儒家伦理与中国经济发展的文化逻辑

Confucian Ethic and the Cultural Logic in Economic Development

儒家伦理与经济发展究竟具有怎样的关系,既有文献见仁见智。本文的分析表明,儒家伦理起初内生于保证家庭组织运行效率的实际需要,而后长期充当国家与个人的调适角色,促成了家族制与官僚制的制度妥协,并由此形成独具特色的市场制度基础,汉唐盛世便奠基其上。中国未来市场经济发展的一个要害是政府因素与其他市场因素能否达成制度均衡,儒家伦理的作用自当不言而喻。不仅如此,儒家伦理在长期的历史演进中逐步完成了商业转向,具有了丰富的市场涵义,加上东亚经济奇迹佐证凿凿,因此其对市场经济发展有利无害当成定论。本文的讨论发现,儒家伦理的宏观功能与微观功能存在内在冲突。它在宏观上具有很高的财富门槛与道德条件,但却疏于微观层面的财富创造,因此,既有经济改革过程注重汲取基于新教伦理的欧美制度优势以促进财富积累,具有显而易见的合理性。但是这种进程缺乏稳定性与包容性,极易导致财富与道德的偏离,而儒家伦理恰好具有纠正此种偏离的比较优势。这就意味着,在中国经济改革过程中,一种前所未有的"文化衔接"在所难免。本文的结论是,财富积累长期疏离于自己的文化传统当为中国未来经济发展的最大挑战,面对日益凸显的深层社会经济矛盾,唯一正确的制度选择是使经济改革与发展进程重返中国本土的文化基础。

Opinions differ in academic field regarding the relationship between Confucian ethic and economic development.The research done in the paper suggests that Confucian ethic originated from the practical demand of guaranteeing the smooth operation of family organization.Afterwards,it served as a coordinator between government and individuals,thus bringing about the institutional compromise between family and bureaucracy which constituted the foundation of market system unique to China.Institutional equilibrium between government and other market forces will be the key element in the successful development of market economy,which,as can be predicted,will have everything to do with Confucian ethic.In the paper,the author holds that Confucianism features internal conflicts on macro-versus micro-levels.On the macro-level,it has set a very high threshold for wealth and morals while on the micro-level little attention has been paid to how to create wealth.Thus it is rational and justified for the foregone reform to have put priority on absorbing the merits of the western system which is based on protestant ethic so as to increase wealth accumulation.However,such a process is lack of stability and tolerance and is prone to deviation of wealth from morality.This is where Confucianism steps in to function as a corrector.The paper concludes that the long separation of wealth accumulation from its own cultural tradition has become the biggest obstacle to future growth.In the face of intensifying conflicts in economic society,the only correct choice is to retrieve tradition and have the economic reform rooted in its own cultural soil.