Weber points out that such a spirit is not limited to Western culture if one considers it as the attitude of individuals, but that such individuals – heroic entrepreneurs, as he calls them – could not by themselves establish a new economic order (capitalism).
韋伯指出，若是只考慮到個人對於私利的追求時，這樣的精神並非只限於西方文化，但是這樣的個人—英雄般的企業家（韋伯如此稱呼他們）—並不能自行建立一個新的經濟秩序（資本主義）。