资本的“文明化趋势”及其内在限制

Civilizing Tendencies of the Capital and the Limits Latent within Them

马克思对资本的“文明化趋势”作了充分肯定,认为资本的内在逻辑决定了它一定要突破现有的生产和消费的限制,从而用人化的自然代替纯粹的自然,用历史地形成的需要代替自然的需要。同时,马克思又指出,在资本主义条件下,生产力的发展必然造成工人的贫困化、资本的平均利润率下降、尤其是全社会范围的生产过剩等趋势。过去的一百年间,消费主义文化,连同福利国家、行业工会和现代信用手段等一起被资本用来相当成功地克服其曾经被认为无法克服的内在限制。但如果我们考虑到“需要”有真假之分这个问题的话,马克思的论述则提示我们,以消费社会形式重新获得活力的资本的“文明化”趋势,有可能隐藏着一种新形式的“野蛮化”趋势;市场经济只有与社会主义相结合,才不至于最终走向自我毁灭。

Marx fully recognizes the civilizing tendencies of capital, which display themselves m the tact that the capital is destined to overcome the existing limits on production and consumption, and thereby to replace the pure nature with the humanized nature, and replace the natural needs with the historically formed needs. At the same time Marx points out that under capitalism the development of the productive forces inevitably causes, among other things, the tendency of overproduction of the whole society. With the help of the theoretical resources of the theory of ＂consumer society＂ and the distinction between ＂the true needs＂/＂false needs＂, this paper tries to show that Marx＇s discussion of the civilizing tendencies of the capital and the limits latent within them inspires us to see that the civilizing tendencies revitalized in the form of consumer society are perhaps actually new forms of ＂barbarizing tendencies＂ of the capital, and only through combining itself with socialism can market economy overcome the tendency of its self-destruction.