The concept of justice and benefit is the core issue of economic ethics. What is the specific content?

"Righteousness and benefit, luxury and simplicity" are the three foundations.

Connotation of the concept of justice and benefit

China's traditional view of justice and benefit is a view and cognition of certain social and economic contradictions formed by combining their respective views of justice and benefit, which not only includes the choice of interests at the economic level, but also relates to people's value setting and pursuit. In the early days of China (especially in the pre-Qin period), various views on justice and benefit were mainly aimed at public interests and private interests. During the feudal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, its economic form was embodied in the feudal lords' economy. But for civilians, it is self-interest that cares about themselves, and the rest is public interest. Although the enfeoffment system gradually disintegrated during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the vassal separatist countries that replaced it also provided conditions for the formation of the landlord economy. It is against this background that we can know from the pre-Qin Confucian concept of justice and benefit that the connotation of the concept of justice and benefit is the choice and value orientation of the ruling class and the ruled class on social and economic contradictions. As a standard measure and moral norm that people need to consider when obtaining benefits, it provides theoretical basis and ideological guidance for dealing with economic contradictions among different classes of interest subjects.

Second, the pre-Qin Cofucian ideology of justice and benefit

(A) Confucius's concept of justice and benefit

Confucius believes that righteousness is a class measure to distinguish a gentleman from a villain. Confucius thought: "If you don't see small profits for politics, you can't achieve great things." Here, small profits refer to general interests, but for the ruling class, they are short-term and temporary interests. Righteousness, on the other hand, belongs to the fundamental interests that the ruling class needs to pursue corresponding to small profits. Therefore, the first half of Confucius' exposition actually hopes that every ruler should know that long-term interests can only be obtained if the interests of the monarch are based on the interests of the people, rather than taking advantage of each other within the class; Therefore, Confucius concluded that it is beneficial to the people. It can be seen that Confucius' concept of justice and benefit contains a strong concept of class division, and the explanation of the concept of justice and benefit of different classes is also a reflection of the relationship between emerging feudal classes.

(B) Mencius' view of justice and benefit

Mencius put forward the idea of "righteousness is better" at the beginning of Hui Liang Wang Shang. Mencius' suggestion to the general plan of governing the country is that the king of a country should not only pay attention to the immediate vested interests, but should pay attention to governing the country with the concept of benevolence and righteousness; If all people, from monarchs to ministers, only pay attention to interests and ignore morality, then this country will be in danger. Secondly, Mencius also believes that righteousness should be a means for human beings to stick to morality from the heart rather than making profits. In Mencius' concept, righteousness is a means to stick to the realm rather than a heartfelt desire for interests; If we proceed from this angle, we can better understand the ideological depth of Mencius' "sacrifice one's life for righteousness". It can be seen that Mencius attached great importance to justice on the issue of righteousness and benefit; Although the necessity of profit is undeniable, from the final point of view, righteousness is undoubtedly the fundamental principle of all people.

(C) Xunzi's concept of justice and benefit

First of all, Xunzi admitted that profit is the nature of all of us, but at the same time it must be restrained. Xunzi thinks it's like people feel hungry and want to eat, cold and warm, and tired and want to rest; It is inherent in life to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, even emperors like Dayu and Xia Jie are no exception. At the same time, Xunzi said: "Fire and water have life but no life, and plants have life but no knowledge ... so they are the most expensive in the world." It can be seen that after affirming the profit-seeking nature of human beings, Xunzi also admitted that sticking to righteousness is also the spiritual bottom line that distinguishes human beings from plants, insects, fish and other things. People are different because they can adhere to morality.

Thirdly, analyze the pre-Qin Confucian concept of justice and benefit.

(A) Analysis of the pre-Qin Confucian concept of unity of justice and interests

1. Admit the rationality of profit while insisting on taking advantage.

First of all, Confucius once said: "Rich people can seek for themselves. Although you are a whip, I will do it for you. " It can be seen from Confucius' remarks that Confucius seldom talks about the issue of profit, not because he thinks that profit is not important, but because he thinks that standardized education at the moral level is the foundation. Only after the correct guidance of values is formed can it be meaningful to talk about specific social activities aimed at profit. Secondly, Mencius once said: "The people are the way, those who have constant production have perseverance, and those who have impermanence have no perseverance." He believes that people with certain property income have certain moral concepts and codes of conduct, that is, "profit" is the material basis of "righteousness" and the material guarantee of people's lives, which can promote the perfection of righteousness.

2. Think that the public interest is greater than the private interest, and it is even more important to "forget the righteousness".

