Vanity and the love of system in Theory of Moral Sentiments

Abstract

Some recent writing on Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments has emphasised the importance of vanity as one of the most important human motivations. This reading leads to a new version of Das Adam Smith Problem, but this is unwarranted. Such a reading tends to conceal the significance that Smith gave to the love of system, which motivates the actions of the philosopher, the man of state, and above all the entrepreneur. This paper shows, by contrast, that by using this conception we can relate Theory of Moral Sentiments to Wealth of Nations, and reject the idea that these works are based upon contradictory assumptions.     

论现代道德选择能力培育及其路径选择

随着社会发展、国际间交往的日趋频繁,人们的道德观念正在发生广泛、持久、深刻的变化,在当前的社会条件下,培育人的道德选择能力,特别是合理道德行为选择能力的培育,已成为道德教育亟待解决的问题。在现代社会,道德选择能力培育必须回归社会生活世界,使其内容、过程和目的生活化。     

当代大学生道德情感对道德行为的影响及应对措施

道德情感与道德行为相互作用、密不可分。道德情感是道德行为与道德认识之间的桥梁;道德情感的发展过程本身就是一种道德行为;道德情感对道德行为具有定向、激励和强化的功能。随着社会的发展,当代大学生的思想道德状况发生了变化,他们的道德情感总体上是积极向上的,但也有一些令人担忧的方面,如道德情感空洞、薄弱、不稳定等。为此,大学生自身应该加强正确世界观、人生观和价值观的培养;学校、家庭和社会应该为大学生营造出良好的道德环境,引导大学生形成优秀的道德情感,促进道德行为的发生。     

Money Talks: Moral Economies of Earning a Living in Neoliberal East Africa

Neoliberal restructuring has targeted not just the economy, but also polity, society and culture, in the name of creating capitalist market societies. The societal repercussions of neoliberal policy and reform in terms of moral economy remain understudied. This article seeks to address this gap by analysing moral economy characteristics and dynamics in neoliberalised communities, as perceived by traders in Uganda and sex workers in Kenya. The interview data reveal perceived drivers that contributed to a significant moral dominance of money, self-interest, short-termism, opportunism and pragmatism. Equally notable are a perceived (i) close interaction between political–economic and moral–economic dynamics, and (ii) significant impact of the political–economic structure on moral agency. Respondents primarily referred to material factors usually closely linked to neoliberal reform, as key drivers of local moral economies. We thus speak of a neoliberalisation of moral economies, itself part of the wider process of embedding and locking-in market society structures in the two countries. An improved political economy of moral economy can help keep track of this phenomenon.     

亚当·斯密的＂问题＂对当代社会经济伦理的影响

亚当斯密问题＂即《道德情操论》中＂道德人＂和《国富论》中＂经济人＂关系的问题。＂道德人＂和＂经济人＂看似相互矛盾、根本对立,但两者有着内在联系。因此,深入了解两者之间的关系来解析当代社会的经济伦理问题对我国当今社会主义市场经济具有借鉴意义。     

经济增长与依德治国：一个分析框架

本从经济学的角度,构建了一个制度经济的分析框架,对经济增长,道德内生的经济模型,经济增长中的道德均衡,道德生命周期和道德滞后进行了探讨,从而揭示出依德治国不仅仅只是一种政治口号,更具有深刻的经济根源。     

试析当代大学生思想道德教育的困惑

德育是教育的有机组成部分。当代大学生思想道德教育存在困惑,主要表现为德育与智育难以并重、理论与实际难以融合、现实与理想难以对接。学校的应试教育、学生的急功近利、市场经济的影响、理论与实际的游离、理想与现实的偏差等是其主要成因。     

Religion and political economy in Saint-Simon

Abstract

The project of Henri Saint-Simon (1760–1825) was to complete the French Revolution by a social change in order to eliminate the so-called “feudal-military” system and to bring about a new society which he named “the industrial system”. Everything had to be changed, including religion and its relation to political economy. In this paper, I examine: (i) the recurring problem of religion, raised by Saint-Simon as early as his first text; (ii) the emergence of the economic problem of identifying production with politics; (iii) and finally, the metamorphosis of the Christian religion into a moral and industrial religion.     

Psychology,social evolution and liberalism: a Hayekian trinity

Abstract

The work of Friedrich Hayek describes an extensive political economy, with explicit consideration of the psychological limits to human understanding, the market as a mechanism of information gathering and social coordination, and the relationship between market processes and the free society, where moral and political issues are relevant within a framework of continuous adaptation. Although the survival characteristics of social institutions largely defy rational enquiry, political liberalism secures the diversity that is necessary for evolutionary social adaptation.     

