“政治算术”范式与资本社会的“内部联系”——重新理解威廉·配第的经济思想及其对马克思的影响

The Paradigm of“Political Arithmetic”and the“Inner Connection”of Capitalist Society:A New Discussion on the Thought of William Petty and Its Influence on Marx

马克思是世界上最早、最全面、最系统地展开经济学说史研究并留下完整著述的思想家之一。与20世纪大多数论者以斯密为“古典经济学”开端的理解不同,马克思将时间往前推移了100年,认为配第才是“现代政治经济学的创始人”。作为一个“资产阶级化的新贵族”,配第在其65载曲折的生命历程中,通过大量著述和经济活动,借助对货币、土地和劳动的分析阐述了其财富思想,更开创了观照和把握复杂社会的“政治算术”范式,并对“资产阶级生产关系的内部联系”及其结构进行了初步的探索。配第的思想在其去世160年后获得马克思最深刻的理解和高度评价。马克思在探究资本主义最新发展和历史变迁的同时,将这一期间包括数学在内的科学进展及其方法引入到对现代经济现象及其规律和结构的实质分析中,创作了《资本论》等杰作。这种清理工作对于我们深化马克思主义政治经济学的研究及其当代价值的彰显具有重要意义。

Marx is the earliest and most comprehensive and systematic thinker working on the study of the history of economical thoughts,and finishing complete works on this topic.Different from the researchers in the 20th century who took Adam Smith as the starting point of“classical economics”,Marx determined the birth time of“classical economy”100 years earlier,he took William Petty as the“founder of modern political economics”.As a representative of“new bourgeoise nobleman”,Petty presented his theory of wealth through his analysis of money,land and labor in plenty works,set up a paradigm of“political arithmetic”to understand the complicated society,and preliminarily explored the“inner connection of capitalist productive relationship”.Marx understood and highly evaluated Petty’s thought after he dead 160 years.Marx studied the development and historical changes of capitalism,and brought the break-through of science including mathematics into his analysis of modern economical phenomena and its structure and law,finished the Capital.Marx’s commentary on Petty is helpful for us to promote the research of Marxist political economy and its modern value.