In the thoughts of the representative figures of Confucianism in the pre-Qin period, the emphasis on the concept of justice and benefit of different classes was reflected; Special emphasis is placed on the overall interests of society over individual interests; Rulers have higher standards of justice and benefit; People think that the main task of rulers is to seek benefits for the world and society. For example, Mencius thought: "Mozi loves everything, and it is better for the world to follow suit." He advocated that the rulers implement the policy of benevolent governance and enriching the people, calling it justice and seeking public interests for the world; Emphasis is placed on putting the overall interests of the country above personal interests, and restricting personal interests with public interests. Xunzi put forward the viewpoint that "poverty means poverty, and wealth means wealth", which closely linked the interests of the people with those of the country. He asked the rulers to "save money and enrich the people". Only by putting the interests of the people first can the rulers benefit themselves. It also points out that public interest and private interest are not completely opposite, but have internal unity.

(2) The essence of the pre-Qin Confucian concept of justice and benefit.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius' view of justice and benefit mainly stood on the position of the declining slave class and thought about how to reconcile its contradiction with the emerging landlord class. By the middle of the Warring States period, after the great turmoil in the late Spring and Autumn Period and the early Warring States period, the old social order and moral norms were completely destroyed, and the emerging landlord class gradually grew up and mastered the real power. However, the decadent slave class has not yet withdrawn from the historical stage. Mencius' view of justice and benefit is to think about how to strengthen rule through moral norms from the perspective of the former. At the end of the Warring States period when Xunzi lived, the emerging feudal landlord class had defeated the slave owner class, and the feudal system was gradually formed. At this time, the main task of the rulers is to think about how to further consolidate the newly established feudal order and redistribute social wealth. The main social contradiction has also changed into the contradiction between the landlord class and the people, and Xunzi's view of justice and benefit is a concentrated reflection of this contradiction.

Fourthly, the pre-Qin concept of justice and benefit and its enlightenment to corporate social responsibility in the socialist market.

(A) the unity of justice and benefit is the value pursuit of socialist market development.

If a society only talks about interests without moral constraints, then the whole market will have bad competition blindly seeking profits, which will lead to the destruction of order; Similarly, if a society only pays attention to morality and ignores the pursuit of material interests, then the economic foundation of the whole society will be weak and the national strength will not increase. The country adheres to the operating mechanism of the socialist market, which requires us to pay more attention to the interests of the whole society while considering the individual interests of enterprises, and we must criticize some ultra-egoistic ideas. Therefore, the pre-Qin Confucianists' insistence on the unity of justice and benefit is not only the value pursuit of the socialist market, but also the moral standard for the high-quality operation of the socialist market economy.

(B) the unity of justice and benefit is the value orientation of corporate social responsibility.

1. Keep "righteousness" first, then seek "profit"

In today's global situation dominated by capital logic, the degree of development of commodity economy has greatly improved. Marx's stipulation on its essence is: "People's independence is based on dependence on things." Therefore, enterprises, as the main body of cells in the market economy, are noncommittal about their profit-making purposes; However, in recent years, due to the blind pursuit of profit maximization by some enterprises, there have been many dishonest behaviors such as fraud, tax evasion and infringement on consumers' rights and interests, which have caused a series of adverse consequences such as chaotic market order, serious environmental pollution and damage to consumers' interests.

2. Don't forget to emphasize "righteousness" when you get "benefit"

After making good use of the good social environment and resources, enterprises should establish the values of "social entrepreneurs" and realize that the success of enterprises not only comes from their own efforts, but also depends on the support of all walks of life. On the one hand, actively provide employment opportunities and training courses for the community in terms of social participation, and devote themselves to charitable causes such as environmental protection, medical care and education to improve the welfare guarantee of employees within the enterprise; On the one hand, we should actively respond to the country's major policies, pay taxes according to regulations, and help the healthy development of the socialist market economy. At the same time, these wise measures of enterprises can also enhance the enthusiasm of employees, thereby improving the labor productivity of enterprises, enhancing the image of enterprises, attracting more responsible consumption, and achieving both justice and benefit.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) conclusion

Through the research, we can know that the Confucian view of justice and benefit in pre-Qin dynasty is not one-sided emphasis on justice and neglect or sacrifice for justice; Righteousness and benefit are unified in connotation and logic. On the one hand, righteousness can guide and then derive benefits; At the same time, it can promote the realization of righteousness; On the other hand, in the dialectical contradiction between public interests and private interests, they are not completely opposite. If we coordinate the relationship between them, we can promote each other. Moreover, the pre-Qin Confucian concept of justice and benefit plays an important guiding role in the social responsibility consciousness of enterprise subjects in the market economy under the socialist system in China. The concept of unity of justice and benefit is not only the requirement of our system, but also the value orientation of enterprises. We affirm the rationality of the profit-seeking behavior of enterprises; But at the same time, in the process of seeking profit, we can't ignore our social responsibility, which includes two aspects: protecting righteousness before seeking profit, and not forgetting to emphasize righteousness while seeking profit. Only by taking the concept of unity of justice and benefit as the starting point of enterprise economic activities can we promote a win-win situation for individual enterprises and the whole society.