II. The Economic Views of the Various Religions and Limited Circularity

1. Economic Ethics and the Circularity of the Various Religions

The economic thought of a religion may be called a very central constituent element of religion, one that concretely expresses the abstract thought of that religion. The hidden meaning of a religion can be grasped when it is expressed as economic thought. When a religion appears as economic thought, it may be said to appear as an economic ethic that is more concrete than its religious doctrine.

Although modern capitalist economics adamantly denies it, economy and ethics are, like Janus, in a very close relationship in which they are constantly opposed yet appear together at the same time. Even in such an everyday situation as how one eats a single apple, economy and ethics constantly appear in opposition. Because economy and ethics frequently appear in mutually opposed forms, they stand in so close a relationship that one might say the inverse of economy is ethics and the inverse of ethics is economy. Historically, economy and ethics are said to have shown toward each other a relationship like that of a long-term function.

[Figure 2.1] The Historical Trend of Economy and Ethics136)

Given that the core ethics of the various religions appear as visible economic thought, and that the economic thought of a religion appears mainly in an ethical form, examining the economic ethics of the various religions becomes a very important task in understanding religion. Moreover, since ethics too may be said to be closely related to economics, the three—religion, economics, and ethics—may be said to possess a common theoretical system.137) As for the relationship among religion, economics, and ethics, one may examine it in the order of first establishing a system centered on ethics, which is close to daily life, then illuminating its relationship with economics, and again connecting it with religion.

First, if we examine the system of ethics, ethics has, in chronological order, three traditions: the ethics of Aristotle, which emphasizes virtue (excellence)138)139); the deontological ethics of Kant, which emphasizes the right (正, justice); and the libertarian or utilitarian ethics, which emphasizes the good (善, efficiency).140)

To take daily life as an example, in a situation where profit and ethics conflict, the standard of ethical conduct by which one keeps one's conscience was, in ancient Greece, a matter of inner virtue that is my own being; but with Kant it became a matter of my ethical duties and rights under the institution of the social contract; and again in the modern age ethics approaches it as a matter of conduct concerning the interest of myself and of society as a whole.

To apply abstract ethical concepts to economics, a concrete social science, the system of ethics—which has the two sides of theory and practice—may be divided into the following nine systems.

\<Table 2.1\> The System of Ethics141)

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Actual economics, too, like ethics, appears as a tradition that develops its theories centered on three tasks: conduct (the good—the marginal utility school), institution (the right—the institutionalist school and the historical school), and being (virtue—the economics of the gift).

In the case of obtaining a single apple, the marginal utility school, a neoclassical school, values efficient conduct that takes profit by calculating the utility—that is, the marginal utility—and the cost incurred upon obtaining the last apple; the institutionalist school values the history and institutions involved—how fair the institution is by which a single apple comes into my hands; and in the economics of the gift, the matter of being—who gave me the apple—is valued.

That every society has economy and ethics, and that economy and ethics become the core of society, is because economy and ethics are the two principal means of integrating society by the standard of universal value. That mutually opposed economy and ethics constantly appear together is because economy (efficiency) and ethics (the right) share the common feature of the good (善). The good, too, has two opposed attributes integrated into one. When utility is called the good, the good has individual plurality and qualitative diversity; thus, in the aspect of individual plurality two combinations—efficiency and justice—are possible, and in the aspect of qualitative diversity two combinations—freedom and excellence—are possible. Freedom becomes a basic value-norm common to both economy and ethics.

[Figure 2.2] The Composition of the Tasks143)

According to the above tasks, the world of economy and the world of ethics are integrated around the good. The integrated world of economy and ethics is mediated through the virtue of politics or religion. Economy, ethics, and politics (religion) represent, respectively, conduct, institution, and being.

As shown in [Figure 2.3], wealth comes from scarce resources, capability comes from insufficient virtue, and rights come from limited rightness (正). Economy and ethics are regulated in the domain of political virtue (德), which is excellence, and all three are integrated into the good.

[Figure 2.3] The Integration of the World of Economy and the World of Ethics144)

If we examine economic ethics among ethical thought, the character of ethical thought now becomes apparent according to which of the right (正), the good (善), and virtue (德) it emphasizes when related to economy. The tradition of ethics began with the debate between the right (正) and the good (善). The utilitarian tradition beginning with Adam Smith emphasized the good (善) over the right (正), asserting that the happiness of the greatest number is itself moral, and it built the dominant economic-ethical thought until the appearance of Rawls's social contractarianism, which emphasizes the right (正) over the good (善). The utilitarian tradition held that the individual may be sacrificed for the happiness of the greatest number.

