Michael Novak, AEI's George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy, delivered the fourth in AEI's 1995-1996 Bradley Lecture Series December 12 in Washington, D.C. Excerpts follow.
When I reflect on the fact that millions of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and adherents of other world faiths are working in the field of business today, it is extraordinary how little has been written from a religious point of view about business as a vocation or a calling. And yet when one speaks to business people, there is a discernible sense of calling in their reflections on what has brought satisfaction to their lives, along with a clear consistency in the moral qualities they consider crucial to success in business. Chief among these are creativity, community building, and practical realism.
Many of us first learned to think about the ethic of capitalism from Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904), in which he argued that the essence of capitalism was the strict calculation of financial means and ends. The growth of capitalist bureaucracy, Weber expected, would be like a rushing locomotive that would crush all human spontaneity.
It turns out that the great sociologist missed something much closer to the heart of enterprise: a sense of discovery or creativity that gives the entrepreneur the ability to foresee both the needs of others and the combination of productive factors most adaptive to satisfying those needs. This habit of intellect constitutes an important source of wealth in modern society.
It is no accident that a capitalist economy first developed in that part of the world most deeply influenced by Judaism and Christianity. Both religions teach that man--the discoverer--is made in the image of God. The concept of being creative and cooperating in bringing creation to perfection is an important element of the human vocation. Over time, this doctrine was bound to lead to the development of an economic system whose first premise is that human creativity is the primary source of wealth.
Yet capitalism also depends on a capacity for organization. Most goods cannot be adequately produced through the work of isolated individuals; they require many people working together toward a common goal. Even so simple an object as the lead pencil is made up of elements from vastly separated parts of the earth. Obtaining and preparing each of these elements for the precise role it will play in the pencil requires a huge body of scientific and practical knowledge that almost certainly is not present in the mind of any individual. Many of today's more sophisticated products consist of components that are designed and manufactured by researchers and workers from every part of the planet. In a sense, the modern business system expresses the interdependence of the whole human race.
In its internal composition, the modern firm is a community of persons who are trying to satisfy the basic needs of a society. In its own down-to-earth way, the firm represents a partial, but not unimportant, form of human community. Businesses seek out persons of talent, initiative, and enterprise who want to better their position and that of their localities. They also instill and foster a number of virtues--diligence, industriousness, prudence, fidelity--that are crucial in many other types of interpersonal relationships.
Finally, consider the virtue of practical wisdom. I have never met a business man who did not pride himself on being realistic. Those who are willing to bet their entire fortunes on an idea think that they are in closer touch with reality than others. Many of the most innovative business leaders worked their way up from the lowest jobs, where they paid their dues by getting their hands dirty and by confronting daily frustrations. Often the strong sense of knowing how the world works that comes from starting at the bottom gives business leaders confidence that their new ideas are indeed grounded in reality.
It should not be surprising that prayers for the protection of divine providence and of thanksgiving have always seemed realistic and fitting in this commercial republic. Many persons in business will tell you how extraordinarily blessed they feel. They openly acknowledge how much they owe to their nation, to their colleagues, and to their firms. And they share the sentiments expressed by Thomas Jefferson in his first inaugural address, "acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence" for blessings that come from sources beyond their own efforts.
