Economic Ethics and Chinese Culture
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Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series III, Asian Philosophical Studies, Volume 14 Economic Ethics and Chinese Culture Chinese Philosophical Studies, XIV Edited by Yu Xuanmeng, Lu Xiaohe, Liu Fangtong, Zhang Rulun and Georges Enderle The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Copyright © 1997 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Gibbons Hall B-20 620 Michigan Avenue, NE Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Economic ethics and Chinese culture / edited by Yu Xuanmeng…[et.al]. – Washington, D.C. : The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 1997. p.cm. — (Cultural heritage and contemporary change . Series III. Asia, vol. 14) Includes bibliographies and index. 1. Philosophy, Chinese—20th century—Economic aspects. 2. Economics—Moral and ethical aspects. 3. Business ethics--China. 4. China—Civilization—Western Influences. I. Yu, Xuanmeng. II. Series. III. Series: Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change. Series III, Asia, vol. 14. B5231.E36 1997 97-19317 174’.0951—dc21 CIP ISBN 1-56518-091-7 & 1-56518-092-5 (pbk.) Table of Contents Introduction 1 Part I. Philosophical Resources for Ethics in Economic Life Section I. Confucianism Chapter I. The Dual Economic Function of Confucianism 15 Shi Zhonglian Chapter II. Restructuring Rationality and Modern Confucian Values 25 Deng Mingying Section II. Marxism Chapter III. Value Judgements and Economic Development 33 Wu Xiaoming and Wang Defeng Note A: Power, Law and the Reconstruction of the Value System 47 Yu Wujin Note B: The Economic System and Morality: A Brief Exploration 49 Shou Dongfang Chapter IV. Economic Development as Self-awakening and Self-Destruction 55 Hu Zhenping Chapter V. The Philosophical Significance of Economic Activity 61 Yu Xuanmeng Section III. Liberal Economic Theory and Pragmatism Chapter VI. Tension and the Healthy Development of Society 69 Yang Fenggang Chapter VII. Market Economy and the Moral Theory of Pragmatism 89 Liu Fangtong Note C. Rule-Utilitarianism 117 Wang Xinsheng Part II. Horizons for the Future Humanization of the Economic Order in China Chapter VIII. Is an Ethics of Economic Activity Possible? 123 Zhang Rulun Note D: From Economics as Science to Economics as Personal: 135 A Phenomenological Critique Wang Ying Chapter IX. Marxism and Traditional Chinese Philosophy 139 Zhang Qingxiong Chapter X. Metaphysics, Culture and Economic Development 157 George F. McLean Chapter XI. Man’s Ultimate Concern and Economic Development: A Chinese Dilemma 179 Wang Bin Chapter XII. From Economic Development to Human Development: 191 Habermas’s Rationalization of the Lifeworld Manuel B. Dy, Jr. Chapter XIII. Economic Development in Western Society and Changes in 201 the Philosophy of Science Zhou Changzhong Part III. Ethics and Business Chapter XIV. Cooperate Responsibilities for Human Development in China 211 Georges Enderle Note E. Professional Ethics 233 Zhu Fenghua Chapter XV. On Economic Development and Human Moral Capacity 239 Lu Xiaohe Chapter XVI. Economic Development and Moral Transformation 247 Fu Jizhong Chapter XVII. Individual and Cooperate Missions 257 Alan R. Abels Chapter XVIII. Moral Development and Economic Ethics 271 Richard A. Graham Chapter XIX. Environmental Problems and Ecological Ethics 279 Wang Miaoyang Chapter XX. Economic Development and the Female Personality 287 He Xirong Introduction In this concluding decade of the 20th century great changes are taking place in China. As in other regions of the world, the earlier concentration upon ideologies is giving way to the concrete work of building a stable society. In China this must be sufficiently prosperous to support almost a quarter of humankind. Hence, the question of the economy emerges as a point not only of individual fascination, but of desperate national importance. Experiments in the South of China, as well as the enormous success of nearby Confucian cultures, show that the development of a market economy is feasible. But its impact upon the quality of life is not yet known. Indeed not only the strong earlier Marxist critique of market economies, but recent Chinese experience generate concern that the results could be seriously detrimental. The common human vices of greed and avarice, the special danger of corruption in a highly centralized society, and the displacements and unemployment generated in the process of transition are but a few of the great challenges to be faced. Some even hold the economic field to be, in principle, anarchic. Others, however, would not despair; indeed, the people as a whole dare not fail. What resources does China have for succeeding in this delicate transition? In 1994 when this research seminar was held there had not yet developed a body of ethics for the new economic order which then was only in the process of being born. In the context of the series of research seminars begun in 1987 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (RVP) with leading academic units in China, philosophers