Rawls modernized Kant's deontological ethics, pointed out the weaknesses of utilitarianism, and revived a social-contractarian theory of justice grounded in individual freedom.145) His point is that if individual happiness is sacrificed, the happiness of the greatest number is meaningless, so the duty to guarantee individual happiness is more important. Rawls's social contractarianism has aspects that advanced beyond utilitarianism, but because it gave rise to problems of freedom and equality it was again criticized by communitarians and libertarians. Communitarianism146), which holds that although individual duty is important the community takes precedence, emphasizes from a holistic standpoint pragmatic virtue (德) over the ethical sense of duty that is the right (正); and libertarianism, from an individualist standpoint, emphasizes the virtue (德) of positive freedom over the right (正). Here freedom may be called the basic norm common to all three—the right (正), the good (善), and virtue (德).

Examining the relationship of each school of thought more concretely, utilitarianism—represented by Mill and Bentham, or by Pareto147)—holds, unlike the libertarianism represented by Hayek and Friedman, that individual freedom may be constrained if it serves the interest of the whole, and unlike social contractarianism, it places interest before duty.

The ethical theories that value ethics over economy are social contractarianism and communitarianism148); the social contractarianism represented by Rawls, unlike communitarianism, adopts methodological individualism and does not sacrifice the individual for the interest of the whole. The communitarianism represented by MacIntyre is the finest alternative for implementing social welfare under capitalism, but its practicality is questionable because of the uncertainty of compensation for individual sacrifice.149) From the standpoint of value-ideology, the utilitarianism and libertarianism related to economic ethics emphasize efficiency through adaptation, while social contractarianism, which emphasizes ethics, pursues justice through solidarity, and communitarianism pursues excellence through freedom. To integrate the above tasks, modern economic ethics and economics resolve problems on four dimensions.

\<Table 2.2\> The Dimensions of Modern Moral Philosophy

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The four ethical theories may be divided into four quadrants according to the criteria of individual/community and efficiency (economy)/justice (politics).

[Figure 2.4] The Relationship of the Four Economic Ethics

Second, if we examine the religious aspect, the interrelationship between economic ethics and religious thought can be examined in the composition of the circular logic found in the doctrinal systems of religious thought. That among countless religions the ones with a cyclic economic view can be limited to Yu-Bul-Seon and Western Religion (Seogyo) appears in the logical framework of thought of the various religious theories.150) Because the logical frameworks in which circular logic can be expressed are limited, the religious thought of East and West can be condensed into Yu-Bul-Seon and Western Religion. Economics, too, may be said to be a kind of logic, like game theory, and to stand in a mutually circular relationship; therefore economic ethics and religion can be integrated with each other.

Because a circle is round, in the theory of circulation the proposition X and the proposition –X151) appear complementarily (相補的), unlike in linear theory.152) The various aspects of circulation can be examined, using mathematical logic, by means of adjacency-structure theory, a branch of topology.153) As in dialectics, in the circular logic of the circle a proposition that sets out as X at the starting point becomes –X at the turning point and again becomes X.154) In the end, the logics that can appear in the theory of circulation are limited to:

Confucianism, which holds that X is X and –X is –X155);

Taoism, which holds that X is –X and –X is X156);

and Buddhism, which holds that X is neither X nor –X157);

and Western Religion, with the universal love (博愛) that “X is everything”158), connects the three circular logics so that they may operate.

In fact, the Confucian logic that X is X and –X is –X159) is:

To learn (X) and to practice it from time to time (X) is a joy,160)

and if a like-minded friend (同志, X) comes (X), it is a pleasure161);

the ruler (X) must act as ruler (X), and the minister (–X) must act as minister (–X).162)

To regard what one knows (X) as known (X) and what one does not know (–X) as not known (–X)—this is knowing (X).163)

A friend (X) is a friend (X), and an enemy (–X) is an enemy (–X).164)

To the logic of Confucianism, Taoism responds with paradox.

In Taoism, which holds that X is –X and –X is X165):

if one calls the Way (道, X) the Way (X), it is not the Way (–X)166);

the strongest thing (X) is the weakest, water (–X)167);

heaven and earth (X) are not benevolent (不仁, –X)168);

a friend (X) is an enemy (–X), and an enemy (–X) is a friend (X).169)

While Taoism and Confucianism stood opposed on the Chinese mainland, Buddhism from India swept across China as a mediating thought.

