Weber's Conclusion

In the “Religious Foundations of Innerworldly Asceticism”, Weber writes, “In its extreme inhumanity this doctrine must above all have had one consequence for the life of a generation which surrendered to its magnificent consistency. That was a feeling of unprecedented loneliness”.

Calvinists rejected all sensual elements in their lifestyle in the pursuit of salvation. And their belief in predestination led to an isolated existence, in which one solely followed their path. To Weber, this religion represents the height of rationality.  To me, Calvinism seemed like a overly strict existence which would lead to the disillusioned individuals of the capitalist age. What did other people think of the doctrines of Calvinism? Furthermore, last class we discussed the different definitions of rationality. In the context of religion, how does one define and understand Calvinism to be the paragon of rationality?

In “Asceticism and the Capitalist Spirit”, Weber attempts to like the ascetic Protestants with the spirit of capitalism. He draws the similarities between the values of the two, such over-spending which was disrespectful to God and went against the capitalistic spirit. Weber goes on to say that capitalism no longer needs the Protestant values to maintain itself and the values become the “capitalistic spirit”. But he does not specify how this shift occurred or by what method the Protestant values were replaced with something else. How did religion fade if the people needed those values to form capitalism in the first place? Did anyone else see this as a problem in his argument?