ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: A critique of Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic through John Calvin’s ‘duty of lieutenancy’
Author: Bauer Caroline
Max Weber's thesis, as exposed in his famous study "The Protestant ethics and the spirit of the capitalism" has been contested by numerous specialists of John Calvin (Lütty, Bieler, Dermange, Willaime, etc.). It would not be faithful to the thought of the reformer, although we find some affinities in the concepts which Weber developed. The same authors also admit that Calvin promoted a serious commitment in the economic development, and in work in particular. Why does Weber’s proposition not fit with Calvin’s argumentation? And is Weber faithful to Calvin’s thought in his interpretation of Calvinism, especially when he quotes Calvin? Actually, Max Weber took many precautions before quoting Calvin. His project was not to discuss Calvin’s thought and he insisted on the impossibility to attribute to Calvin his description of later Calvinism. Calvin would not have justified this ethos, this mentality which places in the highest of its values the personal search for economic success, the accumulation of profit and capital. But at the same time, he often quotes Calvin, presenting some of his ideas as an origin of later Calvinism. There is here for us an ambiguity: What is exactly the part attributed to Calvin in the historical elaboration of his ethos of capitalism, which is presented as a continuous evolution from the Reformer’s ideas to puritan motivations? Is Calvin’s thought an origin for Weber description of Calvinism? If not, how to qualify as a « protestant ethic » a set of ideas which do not correspond to those of Calvin? The justification of work according to Calvin is fundamentally different from the Weber’s description of Calvinism. The justification of the search for enrichment is based in Calvin's thought on the necessity (a duty called duty of lieutenancy) to commit for social justice, with an understanding of the society as a body whom members are all interdependent. This dimension of the protestant doctrine is totally absent from Weber’s argumentation. Even if Weber’s project is assumed as non-doctrinal and temporally later-centred, is it possible to define Calvinism without this feature? Nevertheless some weberian concepts such as asceticism (although moderate), the worldly commitment, the rational conduct of life oriented towards a search for prosperity, may have actually some relevance in Calvin’s thought too. But they are to be reinterpreted according to the duty of lieutenancy. We suggest that Calvinism according to Calvin could have lead to an ethos of capitalism based on a totally different argumentation.
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