Buddhism, which holds that ‘X is neither X nor –X,’ responds to the Taoist claim that an enemy is a friend by saying

that, ‘without friend (X) or enemy (–X),’ all things are empty (空).170)

[Figure 2.5] The Interrelationship of the Various Religions

The circular relationship of the economic thought of the various religions appears intensively, centered on the method of pursuing eternal life, which may be called the core of religious doctrine. Western Religion, which holds that ‘X is everything,’ pursues the eternal life of the soul (靈魂永生) through a covenantal circulation grounded in the Ten Commandments between God and the human community.171) Because the logic that ‘X is everything’ pursues community over the individual and spirit over matter, it pursues eternal life through the soul.172) Buddhism, which holds that ‘X is neither X nor –X,’ pursues transmigration and rebirth (輪回轉生) through the circulation of all things on the wheel of dharma according to the theory of dependent origination. If ‘X is neither X nor –X,’ the distinction between body and spirit and the distinction between self and other disappear; thus, dying and transmigrating, changing bodies, the human being can attain the perfection of the next world through transmigration and rebirth. Confucianism, which holds that ‘X is X and –X is –X,’ pursues the summoning and revival of the spirit (招魂再生) through circulation in the human relations of father and son, ruler and subject. If matter is matter and spirit is spirit, and I am I and you are you, then one orients toward this world over the next and toward community over the individual. Taoism, which holds that ‘X is –X and –X is X,’ has emphasized the eternal life of the body (肉身永生) through the circulation of non-action and naturalness that accords with the principles of nature.173) If spirit is body and body is spirit, and death is life and life is death, then one orients toward the individual over community and toward the eternal life of the body in this world over the next. In religion, circulation was the core of each religion's identity in pursuing eternal life, so they have been wary of the infinite development of economy, which can break circulation. The various religions can be divided into four according to the individual174)/community175) and next-world orientation176)/this-world orientation of the eternal life they pursue.

[Figure 2.6] The Interrelationship of the Views of Eternal Life of the Various Religions177)

In the circular worldview, all things show similar relationships with one another, like fractals (相同性, self-similarity), and this is all the more so for economy and ethics, which are closely connected with religion. A fractal (相同性) means a mutually resembling structure. Modern science has revealed that the smallest atom and the largest galaxy have similar structures, and that computers and molecules have similar structures.

[Figure 2.7] The Interrelationship of Religion and Economic Ethics

Unlike the reductionist method that splits all things to find the ultimate particle, in the theory of circulation—which uses an emergentist and holistic (全一) method that finds laws within the relationships of all things—all things circulate, and structures that bear mutual polarity (daedae) with one another have mutually resembling structures.178)

In [Figure 2.4] on the relationship of the four economic ethics and [Figure 2.5] on the interrelationship of the various religions, the X-axes—efficiency (economy)–justice (politics) and this-world orientation–next-world orientation—and the Y-axis, individual–community, may be said to have points in common, so the two graphs can be overlaid as in [Figure 2.7].

In the theory of circulation, looking far ahead, Taoism holds that ‘a friend (X) is an enemy (–X) and an enemy (–X) is a friend (X),’ so that the individual appears with a libertarian character pursuing his own freedom without connection to others179); whereas Buddhism, which holds that ‘there is neither friend (X) nor enemy (–X),’ becomes a social-contractarian religion in which one merely fulfills one's own duties. In Confucianism, where a friend is a friend and an enemy is an enemy, so that enemy and friend are clearly distinguished, one pursues the greatest happiness for one's own side, but it orients toward a utilitarianism180) in which individual interest is disregarded for the interest of the whole. If Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism have gathered everything together on the side of production, then Western Religion, which holds that ‘X belongs to everyone,’ distributes everything gathered, like fire, through the communitarianism of universal love (博愛).181)

Third, if we examine economy: the world's religions are divided into Yu-Bul-Seon and Western Religion according to the logical structure of the theory of circulation, and economy has a structure related to circulation—namely saving, production, circulation, and distribution.

[Figure 2.8] The Interrelationship of Economic Views182)

If we apply the logic of the existing religions to economic circulation:

Taoism, which holds that ‘X is –X and –X is X’183), concentrates on economic circulation through the view of wealth (財富論) that prepares today in preparation for the future184);

the Confucian logic that ‘X is X and –X is –X’ organizes human beings and society with the property accumulated through the view of wealth and engages in production. The goods produced by Confucianism are widely given and circulated through the universal-love thought of Western Religion, and the goods whose circulation is finished are

fairly distributed by Buddhism, which holds that ‘X is neither X nor –X,’ and what remains is again saved, becoming a new cycle as in [Figure 2.9].

[Figure 2.9] The Interrelationship of the Various Religions and Economic Views [Figure 2.10] Religion, Economic Ethics, and Economic Views—

Interrelationship

Because ethics has the polarity (待對性) of libertarianism, utilitarianism, communitarianism, and social contractarianism, the economic thought of the various religions can be reorganized, as in [Figure 2.10], centered on the economic-activity process of saving, production, circulation, and distribution, into: Taoism and the libertarian view of wealth, Confucianism and the utilitarian185) view of labor, Western Religion and the communitarian view of goods, and Buddhism and the social-contractarian view of distribution.

