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西方管理学名著原文导读结课考试 1.1) Referring to the book, the concept spirit of capitalism is here used in this specific sense. It is the spirit of modern capitalism, which only appears in Western European and American capitalism. There is no denying the fact that there doesn’t exist any precise definition about the Spirit of Capitalism, however, after reading through the whole chapter, I feel a dim tendency and a specific social ethic of capitalistic culture: of one's duty in a calling, which is a peculiar ethic that “a duty of the individual toward the increase of his capital, which is assumed as an end in itself”. According to Max Weber, what Benjamin Franklin’s passage represents is the spirit of capitalism which here speaks in characteristic fashion. Then, he made a contrast between Benjamin Franklin’s passage and Fugger’s thoughts; through the comparison, he drew the conclusion that what in the former case takes on the character of an ethically colored maxim for the conduct of life, which is the concept spirit of capitalism. Benjamin Franklin fostered a peculiar ethic that the infraction of its rules is treated not as foolishness but as forgetfulness of duty. That is the essence of the matter. It is not mere business astuteness, that sort of thing is common enough, it is an ethos, In fact, the superior good of this ethic, the earning of more and more money. All Franklin's moral attitudes are colored with utilitarianism. The earning of money within the modern economic order is, so long as it is done legally, the result and the expression of virtue and proficiency in a calling; Honesty is useful, because it assures credit; so are punctuality, industry, frugality, and that is the reason they are virtues. The self-made parvenus of Manchester and Westphalia, who often rose from very modest circumstances and the rising strata of the lower industrial middle classes, are representative of the spirit of capitalism. 2) Firstly, Europe has material and financial basis. The forms of social and political organization are in accord with the need of capitalism advancement. Secondly, the rise of Capitalism is not just the synthesis of economic and political system, behind it there is also the unique spirit and rational culture. “The power of a variety of mystical and religious, and based on the ethics of responsibility has a crucial and decisive influence on the behavior in the past”. However, religions in other regions curbed the development of Capitalism. In terms of culture, the formation of rational doctrine to some extent propelled the appearance of modern. Last but not least, Capitalism existed in China, India, Babylon, in the classic world, and in the middle Ages. But in all these cases, as we shall see, this particular ethos was lacking. 2.1) At first, Luther thought of activity in the world as a thing of the flesh, even though willed by God. It is the indispensable natural condition of a life of faith, but in itself, like eating and drinking, morally neutral. But with the development of the conception of faith alone in all its consequences, and its logical result, the increasingly sharp 1 西方管理学名著原文导读结课考试 emphasis against the Catholic evangelical recommendation of the monks as dictates of the devil, the calling grew in importance. The monastic life is not only quite devoid of value as a means of justification before God, but he also looks upon its renunciation of the duties of this world as the product of selfishness, withdrawing from temporal obligations. In contrast, labor in a calling appears to him as the outward expression of brotherly love. This he proves by the observation that the division of labor forces every individual to work for others. However, this justification, which is evidently essentially scholastic, soon disappears again, and there remains, more and more strongly emphasized, the statement that the fulfillment of worldly duties is under all circumstances the only way to live acceptably to God. It and it alone is the will of God, and hence every legitimate calling has exactly the same worth in the sight of God, which is a moral justification of worldly activity. The concept of the calling remained traditionalistic. His calling is something which man has to accept as a divine ordinance, to which he must adapt himself. This aspect outweighed the other idea which was also present, that work in the calling was a, or rather the, task set by God. And in its further development, orthodox Lutheranism emphasized this aspect still more. 2) On the one hand, it is hardly necessary to point out that Luther cannot be claimed for the spirit of capitalism in the sense in which we have used that term above, or for that matter in any sense whatever. On the other hand, the spirit of capitalism couldn’t only have arisen as the result of certain effects of the Reformation, or even that capitalism as an economic system is a creation of the Reformation. However the Reformation is unthinkable without Luther's own personal religious development, and was spiritually long influenced by his personality. The cultural consequences of the Reformation play an indispensable role. Luther’s concept of the calling produced all ideas that became effective forces in history. 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. Due to the combination of calling and realistic effort, The Protestant Ethic adapted to the development of capitalism. From this point, it has something to do with the formation of the spirit of modern capitalism. 2 本文来源：https://www.dywdw.cn/ff001a19b7360b4c2e3f64f9.html
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2023-04-17
