Moral Reflection in Deepening of Reform and Openin...
Yang Qiyu
Yang Qiyu，Assistant Research Professor，Institute of Chinese Maxism，SASS
E-mail: yqy@sass.org.cn
This paper in Chinese was originally published in Exploration and Free Views 2015 （6）.
Abstract: With the deepening of reform，the moral anomie accompanied by the rapid economic growth has aroused people ’s reflection and questioning.This kind of reflection and questioning often leads to moral doubts and disputes about market economy.This paper holds that market and morality are not incompatible in terms of their economic and social attributes.However，the current market economy has been transformed from the long-standing planned economy，and the process itself has been an integral part of the social transformation caused by the reform and opening up in the past 40 years.In the process of reform，the old rules have been overthrown，and the new rules can not be established quickly.Thus，the whole society has been in a state with neither old nor new norms for a long period of time，which leads to the expansion of desires in the heart without self-restraint，and consequently leads to the expansion of desires in the heart.The market law in its original sense has been introduced into interpersonal communication，resulting in the pan-marketization of society.Therefore，in a deep sense，moral anomie has been actually a phenomenon with social changes.However，the contradiction in the social transformation and the change of social organization structure in the process of modernization，as well as the coexistence of some Western ideas with the existing values in the same time after the opening-up，which influence each other，will inevitably aggravate the degree of moral anomie.Therefore，the understanding of moral dilemma is essentially the understanding of the social content of moral dilemma.With this background，we may have a deeper understanding of the reasons and significance of advocating socialist core values and remolding the spirit of China.
Keywords: Moral Anomie；Social Transformation；Market Economy；Moral Reconstruction；Socialist Core Values
After 40 years of reform and opening up，China ’s economy has achieved unprecedented prosperity.However，it has been accompanied by a lot of bad behavior that has occurred in the market and has affected the society.This has triggered widespread concern and in-depth reflection on morality in Chinese society.Academia has investigated and discussed the phenomenon of moral anomie，mostly focusing on egoism and individualism brought about by its negative impact in the development of market economy.In the existing research，Huang Xiaojun believes that from the perspective of ethics，the moral imbalance that has been concentrated since the new era has been caused by the conflict of interests under the market economy.[1] This is a representative point of view，and Chen Jie ’s corollary is more specific and typical： “After the introduction of market economy into China，China has gradually realized the transformation from planned economy to commodity economy.In the exchange process of commodity economy，people ’s original dependency has been broken.Individuals have got rid of all kinds of kinship，‘dominance-obedience’ relationship and attachment to family and clan.They gain a kind of personal independence based on material dependence.Individuals who pursue private interests are indifferent to each other，because only through commodity exchange can their personal interests be realized.However，no matter what forms these social connections take，they are only means to achieve each individual ’s personal goals.It is on this social and economic basis that individualism comes into being.For quite a long period of time，‘egoism’ and ‘utilitarianism’ have impacted the old traditional morality in people ’s concepts and promoted them to constantly produce so-called new value standards based on the individual.”[2] These discussions have actually involved the estimation of human nature.As far as egoism in human nature is concerned，Chernishevsky said，“All people are egoists.” And “egoism is the only motive that governs the behaviour of everyone with whom they relate.”[3] Beyond him，Feuerbach and Helvetius have made similar assertions.Compared with Confucianism which believes in good nature，western scholars who value contract pay more attention to the dark side of human nature.Therefore，although they do not directly involve the market economy，their words undoubtedly provide an explanation of Human Nature Theory for the profit-seeking nature of the market.It is against this background that we can understand why the above inferences are easily accepted by most people in today ’s China.
Since the reform and opening up，the process of transformation from planned economy to market economy and the process of moral anomie evolving into social illness have occurred in our lives，and thus become an indispensable problem in exploring the cause and effect of morality decline.The connotations of these two processes are not the same，but they are intuitively linked together in the social transformation.Therefore，our discussion can not begin without the relationship between market and morality.