Moreover, since economic thought and economics have a historical interrelationship, as in [Figure 2.11]: libertarianism is close to neoclassical economics, which emphasizes use-value as utility; utilitarianism to Keynesian/Schumpeterian economics, which emphasizes sign-value as effective demand and innovation; communitarianism to the social-welfarist, institutionalist economics, which emphasizes symbolic value as the gift; and social contractarianism—because it emphasizes fair exchange—to the classical school and Marxism, which emphasize exchange-value grounded in the labor theory of value.

[Figure 2.11] The Interrelationship of Religion, Economic Ethics, and Economics

The thought of each economic school may be summarized as follows. Neoclassical economics refers to the economics commonly represented by the law of supply and demand that appears in high-school social-studies textbooks. Contrary to the common notion—because the law of supply and demand is in high-school textbooks—that it is the indisputable basic theory of economics, the law of supply and demand is merely the theory of neoclassical economics, a critical theory directed against the supply-centered classical economics. Neoclassical economics, focusing on the subjective preferences of the individual rather than the overall flow of the economy, subjectivized the economy into the perspective of supply and demand and utility. Representative neoclassical economists are Marshall, Hayek, Friedman, and others, who regard minimal government, the market economy, and freedom as supreme values and thus provide the economic grounds for libertarians. For the neoclassical economist, value becomes use-value—how much use-value a thing has.

Keynes, famous as the theoretical architect of President Roosevelt's New Deal, which resolved the Great Depression of 1929, criticized neoclassical economics—which, believing in minimal government and the market economy, could devise no countermeasures even when the Great Depression came—and resolved the depression with the utilitarian concept of effective demand. Unlike neoclassical economists, who held that leaving everything to the market resolves all problems, Keynes brought about a great change in economic theory by holding that one must provide workers with jobs that allow them to consume, in order to achieve the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Schumpeterianism186), like Keynesianism, is the same in being a utilitarianism that pursues the greatest happiness of the greatest number, but it holds that value arises in the economy not through wealth as effective demand but through innovation, and that social innovation that brings the greatest happiness of the greatest number circulates the economy. In utilitarianism, value becomes innovation-value—that is, sign-value—that can bring about the greatest social production. Because sign-value is not as clear as use-value and exchange-value, it bears ambiguity. Moreover, since sign-value is a value that imitates the desire of others, if it does not circulate, it is prone to bring about moral hazard and self-destruction through the internal division of its members. Sign-value (Baudrillard) is said to appear as the value of conspicuous consumption (Veblen187)) or as imitative value (Girard188)).

If neoclassical economics and Keynesian economics are economy-centered economics that emphasize efficiency as the best adaptation within given limits, then institutionalist economics189) is an economics that problematizes the given framework and seeks to create new value by changing the given framework. Neoclassical economics and Keynesian economics, in economic circulation, concentrate mainly on production, causing an energy-surplus phenomenon in the economy and, leaning only toward accumulation, paralyzing economic circulation. The institutionalist school seeks to circulate the economy by creating a framework of rational consumption. Representative schools and scholars include the gift-theory economist Mauss, Bataille190)—who advocated a general economics centered on consumption—Baudrillard, and the American institutionalist Veblen. Institutionalist economics holds that the source of the economy lies in consumption and the gift, that production is an activity for consumption and the gift, and that the value of a commodity appears as symbolic value (Baudrillard) or cultural value191) (Yuichi Shionoya)—how much value the commodity has when it is given.

If the neoclassical school, Keynesian-Schumpeterian economics, and institutionalist economics are each centered on utility—use-value, sign-value, and symbolic value—then the classical school and Marxist economics are centered on exchange as fair labor-value. Classical economics, which may be called the first economic theory, was not the neoclassical economics of supply and demand that appears in high-school textbooks, but the classical school and Marxist economics, which emphasized the equality of labor-value. Classical economics holds that every commodity is a product of human labor, that price is determined by the average of the labor invested in the commodity, and that what is economically efficient is the equalization of labor-value. In classical economics the human being is regarded as a commodity called labor-power, capable of investing labor, and the value of the human being is regarded as the minimum subsistence cost that can reproduce labor-power. Wages are not the value produced by labor but the cost of reproducing labor-power—that is, the minimum subsistence cost. The difference between the minimum subsistence cost and the value of the commodity produced by the invested labor becomes surplus value and becomes capital.

Among the various economic theories, value theory becomes a core concept in economics because the value-theory problem is directly connected to the distribution problem—since what the value of a commodity is determines whether the share I receive is just. Baudrillard holds that every object has four economic values. For example, the apple in one's hand becomes use-value if eaten, exchange-value if exchanged, sign-value if used as a sign, and symbolic value if given to another person.192)

The discussion so far may be summarized as follows.

