My friend Mehmet Günenç recently gave me a copy of his short book, The History of Moral Philosophy (Ahlakın Felsefi Tarihi). In it, he traces the conceptual development of moral philosophy from Plato to Nietzsche; (he's a professor of philosophy). I haven't read the whole book yet, but one part I have read deals with the Protestant work ethic. His summary at the end of that section is insightful, although we would see some things differently. Here is my rough translation of the Turkish.
When we appraise religion with concepts like working much harder, individuality, free/independent retirement and productivity, we will see before us a person who worships God through (or above) their profession. However, there is nothing to prevent this person from turning into the type of person who worships their profession itself. Their profession will become life for them, a field of activity. They will exist for their work. But here another question appears: What sort of a person worships their job, and whose purpose does this serve? (page 61; emphasis mine)
The critical issue is a matter of worship. Who or what do we worship, and when does the true recipient of worship (God) get overshadowed in our hearts and actions and lives by the means with which we seek to honor and love and serve God. In other words, we must be always alert to the reality of our worship, not just to the confession that we acknowledge with our conscious thought.
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| I am attaching the original in case someone with a better grasp of philosophical Turkish wants to correct my understanding / translation of the text. |
