Research On The Economic Ethical Thoughts In The Book On Salt And Iron

The economic ethical thoughts appear more early than the formation of economic ethics as a subject.There appeared the so-called economic thoughts of the later generation in pre-Qin of China as well as in ancient Greece of the west.To develop the Chinese characteristic contemporary economic ethics,it is needed to summarize and to grub the economic ethical thought in ancient times.In its historical development,the great book On Iron and Salt plays a quite important role.A systematic and deep research on the great book On Iron and Salt helps to expand space for economic ethical thoughts study,to further our research and to construct the subject of economic ethics.The book On Iron and Salt is practically the collation of a conference discussing iron and salt in West Han Dynasty.This conference is the first large-scale debate on national major policies in ancient Chinese history.Since salt is needed by every one,can't be produced by oneself and can only be got from a market,the production and selling of it becomes the high-profit business from the very early age.Except for salt,iron is the most needed as it is the resource for making manufactures and weapons.Therefore the managerial authority over salt and iron becomes the core content of that conference.The book On Iron and Salt (《盐铁论》),the collation of the conference,not only fully manifests two different thoughts of administrating a country deriving from the upper society of that day,but focuses on two opposite views on economic development at that time.For instance,when it comes to the most important problem of what is the basis for administrating a country, loyally able men(贤良) and literature ones(文学)hold the view of "morality deciding everything" while senior and administrative officials(大夫御史) hold the view of "economy deciding everything".As far as how to develop economy is concerned,loyally able men and literature ones take the view of "devoting major efforts to developing agriculture instead of industry and commerce" while senior and administrative officials have the opinion of "intensively developing industry and commerce instead of agriculture".And as to how to manage and distribute the country' s wealth,loyally able men and literature ones mainly stand by anarchism whereas senior and administrative officials mainly stand by authoritarianism,and so on.The Iron and Salt Conference(盐铁会议) is not only a great debate over economic policy,but also over economic ethical thoughts.It not only reflects the real contention about economic thoughts in the Western Han Dynasty and reveal the philosophical basis of the economic thoughts at that time,it also has provided standard of value and methodology for Han's economic thoughts.Therefore,it lays forth a kind of rationale for these thoughts.The book On Iron and Salt,a record and expression of the debate over the view on economic ethics,is in fact a reflection of the social and economic contradictions and their objective request at that time, when the authorities of Western Han Dynasty faced double pressure from the outside and the inside.It must defend the foreign invasion outside, suppress the wild ambition of princes under the emperor,and satisfy the consumption inside.Therefore,it is a necessary choice to increase avenue by state-owned salt and iron since both the economic condition and financial avenue are not good enough.The two sides in the book On Salt and Iron formed a sort of different views and opinions about whether the state-owned salt and iron should be abandoned.This problem,from today's economic point of view,is just a problem about whether the economy should be concentrated or separated,which is an eternal difficult problem in the national economic management and a subject which should not be neglected in economic ethics.The two kinds of economic ethical view in the book On Salt and Iron inherit and develop the economic ethical thoughts from the thinkers who lived during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring State.Compared with senior and administrative officials,loyally able men and literature ones inherit more Confucian's doctrines,and also some Taoist doctrines.On the contrary,senior and administrative officials absorb more cream of legalists.These two kinds of ideas concentrate on the achievements from the debate of thinkers who lived during the Spring and Autumn period, but also holds the beginning of the debates of economic ethics inside Confucianism after the Han Dynasty.Based on the situation of the development of China's socialist economic ethics,guided by the developing China's Marxism,this thesis makes a systematic and deep research on the economic ethical thoughts in the book On Salt and Iron in order to grub the source of our traditional economic ethical thoughts and serve to construct Chinese characteristic advanced culture.From the point of view of Marxist world outlook, historical outlook and ethics,this thesis makes use of materialistic dialectics,the method of unifying logic and history,and takes value analysis