\<Table 2.3\> Comparison Table of Religion–Economic Ethics–Economic Theory

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If we examine the actual economic history of East and West, Western capitalism began with the Calvinist Protestant view of wealth—which, similar to the Taoist view of wealth, recognized private property and usury as the predestination of salvation—and was ignited by the Confucian theory of enriching the nation and strengthening the military (bugukgangbyeong) that came in from China. When Western acquisitiveness erupted as a policy of enriching the nation and strengthening the military, it eventually destroyed the Eastern circularity of Confucianism, which had been the origin of that very policy, and furthermore, as human beings serially came to deny God, it also destroyed the Western-Religion circulation of goods as God's promise of salvation. The modern age, in which circularity has disappeared, turned into materialism and gambling capitalism, and the modern age came to need a circular religious thought to save it.

To understand the cyclic economic view that appears in Daesoon Thought, let us first examine, for each religion and economic thought, the religious origin of existing economic thought and its limited circularity.

2. Chinese-Style Taoist Capitalism and the Libertarian View of Wealth193)

Compared with Confucianism, Western Religion, and Buddhism—as in Confucian capitalism or Protestantism—Taoism has not stirred up a boom of academic debate in connection with capitalism, yet it may be said to be the thought closest to capitalism and most influential among the Chinese people.194) Today the most popular religion in communist China is Taoism, and modern China, which actually makes material things its highest value195), may be said to be closer to a Taoist nation than to a Confucian nation.196) Mao Zedong, who opposed Confucianism, treated Taoism relatively favorably and constantly emphasized communism by comparing it with Taoism197); and Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening are connected with the flexibility of Taoism.198) Taoism has shown characteristics that accord very well with the Chinese people's astuteness in managing money (理財). The gods of modern Taoist temples are full of deities who govern wealth.199) China's Taoism-oriented economic system may be called Chinese-style Taoist capitalism.200)

If we examine Chinese-style Taoist capitalism beginning with the parts close to daily life—in the order of history, principal economic activity, doctrine, view of society, attitude toward economic activity, view of the market, view of the state, value theory, problems, differences, and points for improvement—it appears to have a view of wealth similar to libertarianism and neoclassical economics.201)

First, examining the history of Taoism's East–West exchange: after Taoism was first introduced to Europe indirectly by Matteo Ricci202), it influenced, in economic theory, Adam Smith—who advocated the invisible hand—and the neoclassical school, which advocated marginal utility theory, and, in the aspect of economic ethics, it influenced libertarianism.203) Geneva, where Calvin—who founded the Puritanism that Weber regarded as the origin of capitalism—lived, was at the time a commercial region where Chinese information from the likes of Marco Polo was in vogue; and the doctrine of vocational calling and predestination of salvation, and the recognition of usury—which became the full-fledged development of capitalism—were things that had been practiced in China under the influence of the Taoist doctrine of exhorting goodness (勸善說) and the view of wealth.204) Calvin's view of wealth as proof of the predestination of salvation has something in common with the Taoist view of wealth as goods that are God's grace, and Taoism is very similar to the Protestant view of wealth.205) Just as the kidneys (腎臟), like the body's bank, filter all things and send new vitality to the liver (肝), so in the economy too the view of wealth that saves property in expectation of the future may be called the core of economic development.206) Contrary to what Weber said, the Calvinism that gave rise to capitalism in fact arose from a thought diametrically opposed to Western Religion.207) Because Western Religion in principle advocates universal love, conduct based on the view of wealth may be said to be opposed to universal love.208) Weber saw the origin of Western capitalism in Calvin's predestination of salvation, but Calvin's asceticism began to operate in earnest only after it was combined with Adam Smith's Taoist capitalist thought.209)

Calvin, contrary to the universal-love spirit of Western Religion that gives everything away, recognized usury—which at the time was deemed unlawful in China and India and even in Islam—and thereby laid the foundation for saving. Calvin regarded monopoly, which obstructs the sound trade of necessary commodities, as akin to murder. According to Calvin's claims, the city of Geneva at the time is said to have imposed price controls on necessities such as wine, bread, and meat.210) The religious reformers of the time generally ran commercial cities threatened by overall ruin and widespread unemployment.211) By Calvin's policies, Geneva rose within a single generation from an insignificant provincial town to an international center of commerce and finance.212) Adam Smith of England—where, unlike the Continent, individualism had developed and Calvin's influence was relatively greater than Luther's—inherited Calvin's thought and, aided by the thought of Laozi and Confucius learned from Quesnay, made use of the non-action and naturalness of the invisible hand.213)

In intellectual history, the Taoist thought of the small state with few people214) may be said to have influenced the laissez-faire economic thought of Confucius and Mencius, and this in turn to have been carried on to Calvin, Adam Smith, and others.215) The intellectual origin of libertarianism and the marginal utility school is Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations; for the very title of The Wealth of Nations (國富) came from the Taoist policy of enriching the nation (富國) and strengthening the military, and laissez-faire—the representative theory of The Wealth of Nations—came from a translation of the Taoist ‘governing through non-action’ (無爲之治), which encompasses non-action (無爲). (footnote 70)

Doctrinally, too, because saving denies the present and places its hope more on expectation of the future, it becomes the economic thought of Taoism, which has the circular logic that ‘X is –X.’ The small state with few people and the philosophy of water are representative thoughts of saving. Taoism seeks to promote circulation on the basis of saving in the four aspects of production–circulation–distribution–saving.

