How did Western Europe come out of the Middle Ages in the 14th - 16th centuries and start the age of capitalism?

The best answer is because from the fall of the Western Roman Empire, after several centuries of development, the 10th century in Western Europe began to crafts and commerce as the center of the city, but with the development of the economy and productive forces, the class conflict became increasingly acute, the feudal lords became increasingly greedy, the city of the citizens to step up the exploitation, so that the citizens with money and force to win the right to self-government, but also the formation of the civic class, and he was further differentiated He was further divided into craftsmen and merchants, bankers and so on. The rich merchants and bankers developed into the early bourgeoisie and prepared the conditions for the rise of capitalism. Other reasons were the development of navigation in Western European countries, such as Spain and Britain, which further promoted the rise of capitalism in Western Europe. There was also the Mediterranean trade boom. Weber, through his study of the relationship between religion and occupation, found a remarkable phenomenon: "In countries which include many religions, Protestants are in the majority in the composition of the occupations, among the proprietors of modern enterprises and owners of capital, and among the high-level skilled workers, especially among those who are highly trained in technical and managerial matters", and "in countries which include many religions, Protestants are in the majority in the composition of the occupations". "The greater the degree of freedom that capitalism has, the more pronounced is this effect", and why is this so? Weber argues that firstly, apart from the fact that they are understood as a result of inheriting more wealth, the fact that the various new skilled workers of the modern enterprise are to a large extent absorbed from the youth of the various craftsmen is more in accordance with the situation of the Protestant craftsmen, since the Catholics are more inclined to remain in their own trades and to become masters. Secondly, regarding the explanation of the circumstances of these, the psychological and spiritual traits acquired from the environment determine the choice of occupation and thus their careers. Thus, Weber suggests that our task is to study these religions and figure out what special factors they now have or had that might have caused the behaviors we have described. Comparing Catholics and Protestants, we find that the more heavily Catholics think of the afterlife, the more prominent is the ascetic character of its highest ideas, which inevitably makes its adherents more and more indifferent to the good things of the present world. In contrast, Protestants love adventure and excitement, which gives them the opportunity to gain honor and wealth. This makes Protestantism and capitalism have some kind of connection, which Weber believes is the spirit of capitalism. On the spirit of capitalism, Weber quoted Benjamin 6.1 Franklin to summarize it as valuing time, trustworthiness, using money to make money, hard work, economy, punctuality, justice, prudence, honesty and so on. These qualities are by no means a mere means of living in the world, but a unique ethical concept, this ethical view of money as the only purpose of life, emphasizing that the way to make money must be reasonable. "In the modern economic order, making money is the result and manifestation of professional virtue and competence, as long as it is done lawfully." It can be seen that an ethic centered on professional responsibility has an important place in the development of capitalism, and it is this that has shaped a number of successful entrepreneurs and contributed to the development of capitalism. But the formation of the capitalist ethos was not a natural process of development, but a result of the Reformation. The Reformation formed a new religious ethic, a Protestant ethic centered on the concept of "vocation," and under the influence of this Protestant ethic, the spirit of capitalism was ultimately formed, so we must examine the Reformation in Europe. The two main branches of the European Reformation in the second 16th century were: Martin?6?1 Luther in Germany and Calvin's Reformation in Northern Europe. In the initial stages of Luther's Reformation, he developed the idea that profession was the vocation of the believer, which was basically in line with the traditional thought prevalent in the Middle Ages that secular activity was a matter for the human body and morally neutral. However, his emphasis on the primacy of the concept of vocation increased as he became increasingly vocal in his opposition to the "misinterpretation of the Gospels" by dedicated Catholic monks. Luther "recognized that the monastic life not only had no value as a means of justification before God, but he also viewed its abandonment of temporal responsibilities as a product of selfishness and avoidance of temporal obligations. Instead, he saw the performance of professional labor as an external expression of brotherly love. ...... has since only said and increasingly emphasized that the fulfillment of earthly duties, on any occasion, is the only way of life that is acceptable to God. It and it alone is the will of God, and therefore every proper occupation is of exactly equal value in God's sight." The consequences of Luther's Reformation itself, however, were only the increasing moral importance and ecclesiastical licensing of the organized secular labor of a profession, and the lack of the development of a conception of professions that would meet the requirements of capitalism, a task ultimately accomplished by other denominations, primarily the Calvinists of northern Europe, but for which Luther's Reformation pointed the way. Calvinism is essentially a