from The Institute of Philosophy of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and The philosophy Department of Fudan University, Shanghai had called for discussions precisely on this issue of philosophy and the economic order. They brought to the colloquium not a developed economic ethics, but the materials then available--classical Confucianism, Marxism and echoes of pragmatism from Dewey’s visit long ago. Their goal was to discuss the relevance of these to the new economic order and to develop ways of thinking about the social and ethical issues this entailed. This is the burden of Part I of the present volume. Second, changes which are evolutionary rather than revolutionary have notable advantages for they can build positively upon the past, its experiences and discoveries, in order to employ these in the development of truly new life. Hermeneutics would suggest that this is a reading of earlier texts from new perspectives and with new concerns. Thus, for example, attention shifts from the efforts of the later Marx with Engels to develop a rigorously scientific and ultimately deterministic view of economics and history to the humanistic and humanizing themes of the earlier Marx. These leave more place for the humanistic content of the Confucian tradition which, in turn, comes to be read in a new light reflecting the experience, concerns and commitments of a particular people. This brings broader epistemological, methodological and metaphysical issues into play. These are treated in Part II. Third, all of this must be applied to the development of an ethnics for the new economic life. Visiting scholars from other parts of the world brought exciting information and samples of work on business ethics in relation to personal meaning and social processes. Chinese scholars began to articulate from Confucianism and Marxism relevant elements as yet undeveloped. Together some components of an ethics of, and for, the Chinese economic situation began to emerge. In the process related issues from other new concerns, such as women and environment, were brought forth. This is the work of Part III. This volume has been organized according to that threefold sequence. The research seminar was an exciting -- even dramatic -- beginning of which this book is the record; its studies are foundational for understanding the growth of the Chinese economy and the companion efforts needed in order to make it humane and humanizing. Let us look at the sequence of the studies greater detail. Part I concerns the resources available from Confucianism, Marxism and pragmatism. These are presented both in their classical form and for their potential contribution in facing the problems of the emerging economic order. This Part traces not an adequate blue print for Chinese economic ethics, but some of the issues which must be faced and some of the resources which can be drawn upon. In the first section on Confucianism, Shi Zhonglian in Chapter I, "The Dual Economic Function of Confucianism," begins with six often stated reasons why Confucianism is not able to provide the philosophy needed by the new economic order. But then he hesitates before the remarkable economic success of other Confucian societies. This enables him to step back from the issue of the emerging economic structures, which by definition must be new and different, and to look at the broader and more properly philosophical and ethical issues in terms of the goals of life as the broader context for present economic activity. Whence comes the assiduous, trustworthy and benevolent culture required for confident and hence continued interchange of goods and services? In these terms the Confucian philosophy of life emerges as an essential context for the market economies of Asia. Chapter II by Deng Mingying, "Restructuring Rationality and Modern Confucian Values," studies the basic character of Confucianism and its potential for providing a value horizon in response to the modern tendency to give primacy to instrumental rationality. Section II of Part I is concerned directly with Marxism and its focus upon economic production. Chapter III by Wu Xiaoming and Wang Defeng, "Value Judgements and Economic Development," is concerned that economic and technical development not be interpreted in an idealistic light and advances the need for concrete historical content in order truly to engage the problem. The authors see the contribution of Marx as providing not only a value standard as a social ideal or destination, but also an interpretative program as the embodiment of the standard and a practical program as the reality of the standard. Thus, the fundamental principles of this theory (not its details on particular issues), not only form value judgements on economic development, but also claim theoretical and practical concreteness for their value judgement. This means that any value goal or social destination must embody the concrete socio-historical reality. Chapter IV by Hu Zhengping, "Economic Development as Self-Awakening and Self- Destruction," describes the Marxist analysis of history in terms of economics.