If we examine the principal economic activity of Taoism, the economic field related to Taoism in the economic cycle of production–circulation–distribution–saving may be said to be saving in particular. When Eastern thought is relatively oriented toward introversion compared with Western thought216), and when, among Eastern thought, Confucianism is the religion of advancing while Taoism is the religion of returning, Taoism has emphasized nothing (無) and stopping (止) from Laozi onward, and this may be said to correspond to saving in the economic cycle. Guan Yu, the god of loyalty—who gathered and kept without using any of the goods received from Cao Cao, and distributed all the goods when he returned to Liu Bei—became the god of wealth in Taoism217), and the core Taoist doctrine of non-action and naturalness became saving in economic activity.218) Taoist believers created books of exhortation to goodness (勸善書) and ledgers of merits and faults (功過格) to confirm how much future wealth their good deeds had accumulated.219)

Taoism emphasizes the wisdom of passive observation rather than active activity. Saving is the state in which all distribution has ended and all energy is being stored in anticipation of tomorrow; in terms of the Five Phases it is like “water,” and in terms of color it may be said to be like the color black. In fact, Taoism is so emphatic about the wisdom of water that it is called the “religion of water,” and it takes black as its symbolic color.220)

If we examine the Taoist view of the state, it appears as the thought of the small state with few people (小國寡民221)), which sees the ideal state as a minimal government. The small state with few people (小國寡民) appears, like anarchism, as a minimal state centered on utility. Hwang Tae-yeon said that Adam Smith learned the Confucian ‘governing through non-action’ (無爲而治)222), but the Confucian ‘governing through non-action’ was itself learned from Taoism. Taoism, even in the relationship of mind and body, prayed for longevity without illness using minimal energy, and Laozi, who may be called its founder, concentrated on enriching the nation and strengthening the military and on increasing the wealth of the people.

If we examine its view of society, Taoism denies political and social activity as artificial effort and plays the role of circulating all things through saving by economic activity alone, and so it has something in common with the libertarian view of wealth. Libertarianism may be called an economic ethic that, in economic ethics, gives priority to the individual over the community and to freedom over justice. Libertarian economic ethics holds that no social institution that restricts freedom is permissible, and that the economy develops naturally by the invisible hand according to individuals' use of money.

If we examine its view of equality, Taoism advocates absolute equality before the Way (道), like equality before the law and equality before the market. If Confucianism developed an egalitarian thought of the Great Unity (大同) grounded in community, Zhuangzi is said to have pursued absolute equality before the Way223) or the theory of heaven-born equality (天生平等說). Zhuangzi's absolute equality is similar to the libertarian absolute equality before the law.

Speaking of social institutions and the four occupations (scholar-farmer-artisan-merchant), Taoism also emphasizes technique and craft (工). The doctrines of Taoism are armed with all sorts of techniques—beginning with breathing techniques (qigong) and including incantations, the art of contracting distances, and alchemy for union with the gods. Southern China, where Taoism arose, was also the region inhabited by the Gonggong (工共) tribe, who were in charge of civil engineering in the time of the sage-kings Yao and Shun.

If we examine value theory, which is most important in connection with distribution, because Taoism respects practical benefit, Taoist value theory may be said to be similar to the neoclassical marginal utility theory. The marginal utility theory224) is a value theory holding that the marginal utility—the utility of the last, marginal good—determines value. For example, just as the same apple eaten when hungry has far greater utility than an apple eaten when full, value, unlike in the labor theory of value, is not determined unilaterally regardless of the demander, but is determined by the demander. If the demander is hungry, the value of the apple rises; if the demander is full, the value of the apple falls. Then, the way to raise value the most, viewed from the standpoint of the apple, is for it to be eaten in order of the hungriest person first. If a commodity moves in the most valuable way, the principle of circulation hidden within the marginal utility theory is that it circulates in order of the hungriest person first, and this may be called the merit of the marginal utility theory—the efficient allocation of resources. Moreover, distribution is called just when only as much as the marginal utility is distributed. In the marginal utility theory, distribution becomes subjective—one receives only as much as the utility one feels, not the value of the labor invested in the commodity—so it becomes difficult to argue for inequality of distribution.

