Different Images of a Man (Maria Ossowska vs Max Weber)

Abstract

The publication of the book of the Polish historian Maria Ossowska "Knight and Bourgeois: Study in the History of Morality" is, undoubtedly, a significant event in social thought. It is result of the publishing activities of well-known culture expert Svetlana Levit. Deep and inquisitive researcher, Ossowska was able to reveal and analyze the socio-cultural situation of the genesis of capitalism. A personalized form she gave to many abstract social processes is the distinctive feature of her study. Before to describe the figure of the bourgeois, M. Ossowska molded the image of the medieval knight. A comparison of the ethics of the knight and of the bourgeois allowed the researcher to show a radical revolution in European moral theory and link it with historical processes in general.

The undoubted value of her work is a polemic with Max Weber, who linked the emergence of capitalism with the Protestant ethos. Nevertheless, German scientist also mentioned the many other social factors that have led to the birth of a new formation. However, in the philosophical literature developed the belief that M. Ossowska debunked the concept of M. Weber. This article shows that in fact, the classical principles of Weber’s doctrine remained valid, but thanks to the efforts of M. Ossowska, the overall historical picture of the genesis of capitalism has become deeper.

As you know, the German sociologist linked the Genesis of capitalism with the emergence of a particular moral order, which maintained private enterprise, personal initiative and spiritual freedom. Weber tried to answer the question why new historical formation developed exactly in given European region. He attached decisive importance to the emergence of Protestantism and did not imagine the birth of a bourgeois society without the mental-spiritual revolution.

On one hand, the concept of Weber acquired the status of a classic version of the origin of capitalism. On the other hand, historians, economists and social thinkers criticized it. Further events of the last century showed that the growth of entrepreneurial practice also relied on other sources, not only on the Protestant ethos. Historians pointed to the abundance of historical facts, to the contradictory nature of the way of life, which made doubt of the accuracy of Weber's examination. Weber was more concerned with creating a kind of ideal construction, which not always correlate with statistical expertise.

For some time now in the humanitarian literature rooted the idea that the book of Polish researcher Maria Ossowska "Knight and Bourgeois. Study of the History of Morality" refutes the concept of Weber. Is it time to abandon the classic statements of the German sociologist and follow the Polish researcher? Can we believe that they radically contradict each other? Ossowska gave little value to the first ("psychological") thesis about the relationship of the "spirit of capitalism" with the Puritan ethic, while the second thesis in its specific historical formulation (that doctrines of Puritan sects contributed to the enrichment in certain countries and in a certain era) raise no doubts. As noted Marx, Protestantism contributed to the development of capitalism because it abolished many celebrations. M. Ossowska supports the belief of Weber that a new ethical style, which later widely spread, emerged due to the Puritanism. Polish researcher agrees with Weber that the role of sects has weakened solidarity of guilds and cleared the way for the economic individualism with its ruthless competition.

Weber derived the desire for enrichment, which in turn put forward a complex of bourgeois virtues as virtues useful for enrichment, from Puritan doctrines on predestination, and insisted that the ideology had a primary nature in relation to the economic basis. M. Ossowska believed the first link of this conclusion extremely fragile. Polish researcher also pointed that Weber overestimated the role of religious sects at the expense of other factors. According to Ossowska, historical evolution of Puritanism is a serious argument against the thesis of Weber.