信用危机的道德思考

信用作为一种道德观念,可分为自给自足的小农社会的熟人间的私人道德与高度相互依赖的市场经济社会的商业道德。当今市场经济活动中的普遍失信,源于传统观念中商业道德的缺乏。传统小农社会只能产生熟人间的规矩(私人信用),缺乏平等主体间的契约信用观念。今日中国要实现经济的顺利转型,塑造与市场经济相适应的契约信用观念,除了与传统的消极面决裂之外,更需要理论与制度的支撑,国家的决心与会社会的普遍认同。

A Moral Construction of the Credit Crisis

Based on the moral conception, credit can be viewed as a private morality between acquaintances in a self-supporting and self-sufficient small-peasant society, or as a commercial morality in a market-economy society in which people are relying on each other to a great extent. During the economic dealings in the present markets, it is not unusual for one to break one's words. This is the result of people's insufficient comprehension of commercial morality from the traditional views. In a traditional small-peasant society, private credit is based on the relationship between acquaintances without the consciousness of contract for credit in which both sides are e-qually important. Today, when China intends to transform its economic system successfully and to strengthen the credit concept suitable to market economy, it should not only do away with the passivistic factors embodied in its tradition, but also create theoretical and systematic support, strengthen the state government determination and o-ver-all recognition by the whole society.