经济人行为是私恶还是公益:西方社会的人性观溯源

Is Economic Man's Behavior Private Evil or Public Good——A Tracing to the View of Human Nature in Western Society

现代主流经济学推崇经济人行为的主要依据是私恶可以通达公益的"无形的手"原理,问题是,"无形的手"是否存在。其实,在经验主义人性论兴起的中世纪后期,这一点就存在很大争论:马基雅弗利等宣扬"私恶为害"的观念,孟德维尔等则提出了"私恶即公益"的命题。但是,由于西方社会经济竞争的加剧以及斯密的"无形的手"之宣扬,"私恶即公益"的观点逐渐流行,最终成了现代主流经济学的理论基础。

The primary base why modem mainstream economics so advocates the assumption of economic man is the ＂invisible hand＂ principle that private evil can lead to public good. The problem is： does the ＂invisible hand＂ really exist？ In fact, even in the late Middle Ages when the view of empiricism about human nature began to rise, there was a big debate on this point. Machiavelli and some others promoted the view that ＂private evil is bad＂. Mandeville and some others brought about the view that ＂private evil is public good＂. However, with social economic competition becoming more intensive and Smith＇s ＂invisible hand＂ spreading more deeply in Western society, the view of ＂private evil is public good＂ became popular, and eventually became the theoretical basis of modem mainstream economics.