Is AI the End of Protestant Anthropology?

For several centuries, Western societies have operated under an implicit anthropology:

the human being is justified through work.

This assumption is so deeply ingrained that we rarely recognize it as theological in origin. Yet its roots lie in the Protestant Reformation — and its cultural crystallization was famously analyzed by Max Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

Now artificial intelligence — especially large language models — confronts this anthropology with an unprecedented challenge.

The question is no longer economic.
It is anthropological.

1. What Is “Protestant Anthropology”?

To understand what may be ending, we must clarify what emerged.

With Martin Luther and later John Calvin, the concept of Beruf (calling) underwent a radical transformation.

In medieval Christianity:

  • Monastic life was spiritually superior.

  • Contemplation ranked above labor.

In Protestant thought:

  • Every profession became a divine calling.

  • Ordinary work became sacred duty.

  • Discipline, diligence, and productivity gained moral weight.

Over time, this theology secularized. God disappeared from the narrative, but the structure remained.

The modern version looks like this:

  • Your work defines your identity.

  • Your productivity justifies your worth.

  • Success signals moral superiority.

  • Idleness implies failure of character.

Even in secular societies, this structure persists.
Work is no longer merely economic — it is existential.

This is what we may call Protestant anthropology:
the idea that the human being realizes and legitimizes himself primarily through disciplined productive activity.

2. AI and the Collapse of Cognitive Exclusivity

For centuries, the Protestant work ethic aligned perfectly with industrial and post-industrial capitalism.

  • Physical labor created value.

  • Then cognitive labor created value.

  • Education became the path to moral and economic legitimacy.

But AI disrupts this alignment.

Large language models now:

  • Write essays,

  • Generate code,

  • Conduct analysis,

  • Produce creative texts,

  • Assist in scientific reasoning.

The sphere of “intellectual calling” is no longer uniquely human.

For the first time in history,
cognitive productivity is no longer scarce.

This matters because Protestant anthropology depends on scarcity:

  • Scarcity of discipline,

  • Scarcity of intelligence,

  • Scarcity of achievement.

If high-level output becomes widely accessible through AI,
the moral economy of merit begins to destabilize.

3. Marx’s Unexpected Relevance

Interestingly, this moment fulfills a prediction by Karl Marx.

In the Grundrisse, Marx describes the rise of what he calls the “general intellect” — collective knowledge embedded in machinery — becoming the primary productive force of society.

AI is arguably the most literal realization of that idea.

But here is the paradox:

Marx believed technological development would undermine the necessity of alienated labor and open the possibility of human self-development beyond mere work.

Protestant anthropology, however, equates dignity with disciplined labor.

AI therefore fulfills Marx while destabilizing Protestant anthropology.

4. Three Possible Futures

A) Hyper-Meritocracy

Humans compete with AI by escalating standards:

  • Only exceptional creativity counts.

  • Only top-tier innovation matters.

  • Average performance becomes invisible.

This intensifies Protestant anthropology rather than ending it.

B) Instrumentalization Shift

Status shifts from “doing” to “orchestrating”:

  • The valuable person becomes the one who directs AI.

  • Meta-competence replaces primary competence.

Work survives, but in abstracted form.

C) Anthropological Reorientation

If productivity becomes abundant,
human worth may detach from output.

Then questions re-emerge that predate the Reformation:

  • Is dignity intrinsic rather than earned?

  • Is leisure a legitimate human condition?

  • Is contemplation superior to production?

  • Is relationship more central than achievement?

This would represent not merely an economic shift,
but a civilizational one.

5. The Deeper Crisis: Identity Without Output

The most profound challenge AI poses is not unemployment.

It is existential dislocation.

For centuries, especially in high-performance environments, identity has been structured around:

  • Intelligence

  • Competence

  • Achievement

  • Recognition

If AI democratizes high-level output,
what distinguishes the individual?

The Protestant structure says:

You are what you accomplish.

AI asks:

What if accomplishment is no longer uniquely yours?

6. Is This the End?

Perhaps not the end — but a fracture.

Protestant anthropology may not disappear; it may radicalize.
Or it may slowly dissolve into a post-performance model of humanity.

What is clear is this:

AI forces Western societies to confront a buried theological assumption:
that human dignity must be earned through disciplined productivity.

If that assumption collapses,
we return to a much older question:

Is the human being valuable before he performs?

That question is not technological.
It is theological.

And AI may have made it unavoidable.

ChatGPT, based on a discussion with Claus D. Volko 

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