The concept of justice and benefit is that "being rich and expensive is what people want and cannot get" (Li Ren). Confucius believes that most people have a strong desire to pursue wealth. "If you have money, you can ask for it, even if it is a whip, I will do it" (Shuer). In Confucius' view, the pursuit of wealth is a reasonable economic behavior for everyone, whether it is a gentleman or a villain, as long as they pursue wealth and do not violate the moral norms of righteousness. "Ill-gotten wealth is as expensive as floating clouds on me" (Uncle Er), which is Confucius' view of justice and benefit, and also his contempt for the ill-gotten wealth.
In order to distinguish the rationality and irrationality of pursuing profit, Confucius put forward "righteousness", which is called "the righteousness of a gentleman is the highest" (Yang Huo). In the relationship between justice and benefit, we should follow the principle of paying equal attention to justice and benefit. It is a theoretical principle that Confucius believes that taking profits must conform to justice. If this truth is put into social practice, there must be a criterion to follow, that is, "ceremony", the so-called "ceremony, the classics of heaven, the meaning of the earth, and the journey of people" (Zuo Zhuan was published for twenty-five years). On the relationship between righteousness and propriety, he believes that propriety is the institutionalization of righteousness and the standard to realize it. He unified the three and summed up the relationship between righteousness, benefit and courtesy. Confucius put forward the viewpoint that "propriety follows righteousness, righteousness generates profit, and profit is Shu Ren" (Zuo Zhuan was published for two years), and Confucius' view of righteousness and profit is his old traditional economic thought.
From the point of view of material production, Confucius does not advocate that gentlemen directly engage in productive labor, and thinks that productive labor is a matter for villains. He said, "A gentleman likes virtue, while a villain likes earth". On the other hand, Confucius attached great importance to the development of production and put forward the concept of enriching the people after getting rich first. Mencius inherited and developed this view. He pointed out that the people were too poor to adopt their parents, and Xunzi suggested that "if you are not rich, you can't support people's feelings, and if you don't teach, you can't reason with people's nature." These statements are in the same strain as Confucius' thought of enriching the people.
Confucius put forward two ways to enrich the people: the first is to ensure and encourage direct producers to develop production, and he advocated "making people learn from the times" ("learning from the times"), requiring rulers not to abuse the power of the people, to ensure the needs of farming in time and not to affect production. This thought was based on the ruling class and adapted to the needs of the development of productive forces, which was undoubtedly positive at that time. The second is to reduce the exploitation of the ruling class and take measures to benefit the people, such as saving money to accumulate wealth. Confucius said to You Ran, "A gentleman's trip is also a ceremony. Take its thickness, take its example, and accept its thinness "("Zuo Zhuan? Eleven years of mourning) reflects Confucius' attitude of advocating thinness. The thought of enriching the people is a new thought with the characteristics of the times in Confucius' economic thought, and it is also the economic embodiment of his benevolent government thought, which has realistic and far-reaching historical significance.
The concept of distribution and circulation in the distribution of means of production, Confucius put forward "not suffering from widowhood but suffering from inequality" ("Ji's"), demanding that the land should be occupied according to the hierarchical status, and the subjects should be in their proper places and not encroach on each other to ensure the stability and harmony within the ruling class. This distribution thought does not advocate egalitarianism, but is extended to the idea of equal distribution relations for later Confucianism. Confucius' thought that "no one is poor" (helping the world) provides a theoretical basis for future generations to change the disparity between the rich and the poor.
Confucius talked more about the distribution and redistribution of subsistence such as food and clothing, taxes, and helping the people. He put forward the viewpoints of "having enough to eat" (Yan Yuan) and "attaching importance to people's food and mourning", and believed that people's wealth was the premise of the country's prosperity and political stability. At the same time, Confucius strongly advocated the policy of "light tax and thin tax" and implemented labor rent in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Confucius strongly advocated that the ruling class should be "thin and convergent" ("Zuo Zhuan? Eleven years of mourning), the purpose is to make "those who are near say those who are far away" ("Luz"). His thought of "helping the people" ("eternal career") was also put forward to consolidate the ruling order.
Confucius seldom talked about the problems in the field of circulation. He prefers the policy of free trade, opposes the taxation method of Dr. Lu Zang Wenzhong, and advocates opening a ban to benefit the people.
Consumption view Confucius' frugal consumption thought is the inheritance and development of the traditional consumption view since the Western Zhou Dynasty.
For personal consumption, Confucius is a consumption theorist at different levels. He believes that the poor should be "poor without complaint" and "poor but happy", and be happy if they are poor; The rich should be "rich but not arrogant" (virtuous writing) and "rich and polite" (learning). No matter poor or rich, everyone can be satisfied and live in peace. He praised Yan Hui for "eating and drinking one scoop at a time, living in a mean alley, and people can't bear to worry about it, so they won't change their fun when they go back" ("Ode to Leaves"), so that they can live in poverty and enjoy it. "Luxury is not grandchildren, frugality is solid" (Shangshu). Although Confucius advocated that everyone should be frugal, it is wrong to be extravagant and frugal that does not conform to etiquette. For the state's fiscal expenditure, Confucius adhered to the principle of "living within our means, living within our means". He proposed "saving love", and the state's fiscal expenditure, like personal consumption expenditure, should be measured, that is, "ceremony." "A gentleman's trip is also a courtesy, take its thickness and take its thinness" ("Mandarin? Xialu ").
Confucius' economic thought, through the continuous development and transformation of successors, became an important source of China's feudal landlord class economic theory, which had a great impact on the development of China's feudal society for more than two thousand years. I hope I can help you ... (* _ *) Hope to adopt it. ...