In the marginal utility theory, goods move most efficiently when items are consumed in order, from those whose utility is most urgent. The marginal utility theory begins with the exchange of goods and concludes with the circulation of commodities. A hungry person purchases an apple by exchanging other goods he possesses, so beginning with exchange, the most efficient circulation occurs. In the marginal utility theory too, the more and faster the circulation, the more value rises; thus one can see that what actually generates value is not utility but circulation.

If the place where the marginal utility theory is realized is the circulation process, the place where it arises is Taoist saving. The law of equalization of marginal utility, which determines the best choice under given resources, is, like the theory of free competition, a valid concept only when its precondition—economic circulation—is possible.225) Circulation, like fire, merely scatters what water has gathered. For marginal utility to be equalized, bread need only go to the hungriest person. Therefore marginal utility too is in charge of a limited circulation.

Although Taoism emphasized the view of wealth, it did not develop into capitalism, suppressed by the power of Confucianism. Weber held that the positive view of wealth based on Protestantism's predestination of salvation was lacking in Confucianism, so capitalism did not develop in China226); but Taoism emphasizes wealth more than Protestantism does. It was only because Taoism was oppressed by Confucianism, so that accumulated wealth was again plundered, that it did not reach capitalism.

Today libertarianism is represented by Nozick227), and neoclassical economics by Friedman228), Hayek229), and others.

If we examine the merits and demerits of the Taoist libertarian view of wealth: as a merit, the Taoist view of wealth, which circulates the economy through the law of equalization of marginal utility, adapts well to given reality but has the limitation that it cannot boldly reform the given framework. In a cold libertarian society that emphasizes only adaptation, there is a danger of falling into gambling capitalism regardless of class, high or low.

Another point is that when institutions are deficient, the view of wealth can easily degenerate, just as Taoism drifted into a thought of escape from reality. In fact, the Western view of wealth, which accumulated capital according to Calvin's view of wealth, turns into gambling capitalism. As Weber said, the positive Protestant view of wealth, which emphasizes ascetic labor, changed greatly—after the “death of God” that Nietzsche declared and the “death of man” symbolized by the failure of communism—into a “gambling capitalist” view of wealth that pursues conspicuous consumption and virtual satisfaction.

As science developed, the secrets about the human being were revealed, and now the human being abandoned God and came to earn money for himself. As in Nietzsche's words, represented by “God is dead,” in a world where God is dead, money cannot become a token of “salvation” but becomes merely a token of others' desire. In capitalism, where desire has been homogenized by money, to possess money means to possess all of other people's desires. Money was a token of the circulation between God and the human being, and then became a token of the promise of circulation between person and person.

The failure of the planned economy of communism, through the loss of belief in human ideals, broke also the belief in money as the desire of others. Now money has become neither a token of salvation for God nor an altruistic token of desire for others, but simply a token that imitates the desire of others. When money lost its function as a token of humanity's ideals, money became the symbol of gambling capitalism. Money has now become money for the sake of money, losing its circularity and becoming a religion in itself. Just as people, even in a situation of religious loss, do not resent the founder of their religion, the modern person, even when he loses all his goods, has come not to resent capitalism.230) The modern capitalist view of wealth has become a gambling-capitalist view of wealth that has lost circularity.

\<Table 2.4\> Comparison Table of Taoist Capitalism and Libertarianism

| | Taoist capitalism | Libertarianism/Neoclassical economics |

| ----- | :---: | :---: |

| History of influence | Influenced Matteo Ricci and Calvin | Influenced modern mainstream economics |

| Theory | X is –X; denial of the present, preparation for the future | Respect for freedom |

| Principal economic activity | Saving, view of wealth, worship of wealth, instrumentalism231) | Increase of private property; token of predestined salvation and human ideals |

| View of the state | Small state with few people, realization of Great Peace | Minimal government, police state |

| View of society | Rejection of the artificial | Exclusion of government interference |

| View of equality | Equality before the Way (道), theory of heaven-born equality | Equality before the law/market |

| View of institutions | Minimalism | Emphasis on the market, emphasis on commerce |

| Value theory | Worship of practical benefit, adaptation as ‘the highest good is like water’ | Utility-value, efficiency through adaptation |

| Representative thinkers | Laozi, Zhuangzi | Calvin, Adam Smith, Hayek, Friedman |

| Merits | Inducement of economic motivation | Efficient allocation of resources |

| Problems | Nihilism and escape from reality through denial of social institutions | Destruction of community through excessive respect for freedom; conversion to gambling/casino capitalism through the death of God |

| Difference | Between circulation and freedom, circulation prevails | Between circulation and freedom, freedom prevails |

| Solution | Guarding against excess and deficiency | Acknowledging responsibility for autonomy, recovery of conscience |

If we examine the problems in connection with the differences between the views of wealth of Taoist capitalism and libertarianism: both Taoist capitalism and libertarianism have a view of wealth that treasures saving and freedom, but ultimately, because Taoist capitalism gives priority to nature, it gives priority to the circulation of nature over freedom; and because libertarianism gives priority to the human being, it gives priority to human interest over circulation. Although modern libertarianism, influenced by Taoism, made a great contribution to the development of capitalism, it pursued human interest while ignoring even the circulation of nature and thus brought about today's great crisis; therefore libertarianism urgently needs the recovery of a circulation that pursues freedom without denying its own responsibility, and Taoist capitalism urgently needs to guard against excess and deficiency. The libertarian/neoclassical characteristics that appear in Taoist capitalism in connection with the view of wealth, discussed so far, are summarized in \<Table 2.4\>.

