Critique And Succession Made By Shanxi Merchants In Economic-ethical Thought Of Confucianism

This paper studies relatively and systematically how economic ethics of Jin Businessmen criticize and inherit Confucian economic ethics, using Marxist economic-ethics standpoint, viewpoint and method. Created an outstanding commercial miracle, Jin Businessmen have made a remarkable history of 500 years in business world, which is on a critical position in Chinese business history. Economic ethics of Jin Businessmen which is formed and perfected in the process of criticizing and inheriting Confucian economic ethics has played an important role in the prosperity and development of Shanxi merchants. Studying the relations between economic ethics of Jin Businessmen and Confucian economic ethics aims to make the past serve the present, refer to the outstanding achievements in the traditional Chinese culture, fully play its positive role in the modern economic activities. Scholars either seldom researched on Jin Businessmen from the perspective of inheritance of social consciousness, nor did they study economic ethics of Jin Businessmen putted in long history of Chinese traditional economic ethics ,so it is difficult to give economic ethics of Jin Businessmen an accurate historical position on the whole and discover its oriental trait . Therefore, it not only enables to enrich and improve the research on Jin Businessmen in further, but also can enrich and improve the research on Marxist economic ethics.This paper adheres to Marxist economic-ethics standpoint, viewpoint and method. The topic of this paper is stated by applying the basic principle of philosophy, economics, sociology, and history, based on analyzing related research materials. In the process of research, this article pays attention to historical material analysis, insists on the analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, abstraction to specific, logic and history consistent method. First of all, the paper describes systematically the research background, research significance, and research status, research idea and research method of the selected topic. Secondly, the paper gives a comprehensive overview of Confucian economic ethics and economic ethics of Jin Businessmen, including the connotation, forming conditions, the core content and its role in history. On this basis, the paper analyzes the relation between these two thoughts from the perspective of social consciousness inherence. Thirdly, the paper analyzes in detail how economic ethics of Jin Businessmen criticize and inherent these thought such as interest after the righteous ,taking interest from righteousness, honor honesty and credibility, unidentified letter method ,etc. At last, contemporary value of theoretical achievements from the critique and inherence to Confucian economic ethical is discussed from the macroscopic and microcosmic angles respectively.Economic ethics of Jin Businessmen is inherited and developed from Confucian economic ethical by Jin Businessmen, and also the result of fast development of commodity economy. In the history of human social and economic development, economic ethics of Jin Businessmen obviously exist a little historical limitation, but it contains excellent economic ethical spirit which still can be applied in modern economic activity universality. Unhealthy phenomenon commonly occur, such as treachery, mercenaries and the enterprise ethics crisis, enterprise credibility crisis caused by it in social economic activities on today's socialist market economy condition. Therefore, to inherit and carry forward excellent traditional economic ethical spirit have the positively theoretical meaning for constructing ethics system adapting to the modern economic and social development and significantly practical meaning for guiding healthy development of the modern market economy.