英文摘要 |
Both The Economist and The Beijing Confucianism Forum have noticed the Confucian thoughts are comparable with contemporary economy, and have further believed that Confucian wisdom and insights could be alternative and corrective to the capitalism which has brought about crisis. Adam Smith, the father of economics, proposed a principle of ideal capitalism to get rid of the problem of an unbalanced society. The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations, two of Smith's corpus magnum, however, are considered to be incompatible at some aspects and so people argue that there exists the 'Adam Smith problem'. While The Theory of Moral Sentiments suggests an altruistic view of human nature, The Wealth of Nations supports an egoist and self-interested inclination of man. A plausible interpretation is that selfishness and sympathy are both inherent in human nature and they must work together to maintain the well-being of the individual and the nation, and this interpretation makes Adam Smith's thinking consistent and coherent. This paper shows a dialogue between Adam Smith and the Pre-Chin Confucianism. Both of them share the idea of wealth of nations and the ideal of virtue-governed politics. The discipline of 'gentleman-in-private and sovereignty-in-public'內聖外王, on the other hand, not only concurrences with Smith's theory but also implies more logical potentials. Unfortunately, Confucianism rarely presents itself on the modern political stage, and The Wealth of Nations is far more acknowledged than the other theoretical work. The priority of wealth to morality results in the serious problems with modern capitalism. The use of Pre-Chin Confucianism as a guidance to modern politics has its limits, too. It is this paper's aim, therefore, to find the compatibility between the ideas of Pre-Chin Confucianism and Adam Smith, to affirm the reference and values the former can provide, and fairly to discuss the challenges that Confucianism must face when modernized and coming into the context of politics today. |