梁启超论新民德与国民生计

Liang Qichao's Views on the New National Morality and the People's Livelihood

梁启超在“新民说”中 ,借鉴西方社会经济理论 ,运用量化分析和经验实证方法 ,对于国民生计、国民职业与民德的关系进行了分析论述 ,指出“生计憔悴之逼迫”是造成国民道德腐败堕落的根本原因 ,并提出民德与国民生计的进步为正比关系 ,“生利”与“分利”是衡量民业价值的标准 ,使占人口半数强的分利之国民变为生利之国民是改造国民道德的一条途径等一系列新认识。这些认识开拓了从民生入手改造民德的新思路 ,也开启了用近代科学方法研究民德问题的新学理 ,给后人认识民生与民德问题提供了思想和学术上的启示。

In his “On the New Citizen”, Liang Qichao borrowed Western social and economic theory, and used quantitative analysis and experimental methods to show that the basic reason for the corruption and degeneration of national morality was “the pressure of poverty.” He also provided a series of new ideas, such as: that the level of national morality was directly proportional to the level of improvement in the people's livelihood; that “producing profits” and “sharing profits” were the criteria for judging the value of people's occupations; and that taking the profit sharers who made up over half of the population and transforming them into profit producers was a way of remaking the national morality. These ideas opened a new line of thought seeking to transform the national morality starting with the people's livelihood. They also were the start of a new methodology applying modern scientific methods to researching national morality, and provided the ideological and academic basis for later generations' understanding of problems of the people's livelihood and morality.