Religion and the Rise of Capitalism · Question
How does Religion and the Rise of Capitalism develop the theme of Transformation of Social Ethics?
Answer
Religion and the Rise of Capitalism by R. H. Tawney develops Transformation of Social Ethics across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The work details the evolution of social ethics from a medieval 'social organism' model, based on mutual obligation and a just price, to a modern system where economic expediency and the protection of property became the primary criteria for social policy.
The chapter traces the shift from a religiously grounded moral economy to the secular science of political arithmetic, marking a transformation in social ethics.
The chapter discusses how religious and moral doctrines had to be modified as the new economic environment became established, leading to a transformation of social ethics.
The evolution from strict just-price doctrine to St. Antonino's probabilistic approach illustrates a gradual shift in ethical reasoning about economic life.
Evidence in the book
- I: The Medieval Background
The chapter traces the shift from a religiously grounded moral economy to the secular science of political arithmetic, marking a transformation in social ethics.
- The Social Organism
The chapter discusses how religious and moral doctrines had to be modified as the new economic environment became established, leading to a transformation of social ethics.
- The Sin of Avarice
The evolution from strict just-price doctrine to St. Antonino's probabilistic approach illustrates a gradual shift in ethical reasoning about economic life.
- III: The Ideal and the Reality
The chapter discusses the shift from a medieval spiritual view of society to a more economic and secular approach, with the Church's moral framework breaking down in the sixteenth century.
- II: The Continental Reformers
Calvinism is described as the first systematic religious teaching to recognize and applaud economic virtues, shifting the focus from condemning wealth to disciplining its use.
- Luther
The chapter discusses the shift from medieval canonist approaches to economic questions toward the Reformation's attempt to reconstruct social ethics on a biblical basis, though with unintended consequences.
- III: Calvin
Calvinism introduced a new scale of moral values and a new ideal of social conduct, replacing medieval and Lutheran ethics with a system that emphasized personal responsibility, discipline, and the reconstruction of society.
- III: The Church of England
The Church's traditional social doctrines are shown as ineffective in the face of commercial capitalism, leading to their theoretical abandonment.
