中国古代经济思想的基本结构与内在逻辑——基于权力与伦理视角的孔子经济思想考察

The Structure and Internal Logic of the Economic Thoughts in Ancient China: A Case Study of Confucius in Terms of Political Power and Ethics

中国古代社会其实是以政治权力为分配手段和以'孝''德'为普遍伦理原则的;因此,撇开政治权力和伦理原则来探讨中国古代经济思想,难以理解其思想内核和演变逻辑。为此,文章基于中国古代早期的历史事实,以孔子的经济思想为例,将研究置于具体的历史情境中,从权力和伦理这两个角度来重新诠释中国古代经济思想,以重新发现其基本结构和内在逻辑。研究发现:(1)政治权力是推动和制约社会经济发展的主要因素,土地产权制度和税制变革等都围绕政治权力的分配和竞争来展开,而市场、分工、产权等因素在很长一段历史时期内并未对社会经济产生重要影响。(2)伦理观念既是中国古代社会政治权力及其制度设计的'正当性'来源,又是限制其无限拓张与规范社会经济行为的主要依据,因此如何从道德伦理层面规范政治权力对社会经济发展的作用,是中国古代经济思想的核心命题。(3)以孔子经济思想为代表的中国古代经济思想的基本结构正是以政治权力和伦理观念为基础而构建的,包括政治经济问题认知、伦理价值判断、经济制度设计等三个方面的内容;其内在逻辑是先以'仁爱'调节不同社会阶级的政治经济关系,继而约束利益集团对社会经济的'掠夺'和促使民众认识到社会经济制度的合理性,即通过对社会政治经济问题的分析,重新明确经济活动所应遵循的伦理原则,借以修正或重建社会经济制度。文章的结论说明理解中国古代社会经济发展的'钥匙'是政治权力和伦理观念,而非市场因素,这为我们重新审视中国古代经济思想的基本内容和历史意义提供了新的视角。

Recently,the research paradigm of the economic thoughts in ancient China mainly emphasizes the concepts in western mainline economics,such as market,exchange and division of labor,but ignores the other factors,like political power and morality.In that case,it is widely believed that the economic thoughts in ancient China are scattered and unstructured,which means there is no clear logical chain between the relevant concepts.However,political power is a vital consideration for economic problems in ancient China,and the moral concepts proposed by different schools in China are the foundation of economic analysis at that time.Then how could we understand these ideas more precisely and comprehensively,and how should we consider the difference in economic concepts between China and the West?Are there any unique and structured ideas in ancient China?To answer these urgent problems has certain significance to fully understand the economic thoughts in ancient China,and also can provide some enlightenment for revaluating those ideas.In a bid to deal with these problems,this paper would,as an example,analyze the economic thoughts of Confucius with a paradigm including the political and moral factors.First of all,we summarize the essential economic problems the society facing in the West-Zhou Dynasty and the Spring-Autumn Period,especially the problems about how the rulers having political power intervene in the institutional change.Then,according to the historical materials during these periods,we try to find out the measures ancient thinkers took to tackle the specific problems with moral concepts,and the whole progress in which they create an economy institution design.In the end,we analyze Confucius’ideas about the morality and institutional design,and thereby try to summarize the basic structure and inner logic of the economic thoughts in ancient China.It comes to the following conclusions:Firstly,the core of Confucius’economic thoughts is about how to deal with the economic problems with the discussion of moral concepts being prevalent during that period.His planning about economic institutions,such as the land system and tax system,is based on his argument for political legitimacy.Secondly,the basic structure of the economic thoughts in ancient China may include three considerations:the knowledge of sociopolitical and economic problems,the knowledge of social legitimacy in terms of morality,the design of economic institutions.Thirdly,there is a consistent logic in ancient economic thoughts.The discovery of objective facts including specific political and economic problems would influence the value judgment reflected by the change of moral concepts’definition,and thereby these kinds of change in moral concepts would lead to a new institutional design.The conclusions of this paper provide some enlightenment for the study of ancient economic thoughts.We provide a new study paradigm of ancient economic thoughts,which include some neglected factors,such as political power,moral concepts and economic institutions.Except for Confucius,this paradigm can be also used in others’economic thoughts in ancient time.What’s more,emphasizing the link between ancient economic thoughts and specific economic problems would be beneficial to understand the development of economy in modern society,like the moral issues caused by the development of market-oriented economy in China.In short,this paper provides a new angle of view to understand the economic thoughts in ancient China more precisely and comprehensively,compared with the previous study paradigm which follows Western mainstream economic theories.Additionally,it also deeply analyzes the important role of power and ethics in the formation and development of ancient economic thoughts and their internal relations,and on this basis gives the basic logic that the ancients followed in discussing economic issues.