secular asceticism, with "predestination" as its prominent viewpoint. According to Calvin, "By predestination we mean that God determines by His eternal will what each person in the world is to achieve. Eternal life is predestined for some and eternal punishment for others." Since the creation of the world, God has divided man into the "elect" and the "outcast," the former destined to be saved and the latter destined to sink. The former are destined to be saved and the latter are destined to sink. This cannot be changed by the will of man. However, according to Calvin, this does not mean that Christians can be indifferent to their behavior in the world. Who are the "elect" and who are the "outcasts" can be manifested through God's call. The successes and failures of people in this world are the signs of the "elect" and the "outcast". This "doctrine of predestination", in the form of religious doctrine, reflects the consciousness of the bourgeoisie during the period of primitive accumulation of capitalism. As a result, along with the geographical discovery and the emergence of a sense of commercial competition, people competed for profits, and everyone wanted to get rich. The winners developed a sense of superiority and increased their self-confidence, believing that they were surely God's "chosen people", while the losers kept striving to make themselves God's "chosen people". "Therefore, predestination inspired the enterprising spirit of the bourgeoisie, and as Engels said, "Calvin's creed suited the demands of the bravest of the bourgeoisie at that time". At the same time, in the doctrine of Calvinism, God is omnipotent and absolutely "transcendent"; on the contrary, everything in the world exists because of God. "God does not exist for the sake of man, but man exists for the sake of God. All of creation, including, of course, the fact that only a select few are chosen for the granting of everlasting grace, which Calvin was so convinced of, as described below, makes sense only as a means of revealing God's glory and dignity. To apply secular norms of justice to the measurement of God's supreme judgment is unquestionably a blasphemy against God's dignity. For God and God alone is free, that is to say, God is not subject to any statute"; on the other hand, "the only mission of the chosen Christians in this world is to obey God's precepts to the best of their ability, in order to increase God's glory. But God requires Christians to be socially accomplished, for He desires that social life be organized in accordance with His precepts and in harmony with the above purposes. In the earthly world, the social life of the Christian is entirely for the glory of God." Thus, in Calvinism, concrete labor begins to take on an objective, impersonal character: it serves the interests of the rationalized organization of society, and is done in order to gain God's favor and increase his glory. In this way, Calvin linked people's salvation to their earthly occupations, and the necessity of proving one's faith by working desperately in secular activities in order to gain God's favor. By basing his ethic on the doctrine of predestination, Calvin gave the religiously inclined in general a clear ascetic dictum - not to rely on emotional impulses, to exercise calm self-control, to act according to rational motives, to do God's work on earth, and to be active in the service of God. God's vocation on earth, active hard work, self-improvement and struggle, diligence, thrift, never wasting any time, and as much as possible, devoting all their time to their work and to doing good on behalf of those who have sent them, and even when the successes of earthly life bring them wealth, not being lavish and indulgent but investing and striving again for even greater successes for the glory of God. Calvin's teachings caused the people to focus on the present life and to develop a connected system of living and a new religious ethic in comprehensive and systematic self-control. This was their new kind of religious practice, in which capitalist business sense and fervent religious piety were seamlessly combined in the same people, resulting in the spirit of capitalism. Thus, a special bourgeois economic ethic and values gradually took shape after the Reformation. From the point of view of the bourgeois businessmen, they realized that they were fully favoured by God and were indeed blessed by Him. They felt that as long as their professions were proper, as long as their moral behavior was not tainted, and as long as the use of their property was not subject to criticism, they could do as they wished with money, and at the same time feel that they were doing their duty. In addition, the ascetic religion provided them with temperate, conscientious, and exceptionally diligent laborers, who psychologically accepted labor as a vocation, as the best, and as the only means of obtaining favor, and the energy of the instinctive impulses of both the capitalist and the worker was diverted to economic activity, and society moved forward swiftly with this powerful impulse, thus The development of capitalism was promoted. However, the "Protestant Ethic" and the "Spirit of Capitalism" are not equivalent concepts, but are different things that appeared successively in history. "The reasonable elements contained in the Protestant Ethic gave birth to the emergence and formation of the spirit of capitalism, and thus provided all kinds of impetus and stimulation for the development of capitalism. So, what did the spirit of capitalism contribute to the emergence and development of capitalism? First of all, the Protestant ethic confirmed the legitimacy of the legitimate pursuit of wealth in faith and morals in a religious way, thus providing practical psychological impetus for the development of capitalism. By seeing the legitimate pursuit of wealth as God's will, the Protestant ethic