Making China Modern Essay Example for Free

Making China Modern EssayIn Chapter octad of The Religion of China Confucianism and Taoism, Max Webber makes a comparison of the eastern philosophy of Confucianism with the western religion of prudeism. He makes the connection between the how Confucianism has shaped China historic eithery from an individuals personal goals to its economic and commercial conditions.Webber first describes the keen-wittedization of a religion using two different yard-sticks, one is the degree to which the religion has divested itself of conjuring the other is the degree to which it has formationatically unified the relation between God and the world and therewith its own honest relationship to the world. Webber denotes that in western Protestant rationalism, magic has been eradicated entirely and was sometimes even viewed as scoundrelly, cutting off all trust in magical superstitions and manipulations.However, in the Confucian ethics, the significance of magic was left(p) untouched. All nat ural scientific knowledge was lacking due to a cause and primary forces. It also vested interest in the income opportunities of prebendal office. Webber states that Confucianism and Puritanism both take different stands against the world, Puritanism believed in a God where as Confucianism did not believe in a supra-mundane God, both in time met tensions with the worlds irrationalities. This all constituted in the increase of China and its people.The Confucian ethic is to reduce tensions in the world to an coercive minimum. All human nature was disposed to be ethically good and as such, was to be electroneutral from one another, capable of unlimited perfection. There was a lack of nerves with unlimited patience and unsuitableness to reacting especially in the intellectual sphere.China taught as a form of philosophical-literary education, learning from old classics and and then it lacked insufficient educational such as economic provisions. It endeavored to remove all tensions f rom humanity and hence left no leverage for influencing conduct through inner forces freed of tradition and convention.Wealth was the main success measuring in the Confucian mentality, as a means to keep face. It has been recorded in the oldest documents of Chinese political economy where balance of trade and the usefulness of wealth were emphasized. It came to a point where storeowners would haggle for both penny, however despite this lust for wealth, no economic mentality of capitalism was created. The Chinese lacked a system for commercial correspondence and the numerous technical inventions were little used for economic purposes.It is Webbers intention that even though China was capable of assimilating capitalism, the varied conditions and circumstances, most notably the Confucian teachings, had hindered it. The difference between Puritan and Confucian rationalism was that Puritans had enthusiasm, which the Confucians lacked. It is this rationalism that allowed the typical Pur itan to invest his income as capital in rational capitalist enterprise out of an asceticist compulsion to save. Webber believes that these attitudes have effected Chinas capitalist development negatively.