理性的儒商慈善观:基于交换理论视角的诠释

The Rational Confucian Merchants’View on Philanthropy:An Understanding Based on the Exchange Theory

商业慈善并非新出现的一个社会现象,它随着经济与社会的发展而逐渐兴起,成为近年来研究的热点。今天,商业慈善与企业的社会责任密不可分。而回顾过往,历史上的儒商作为商业传统与伦理道德的统一体,承担着促进社会发展和推动社会融合的崇高使命。本文通过对历代儒商慈善思想的梳理,总结归纳出儒商慈善观的演进逻辑,并在交换理论的视角下,通过“理性二分法”探讨了儒商慈善行为动机的本质属性。研究发现,历史上儒商的慈善行为动机包含经济和道德两方面的因素,在古代早期主要表现为价值理性的驱动,而在后期,其慈善动机开始带有明显的目的理性色彩。本文对于当代中国商人价值观的选择亦有一定的启示作用。

Commercial charity seems not to be a new social phenomenon.With the development of the economy and society it has gradually emerged and in recent years became a research hotspot.Today commercial charity is inextricably linked to corporate social responsibility.Similarly,as a unity of business traditions and moral principles,historical Confucian merchants undertook the noble mission of promoting social development and social integration.This paper summarized the basic laws of the changes in the Confucian merchants’philanthropy views by combing the thought of Confucianism and charitable concepts in ancient times.Through“the dichotomy of the formal and material rationality”by Max Weber the essential attributes of the motivation of charity behavior of Confucian merchants were discussed in the view of social exchange theory.The research found that historical Confucian merchants took both economy and morality as their behavioral orientation:in the early time,the charity motivation was driven by value rationality,however,in the later period,it showed the instrumental side.This research may also be instructive for the choice of value of the contemporary Chinese businessmen.