affirmed the legitimization of profit-making activities and brought Western society out of the confines of the traditional religious ethic of the Middle Ages. This prepared the way for the development of capitalism firstly in terms of beliefs and morals, creating a driving force to increase wealth to gain God's favor. Secondly, the Protestant ethic emphasized a reasonable limitation of consumption, which promoted the accumulation of capital. For "man is a mere trustee of goods bestowed upon him through God's favor, and it must, like the servant in the Biblical parable, account for every penny entrusted to him, whereas if even a single penny is spent merely for one's own enjoyment, and not for the glory of God, the result is at least perilous." Protestants viewed labor as the ultimate purpose of life and were strongly opposed to unrestrained consumption for pleasure. For Protestants, hard work and increasing wealth was the moral pursuit, and unreasonable spending was considered a loss of God's favor. In this way the wealth accumulated by Protestants was in turn used in the act of making money, and as Weber puts it, "Once the restriction of consumption is combined with the emancipation of the act of profit-making, the inevitable practical result is clearly that the asceticism of enforced frugality leads to the accumulation of capital," and finally, the Protestant ethic moderated the contradiction between the capitalists and the workers. In terms of the birth of the bourgeoisie, the Protestant ethic gives legitimacy to its existence and produces the phenomenon that, for the capitalists, they will operate harder in order to gain more wealth and more favor with God. For the workers, they must work harder in order to gain God's favor, thus making the workers the most desirable workers for the capitalists. "Since the employer's operation is also interpreted as a vocation, it makes exploitation, a clear desire for labor, a legitimate act. It is clear that the exclusive search for the Kingdom of Heaven can only be realized by fulfilling the obligations of the vocation, through the strict asceticism naturally imposed by the canon, and especially by the proletariat, which must be fulfilled." Thus, to a certain extent, the conflict between capitalists and workers was regulated in favor of the capitalist economy. It is under the influence and infection of this incoming Protestant ethic that a positive and progressive mentality is formed in the societies of Western Europe, thus promoting the development of capitalism. III Summarizing the above, we can see that, firstly, Marx?6?1 Weber's explanation of the relationship between the Protestant ethic and capitalism is entirely a causal chain link, a reasoning of cause and effect. Weber believed that the Reformation gave rise to Protestantism, and through the spread of Protestantism, the Protestants who practiced Protestantism were distinctly different from the Catholics in that they had an active spirit of initiation into the world, asceticism, the pursuit of wealth and hard work, opposition to profligacy and wastefulness, and doing things rationally, so as to become socially recognized successes, i.e., to become God's "chosen people" in the sense of consciousness. "This positive, ascetic spirit gradually expanded with the spread of Protestantism and became a class and social phenomenon, forming the spirit of capitalism, which ultimately led to and contributed to the emergence and development of capitalism. Obviously, Weber's explanation of the emergence and development of capitalism follows the traditional idealist path of conceptual determinism, in which he elaborates the proposition that beliefs and values determine social existence, and regards the Protestant ethic as the primary factor that leads to the spirit of capitalism and thus determines the capitalist mode of production. According to the materialist view of history, however, historical development is ultimately determined by the inevitable factors of economic life. Economy is the basis, ideology and culture belong to the superstructure, and the latter is a reflection of the former, and although they recognize the existence of interaction between economic and superstructural factors, the latter act only to a certain extent on the former, not decisively. Therefore, the spirit of capitalism is a reaction of the capitalist society and economy, which has a certain stimulating effect on the development of capitalism, but is not a decisive factor; the decisive factor for the emergence and development of capitalism is the capitalist productive forces and mode of production. Secondly, in discussing the influence of religion on capitalism, Weber starts from a micro perspective and puts the perspective on Protestants, not perceiving the influence of non-Protestant social individuals on the development of capitalism. At the same time, Weber attributed the positive and enterprising characteristics of Protestants to the inculcation of Protestantism, and neglected the influence of the Renaissance on Western European societies.The main significance of the Renaissance that took place in Europe from the middle of the 14th century to the beginning of the 17th century was not only that geniuses came out of the movement, creating colorful works of literature and art, and writing writings of political and philosophical ideas that had a great influence, but also that it changed people's attitudes towards life and the way of life. More importantly, it changed people's attitudes towards life. People began to attach importance to the present life, to give full play to their own intelligence and creativity, to oppose the negative and inactive attitude towards life, and to emphasize the development of personality. Morally, it is considered that success in business and getting rich is a moral behavior, scorns the vain myth of the afterlife or heaven, and