method as its basic method.On the basis of traditional economic thoughts changes,under the guidance of the combination of history and comment,through the analysis of the two sides of the debates,the thesis tries to draw a theoretical conclusion.The thesis is divided into seven chapters.Chapter One introduces the historical background of the Iron and Salt Conference,analyzes the purpose of the conference,and introduces the class and culture background of two sides of the debate in the conference.Chapter Two examines that the view of humanity in the book is not a simple repetition of that of pre-Qin,but a development of it.What senior and administrative officials(大夫御史),loyally able men and literature ones(贤良,文学)debate is about what is humanity and whether humanity is changeable.Senior and administrative officials(大夫御史) believe that humanity is wicked and this wickedness is not bad,while loyally able men and literature ones(贤良,文学) oppose the selfishness of humanity and argue that if human is selfish,human is not different from beasts.The former side thinks that humanity is unchangeable and education is useless; the later side thinks that humanity is changeable and corrupt officials are acquired,not innate.Chapter Three after analysis points out that an overall basic thought in the conference is about righteousness and profit.Loyally able men and literature ones(贤良,文学) attach more importance to righteousness than to profit,while Senior and administrative officials(大夫御史) pay attention to profit.They hold the view of egoism,as well as benefit to the state and people.The controversy about righteousness and profit is a necessary result of their different point of view on humanity.Chapter Four points out that the focus of their dispute over root and branch(本末) is not over whether there should exist fundamental business(root,本业) or incidental business(branch,末业),but over who will run the incidental business(branch,末业).Senior and administrative officials(大夫御史) stand for the reasonability of state-operation,while loyally able men and literature ones(贤良,文学) set out all the disadvantages of state-operation.The nature of the dispute is not a dispute about the priority of agriculture and business,but extension of their different point of view on righteousness and profit.Chapter Five indicates that the nature of the dispute about property and poverty is the dispute about enriching the state or enriching people. What Senior and administrative officials(大夫御史) and loyally able men and literature ones(贤良,文学) argue is which should claim precedence over the other,not whether it is necessary to enrich the state or people. The dispute over reasons is the centre of the dispute of property and poverty in the book On Salt and Iron.Senior and administrative officials(大夫御史) believe that there are three reasons:firstly,whether people are industrious and to which degree they are frugal;secondly, level of the labor ability of people;thirdly,whether people have good skills to make a fortune.While loyally able men and literature ones(贤良,文学) give tit for tat,revealing that it is government officials that bring poverty and disaster upon people.The attitude about it is the main point of the dispute about property and poverty in the book On Salt and Iron.Their different attitudes actually touch upon a relation between so-called glory through righteousness(义荣) or glory through power(势荣).Chapter Six indicates that the dispute in the conference about extravagance and frugality between Senior and administrative officials(大夫御史) and loyally able men and literature ones(贤良,文学) is a reflection of the tendency towards extravagance in West Han Dynasty. The nature of this dispute is the intensification of their economic ethical thoughts.Loyally able men and literature ones(贤良,文学) hold the attitude of "against extravagance and for frugality"(反奢崇俭) while Senior and administrative officials(大夫御史) hold the attitude of "controlling extravagance and encouraging frugality"(节奢刺俭).Chapter Seven is a conclusion and evaluation of the economic ethical thoughts in the book On Salt and Iron.It further refers that the book On Salt and Iron is a conclusion not only about Emperor Hanwu's right and wrong,but also about the history of more than 120 years after Western Han.This book exerts a profound influence on China's economic ethical thoughts during a long period of more than 2000 years. It also produces some impression on modern economic ethics,even on economy itself.In the world the book On Salt and Iron is the richest literature in early days discussing the relation between state power and market system. In China during a long period more than 2000 years after its publication, this book is a rich resource frequently referred when every dynasty makes their economic policy.Its famous dispute about righteousness and profit is the most beneficial dispute,which leaves everlasting reflection and revelation to later generations.To some degree,the Iron and Salt Conference(盐铁会议) is meaningful to seek and create a core value system.It is also effective today for us to create a core socialist value system.