自由、贫困与政府的责任

Liberty,Poverty and the Responsibility of Government

在现代市场经济条件下,社会成员平等具有的自由权利却必然产生对物的占有的不平等,形式性的平等必然导致实质的不平等;所以,在所谓"两极分化"和"相对贫困"的意义上,自由必然带来贫困。由于自由是人类所尊崇的价值,在道德上如何看待这种伴随着自由的贫困、或者说是由自由带来的贫困,就成为一个问题。贫困是谁的罪恶?在西方资本主义发展史上,存在着尖锐对立的两种立场。在坚持改革开放的中国,经济发展和社会进步需要同时做好两件事情:推进和保障个人、企业的自由平等权利,减少乃至最终消除贫困。无论是在经济伦理的意义上还是在政治伦理的意义上,这是政府的责任。

Under the condition of the modern market economy, all the social members enjoy equal liberty, which inevitably causes the inequality of their possession of property. In a word, the equality in form inevitably causes the inequality in essence. So in the sense of polarization and relative poverty, liberty brings about poverty inevitably. Liberty is a sacred value worshipped by man, therefore, how to deal with this kind of poverty becomes a problem. Who has committed the evil of poverty？ There have been two acutely contrary opinions in the history of the development of capitalism in the west. As we know, when we have got rid of dogmatism in ideology, we should do a good job of two major things at the same time to promote economic development and social progress in China ： on the one hand, we must make great efforts to promote and protect the liberty of individuals and enterprises ; on the other hand, we should leave no stones unturned to decrease and even eliminate poverty. But to some degree, as they are opposite to each other, it is the responsibility of government to handle the two issues well, whether in the sense of economic ethics or in the sense of political ethics.