pursues material happiness and carnal satisfaction. Weber, on the other hand, attributed more to the Reformation this aggressive spirit that Protestants possessed, ignoring the influence of the Renaissance on Western European society. Thus, according to Brentano, a German scholar who was Weber's contemporary, "Weber ignored the primary significance of Catholicism, exaggerated Protestant concerns about economic issues, turned a blind eye to the fact that some Puritans had become wealthy even after leaving Puritanism, and, above all, he paid no attention to the liberation that people had gained from the bondage of traditionalism that had originated in Italy." Thirdly, what was the cause and effect of the Reformation and the development of capitalism in Western Europe? According to Weber, it was the modern Reformation in Western Europe that gave rise to the Protestant ethic, and the Protestant ethic gave rise to the spirit of capitalism, which pervaded modern Western societies and gave rise to capitalism and its unprecedented development. However, the traditional view of history is contrary to this. The traditional view of history is that the modern Reformation in Western Europe was essentially an anti-feudal struggle of the bourgeoisie after the germ of capitalism had developed to a certain extent, and that it opened the way for the further development of the capitalist factor in Western Europe. Therefore, the modern religious reforms in Western Europe were not the cause of the development of capitalism but the fruit produced by the development of the capitalist germ. Another extra-German contemporary of Weber, Sombart, the author of Modern Capitalism, held the same view, arguing that noting that pointing out that economically productive groups had certain religious ****somatic backgrounds did not adequately account for the rise of capitalism. Thus he argues that the role of particular religious groups, especially Calvinism and Quakerism, in the early history of capitalism is "an overly familiar fact that requires a complex explanation." Sombart further says that if anyone were to take issue with this (as in the case of Italian cities in their medieval heyday or German cities at the end of the Middle Ages, both of which were characterized by a highly developed capitalist ethos) and insist that Protestant religion is not a cause but a consequence of modern capitalism, then only the production of 'empirical evidence of a specific historical setting ' to disprove this view. Fourthly, in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber explores the development of Western capitalism from a micro point of view, where the object of analysis is the individual actor, which requires the analyst to look for opportunities for the development of capitalism in terms of the motivation of the behavior of historical actors. To understand the meaning or motivation of social behavior, it is inevitable to analyze the influence of individual values. How are individual values formed and developed? Culture, as the meaning system of society, plays a role in shaping individual perceptions. Religion pervaded Western society during the period of the emergence and development of Western capitalism. Therefore, to explore the influencing factors of the development of capitalism from the perspective of religious ethics is a typical embodiment of the analytical logic of the method of understanding. As shown in Figure 1 (Note: the direction of the arrow indicates the direction of inquiry). Capitalist Economy ←--→Culture ↓ ↑Social Action--→Actors' Values There is clearly a logical trap in this analytical framework: human beings are a complex whole, and there are not only religious ethics but also many other factors that may influence the motivation of individual behavior. In other words, religion is only a "non-sufficient condition" for the motivation of human behavior. It is therefore clear that there are serious logical flaws in this analytical framework if decisive inferences are to be drawn. Weber's explanation of the causes of capitalist development must avoid this logical trap if it is to stand. But Weber's causal analysis, by overemphasizing the role of the capitalist spirit, sometimes favors a causal deterministic position: "Wherever the capitalist spirit appears, it creates its own supply of capital and money as a means to its own ends." This falls into the logical trap analyzed earlier and into theoretical self-contradiction. Although Weber's The Protestant Ethic and Capitalism has been criticized since its inception, it cannot be denied that in The Protestant Ethic and Capitalism, Weber was the first to explore what we call today the history of mentality or the history of culture, and its significance cannot be underestimated. Due to the limitations of the time, Weber's method of exploring mentality is not reasonable. The so-called mentality refers to the psychology, habits and attitudes of all people in the whole society in a certain period of history. Some historians refer to mentality as the "collective unconscious" because these things have been taken for granted by the people of the time, so that they are seldom or not at all noticed. Mindsets are the slowest level of change in the course of human history, so that they can usually be detected and understood only after decades, or even centuries, of observation. Weber, however, attributed the major changes that occurred in the early modern Europeans in terms of the attitude toward labor, the concept of wealth, and the concept of time to the sudden changes caused by the Reformation, ignoring the long process that these changes went through. In fact, the new spirit emphasized by Weber in The Protestant Ethic is not unique to Calvinism, but is the result of the long-term evolution of Western thought and culture since the late Middle Ages, and the Reformation only strengthened this trend.