is only bad in so far as it is a temptation onto idleness and sinful enjoyment of life. It is bad only when it enables a person to live life leisurely and merrily without care. This ascetic importance of a calling provided an ethical justification for the specialization of labor. "the attainment of wealth as a fruit of labor was a sign of God's blessing. And even more important: the religious valuation of restless, continuous systematic work in a worldly calling, as the highest means to asceticism, and at the same time the surest and most evident proof of rebirth and genuine faith, must have been the most powerful conceivable lever for the expansion of that attitude toward life which we have called the spirit of capitalism. When the limitation of consumption is combined with this release of acquisitive activity, the inevitable practical result is obvious: accumulation of capital through ascetic compulsion to save." In whatever domains the Puritan ideals infiltrated, the rationalization of the accumulation of capital was seen as favorable, a sign of good deeds and good action. This accumulation favored the growth of capitalistic tendencies and developed the "rational bourgeois economic life." it was the most important influence on the development of that life. These Puritanic ascetics are the cradle for the modern market of economics. The following quote is from the works of John Wesley which shows that the leaders of these ascetic movements understood the paradoxical relationships between their faiths and economic gains. "I fear, wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion. Therefore I do not see how it is possible, in the nature of things, for any revival of true religion to

continue long. For religion must necessarily produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so will pride, anger, and love of the world in all its branches. How often is it possible that Methodism a religion of the heart, be able to continue in this state? For the Methodists in every place grow diligent and frugal; consequently they increase in goods. Hence they proportionately increase in pride, in anger, in the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life. So, although the form of religion remains, the spirit is swiftly vanishing away. Is there no way to prevent this- this continual decay of pure religion? We ought not to prevent people from being diligent and frugal; we must exhort all Christians to gain all they can, and to save all they can; that is, in effect, to grow rich." As Wesley predicts, the religious enthusiasm becomes a thing of the past and people are left with a somber economic drive for goods as opposed to the finding Providence and awakening. What was left was a form of asceticism that was favorably bourgeois ethics. So long as God's grace blessed him through his ability to be successful economically, as long as he adhered to normative forms of correctness, and as long as he conducted himself morally and ethically, he would not find his accumulation objectionable; he was simply carrying out his duties towards God. The unequal distribution of goods could thus be seen as the dispensation of Divine Providence. the Protestant asceticism was sanctioned through the concept of labor as a calling to God."One of the fundamental elements of the spirit of modern capitalism had emerged: rational conduct on the basis of the idea of the calling from the spirit of Christian asceticism." The Puritan ideals infiltrated the marketplace; non-Puritans were forced to conform to their economic system. When asceticism was carried out of its monastic cell, it was used to build the cosmos of the modern economic order. All successive generations are born into this now existing order except that the divine aspect of the Calling upon which it was founded is now absent. The preacher, Baxter said that external goods should lay on the shoulders of the possessor like a light cloak, easily cast off at any moment. "instead that cloak has become an Iron Cage." The ascetically-born modern economic cosmos resulted not in religious enthusiasm, but in the purveyance of material goods exercising power over the lives of solitary and isolated men. No longer do men go about alone seeking the salvation of God, There is no relationship between himself and God through his economic enterprise. Instead, they are born into a world of objects. They acquire no joy from the acquisition, God has left the economic order. "In the US, the pursuit of wealth, stripped of its religious and ethical meaning, tends to become associated with purely mundane passions, which gives it the character of a sport."