The Impact of Descartes on the Development of Philosophy - Research Paper Example

It’s difficult to overestimate the impact of Descartes’’ cogito argument. Though it seems simple to modern philosophers, when Descartes obsessively considered the “realness” of natural world and came away with the conclusion that his status as a thinking being assured his existence, he set a cornerstone for the future of Western philosophical thought. His logistic methodology paved the way structural theorists, such as Levi-Strauss and Saussure, as well as for political philosophers, such as Hobbes and Locke. Max Weber’s use of Descartes’ argument — often called the cogito argument in reference to Descartes’ most-quoted catchphrase the Latin cogito; ergo sum, or “I think; therefore I am” — to explain the rise of capitalism in Protestant society is perhaps one of the more interesting takes on Cartesian theory. Weber argues that instead of using Descartes’ notion of self simply as a philosophical proof of individual being, Protestants transformed the concept into “an ethical reinterpretation” (Weber 80), using it as the basis for a life of contemplation: Only a life governed by constant reflection, however, could be regarded as overcoming the status naturalis … This rationalization now gave Reformed piety its specifically ascetic character and was also the basis for its inner affinity ( as well as its specific antithesis) to Catholicism. (Weber 80-81) In other words, Weber argues that Protestants seized on the idea of self-knowledge as a sort of manifesto, not a proof existence but a responsibility of existence. So far, so good, but where does the connection to capitalism come in? How does it relate to the notion of an inner life? What does it have to do with the notion of intellectual responsibility? “The name of Weber makes it clear that we cannot begin to sense the real ideological function of religious aestheticism unless we place it within that larger intellectual and ideological preoccupation which is the study and interrogation of value,” wrote Frederic Jameson (124). Or, more simply put, the religious contemplation of the Protestants was both a factor in and a result of their historio-economic status. For Weber, this status follows a predictable trajectory, journeying from the traditional to the rational with a brief, joyous moment of transformation Weber calls “charisma.” (Weber 96) The Protestant Reformation is an example of a charismatic period in the evolution of Western society, a time in which society was moving from traditional values and ethics toward restructured, rationalized ethics. And economic success was an important part of these metamorphosing ethics. Part of this emerges from what Weber sees as the Protestant notion of “craft,” or pride in workmanship. The idea of a “calling” for a career path was no longer restricted to men and women of the cloth; any person passionate about and committed to his work could say that he had a vocation. A more significant source, perhaps, though, is the Protestant emphasis on work as an important element in a spiritual life: … However useless good works might be as a means of attaining salvation … they are indispensable as a sign of election. They are at the technical means, not of purchasing salvation, but of getting rid of the fear of damnation. In this sense they are occasionally referred to as directly necessary for salvation … In practice, this means that God helps those who help themselves. Thus the Calvinist … creates his own salvation, or, as would be more correct, the conviction of it. (Weber 69) In other words, there was now a rational reason for man to pursue economic gain: Doing so was the cornerstone for spiritual salvation. For the first time, perhaps, in the history of Western civilization, the religious inspiration included a mandate for economic success. And so we return to Descartes’ notion of man as a rational being. “It is now manifest to me that bodies themselves are not properly perceived by the senses nor by the faculty of imagination, but by the intellect alone; and since they are not perceived because they are seen and touched, but only because they are understood (or rightly comprehended by thought), I readily discover that there is nothing more easily or clearly apprehended than my own mind,” wrote Derrida in his Second Meditation (126), laying the foundation for the life of the mind. Much like the Platonic notion of duality (as in the “Allegory of the Cave”) served as an inspiration for early Christians who needed a way to explain the dichotomy between body and spirit, Descartes intellectual justification for being became a rationalist justification for the Protestant mindset, including its pursuit of economic goals. This worked because Protestantism had robbed believers of naïve certainty about their eternal fate: It was no longer enough to buy absolution from one’s priest or visit the confessional to ensure admittance into Heaven. The new religious order was fraught with potential peril and individual responsibilities. Like Descartes, modern man was faced with the challenge of determining his status in the world. Like Descartes, he struggled to find a rational way to cope with the chaos of uncertainty. And thanks to a plethora of socioeconomic changes occurring at the same time as the Protestant revolution, capitalism was a natural fit. Hard work was one way to guarantee admittance to Heaven, and economic success was a sure indicator that one was working hard. What’s interesting about this is how it played out in the emerging capitalist landscape. The new Protestant mindset demanded that each person pursue his work with religious zeal, since his success at work was an indicator of his future salvation. At the same time, Protestant morals insisted that the pursuit of money for its own end or the use of money for luxury goods or lifestyle upgrades was morally questionable. (The early Protestant church also strictly limited the amount of money each family could contribute to the church.) Philanthropy was discouraged, as churches feared that this kind of generosity would only increase the number of beggars. So for Protestants who were busy raking in money to show that they had been chosen by God as one of the elect, there was no practical outlet for spending their hard-earned money. Investments were the only church-approved expenditure, and these Protestant investments really triggered the markets of Protestant countries, boosting the emerging capitalist structure. A specifically bourgeois economic ethic had grown up. With the consciousness of standing in the fullness of Gods grace and being visibly blessed by Him, the bourgeois business man, as long as he remained within the bounds of formal correctness, as long as his moral conduct was spotless and the use to which he put his wealth was not objectionable, could follow his pecuniary interests as he would and feel that he was fulfilling a duty in doing so. The power of religious asceticism provided him in addition with sober, conscientious, and unusually industrious workmen, who clung to their work as to a life purpose willed by God. (Weber 149) Descartes’ notion that man could only know himself was expanded by the Protestants to include the idea that man must rationalize his economic existence and his spiritual existence, keeping both, so to speak, in the black, so that material success was seen to parallel spiritual success and vice versa. Weber’s argument is fascinating, if problematic, but his insistence that religion shaped the economic conditions rather than being shaped by them (as Marxist critics would argue) is compelling reading, and his treatment of Protestantism as the foundation for modern capitalism is fascinating. I’m not entirely convinced that it’s possible to create what Jameson calls “an intellectual space from which one can study inner worldly values as such,” (124) but I can certainly appreciate the validity of his claim that Protestants took a rational approach to ethics, resulting in a cogito of capitalism. Works Cited Ariew, Roger. Rene Descartes: Philosophical Essays and Correspondence. Hacket: Indianapolis, 2000. Chalcraft, David J. The Protestant Ethic Debate: Max Webers Replies to his Critics, 1907-1910. Liverpool, England: Liverpool University Press, 2001. Jameson, Frederic. The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1981. Robertson, H.M. Aspects of the Rise of Economic Individualism: A Criticism of Max Weber and his School Contributors. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1933. Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism. Penguin Classics: New York, 2002. Read More