第三等级的洁净与道德:韦伯新教研究的民族学反思

The Third Estate of Spotless and Morality:Ethnographic Reflections on Weber's Protestant Studies

要理解欧洲的宗教改革以及马克斯·韦伯对宗教改革的研究,单纯从16至17世纪的社会史状况入手是远远不够的,而是要关注从格里高利七世的宗教改革,经由托马斯·阿奎那的神学体系直到宗教改革阶段,天主教大教会与国王和武士贵族关系的一系列转变的历史过程。天主教与第三等级伦理的内在亲和性使前者始终与武士贵族集团处于紧张关系当中,并伴随着12世纪的文艺复兴和城居第三等级兴起,武士集团的道德独立性趋于衰败,第三等级逐步取得了道德和法的支配权,而宗教改革就是对这一漫长历史过程的总体回应,既不是宗教内部的冲突,也不是偶然事件。将韦伯对新教伦理与资本主义精神的内在亲和性的研究放置于这个大的宗教———社会史框架中,不论是祛魅、入世的禁欲主义、诚实的品行还是工作的热情,都是第三等级对自己内在伦理状况的现代性反思的结果。至于韦伯一再强调的个体因对得救的焦虑而产生的在现世内努力工作的动机,在逻辑上是不完善的。

To understand the European Reformation and Max Weber's study of it,it is not enough to start with the social history of the 16th and 17th centuries,but to focus on the period from the Reformation of Gregory VII,through the theological system of Thomas Aquinas to the Reformation,the historical process of a series of changes in the relationship between the Catholic Church and the king and the warrior aristocracy.The inherent affinity between Catholicism and the third order of ethics kept the former in a tense relationship with the warrior aristocracy.With the Renaissance and the rise of the third order in the 12th century,the moral independence of the warrior group tended to decline,and the third order gradually acquired the moral and legal dominance.Neither is it a conflict within religion,nor is it an accident.Weber's study of the internal affinity between Protestant ethics and capitalist spirit is placed in the framework of this large religion-social history.Disenchantment,asceticism,honesty and enthusiasm for work are all the results of the modern reflection of the third class on its internal ethical situation.As for Weber's repeated emphasis on the individual's motivation to work hard in this world because of the anxiety of salvation,it is logically imperfect.