德商与领导德行力开发

德商和德行力是当前领导力开发研究的热点问题之一。本文在相关文献研究的基础上．详细介绍了德商定义、德商对智商和情商的导向作用,说明了如何将德商分解成领导德行力,并提出了领导德行力开发的几点建议。     

生态文明观视野下的生态德育

在生态文明观的视野下,传统德育已经不合时宜,显现出明显的滞后性,迫切需要向生态德育转向。生态德育的兴起是多种因素产生的结果,它的核心要素是：绿色、和谐、人文、民主、自由、可持续发展。生态德育体现了生态文明的意蕴,对于生态文明的建设具有重要价值。德育的生活化、多元开放、全球化与本土化是生态德育的走向。     

The usury debate,the sustainability debate,and the call for a moral economy

This article attempts to contribute ethical to perspectives on sustainability initiatives by comparing the relationship between economy and society in the usury debate in early modern England and the sustainability debate in the late 20th century. This comparison highlights is the changing relationship between economy and society has been a self-conscious and hotly debated struggle among various groups at various times in history. The article concludes that if sustainability is going to be a viable ethical project, it may have to reclaim access to social and political relations which have been increasingly privatized in market economy throughout the modern period.     

浅析“以权利为基准的道德辩护”

伴随着公民社会的建立与发展,人们在公共交往过程中越来越多地将＂权利＂作为基准为自身的观点和利益提供道德辩护。然而,由于将＂权利＂作为核心道德标准在中国公共领域时间还很短,引起公众对＂以权利为基准的道德辩护＂的诸多误解。通过逻辑分析与案例分析相结合的方法,试图澄清＂以权利为基准的道德辩护＂的理论边际和辩护结构;并且,在回应种种对＂以权利为基准的道德辩护＂的质疑的同时,论证该道德辩护方式的有效性与兼容性。     

Sentiments and Motivations in Adam Smith and Vernon Smith

Vernon Smith (VS) discovered Adam Smith (AS) late in his professional career, and has adopted ideas from The Theory of Moral Sentiments to explain findings in experimental economics. Most important is the theorized link between moral sentiments and the evolution of property rights and law as foundations for commerce. VS's encounter with AS, while not new, provides a compelling look at the modern laboratory of social science through the lens of the Enlightenment, and cannot easily be encapsulated within a utilitarian framework. This paper provides an overview and commentary on VS's approach.     

论道德效力及其表征

道德效力不仅仅是道德规范的影响力,而是道德价值体系整体的效力,是道德价值体系本身所具有的能实现一定社会目标、达到某种社会效果的力量。它不仅是一个量的概念,因受各种因素的影响而在程度上有所不同,而且在性质上也有善与恶的区分。相对于法律效力,道德效力有其独有的特性。其外在表征主要体现在求善的执着、个体的自律和他律、社会秩序的良好三个方面。     

商业医疗保险中的道德风险防范与控制

道德风险在各种保险市场都存在,但在医疗保险市场却复杂得多。道德风险使医疗费用快速不合理地增长,过度消耗有限资源,给社会造成了极大的浪费,同时还恶化了医患关系,降低了社会诚信水平。分析了我公司9 876例案件中出现的道德风险及采取的防范措施。     

‘Catholic in its faith,Catholic in its manner of conceiving science’: French Catholic political economy in the 1830s

Abstract

This paper addresses a group of Catholic political economists in France in the 1830s, which was described by the Dublin Review as ‘Catholic in its faith, and Catholic in its manner of conceiving science’. A first section clarifies how contemporaries perceived this group. This is followed by an analysis of Villeneuve-Bargemont's Economie politique Chrétienne in order to outline a standard Catholic approach to political economy. Finally, that standard is used to chart the work of other Catholic economists within that group and to contrast it with the approach followed by other contemporary social political economists.     

社会保险中的道德风险及其遏制

道德风险来自人的机会主义倾向，是给他人和社会带来不利后果的人为风险。道德风险在社会保险领域发生的频率最高、分布最广、造成损失最大、防范难度也最高。被保险人试图利用自己掌握的信息优势，在追求自身效益最大化的同时做出损害保险人利益的行为。道德风险在社会保险的所有项目上都存在相应的表现及危害。针对社会保险中道德风险产生的原因，应从完善社会保险立法、增强查处力度、设计约束与激励并重的机制、建立信息对称机制及诚信自律机制等方面遏制社会保险的道德风险。     

儒家传统道德对于构建和谐社会的价值

和谐社会是物质文明与精神文明共同发展、共同繁荣的社会。道德文化是精神文明的重要组成部分,一个道德缺失的社会必然导致社会秩序的混乱,相反,良好的道德状况则反映出社会生活的有序、祥和。深入挖掘儒家道德文化中的义利观、诚信观、仁爱观,促进社会主义和谐社会的构建。     

大学生道德教育课堂中的案例教学法探析

传统的大学生道德教育课堂教学存在着脱离现实的致命伤,道德案例教法的优势就在于聚焦现实,其引入在很大程度上可以弥补传统道德教育课堂教学的不足。为了更好地发挥道德案例教学法的优势,需要在道德案例的选择、道德案例的引入和道德案例的讨论等环节做一些积极有益的尝试。