The concept of adequate causation and Max Weber's comparative sociology of religion

Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, studied in isolation, shows mainly an elective affinity or an adequacy on the level of meaning between the Protestant ethic and the 'spirit' of capitalism. Here it is suggested that Weber's subsequent essays on 'The Economic Ethics of World Religions' are the result of his opinion that adequacy on the level of meaning needs and can be verified by causal adequacy. After some introductory remarks, particularly on elective affinity, the paper tries to develop the concept of adequate causation and the related concept of objective possibility on the basis of the work of v. Kries on whom Weber heavily relied. In the second part, this concept is used to show how the study of the economic ethics of India, China, Rome and orthodox Russia can support the thesis that the 'spirit' of capitalism, although it may not have been caused by the Protestant ethic, was perhaps adequately caused by it.     

试析马克斯·韦伯的儒学观

马克斯.韦伯以基督新教为参照,从价值体系、人格取向、财富观与营利观三个方面对于儒教与新教所作的比较,不仅为其中心命题"新教伦理与资本主义精神"提供了一个强有力的佐证,而且充分展示了其体现在"中国理性资本主义之产生"问题上的儒学观。韦伯的儒学观深刻影响着20世纪以来的东西方学界。它可以被争议和质疑,却无法被驳倒和推翻。这或许应该归因于韦伯自身的多面相以及其创设的"理想类型"。