3. Buddhist Bodhisattva Capitalism and the Social-Contractarian View of Distribution232)

Compared with Confucian capitalism—which has the backdrop of the Four Asian Dragons and of China and Japan—the economic thought of Buddhism has received relatively little attention; but Buddhism, which is relatively rich in references to economy, has recently been attracting attention as a new economic alternative with the rise of India and the spread of ecologism.233) In particular, the economic thought of Buddhism may be called a differentiated economic thought that, compared with Taoism, Confucianism, and Western Religion, leans relatively toward distribution rather than production, and a modern economic thought governed by the strict moral law of dependent origination.234) Because the distribution-centered and ethics-centered capitalism of Buddhism—with its characteristic of valuing human duty—is well expressed by the term bodhisattva capitalism, the economic thought of Buddhism may be called bodhisattva capitalism.235)

If we examine Buddhist bodhisattva capitalism beginning with the parts close to daily life—in the order of history, principal economic activity, doctrine, view of society, attitude toward economic activity, view of the market, view of the state, value theory, problems, differences, and points for improvement—we find that it has a view of distribution similar to social contractarianism and classical economics.

If we examine the history of Buddhist capitalism, Buddhism too was first introduced to the West by Matteo Ricci.236) Buddhism influenced Kant's deontological ethics.237) Western ethics, which began with the virtue ethics of Aristotle, passed through the communitarian ethics of Western Religion and the deontological, social-contractarian ethics of Kant, and reached English utilitarianism.

Kant, the founder of the deontological ethics that is the origin of social contractarianism, did not himself know that his thought was close to Buddhism, but later people pointed out many similarities between Kantian philosophy and Buddhism.238)

Kant first introduced into the West the principle of the antinomy, thereby introducing a system of “three,” like that of Indian philosophy.239) Buddhism and India each developed the concepts of the “mean (中),” “emptiness (空),” and “zero (0/零),” introducing a Buddhist threefold logic into a world that had consisted only of the male/female, yin/yang dichotomy; and Kant's concept of the “antinomy” was likewise a third concept, like “zero.” Using the antinomy, Kant could criticize the rationalism of the Continent as empty—a form without content—and the empiricism of England as blind—content without form—and could assert transcendental knowledge that, like “zero,” is neither rationalism nor empiricism. Kant, who phenomenologically negated both sides as in Buddhism, again postulated a deontology as in social contractarianism.240) The human being, who cannot be moral, must postulate the “good” and “God,” and this postulation is also like the way “non-self (無我)” postulates the “good (善)” in Buddhism. Schopenhauer241), who was influenced by Kant, and Nietzsche, who was influenced by Schopenhauer, also highly esteemed Buddhism.242) Buddhism greatly influenced social-contractarian economic ethics and the egalitarian thought related to it.

The principal economic activity of Buddhism, as appears in the Buddhist view of circulation called “formation, abiding, destruction, and emptiness” (成住壞空)—meaning that the seemingly still emptiness (空) collapses and is again formed—shows that, among saving, production, circulation, and distribution, because property arises through dependent origination (緣起) and class is not recognized243), economic activity appears centered on fair distribution.

Looking at the doctrinal system of Buddhism, it may be called a religion that emphasizes distribution-centered circulation—distributing fairly according to the theory of dependent origination rather than by efficiency. The reason Buddhism emphasizes distribution is interpreted in two ways. One is that India, where Buddhism arose, owing to its heaven-given climate, required little artificial effort for food production, allowed double-cropping, and treated any natural calamity as fate; so in a society like India's, naturally a morality of ‘sharing’ was emphasized over a morality of ‘making.’244) Another interpretation is that in a social class with extremely low productivity, people cannot live together without the equal distribution of products, and India in the time of Shakyamuni was a clan society with extremely low productivity.245) Buddhism, which—holding that ‘X is neither X nor –X’—denies new movement itself and fixes movement, is similar to social contractarianism in that it emphasizes fairness and ‘justice’ over efficiency.246)

Looking at the principal economic activity of Buddhism, Buddhism is commonly perceived as a transcendent religion detached from worldly labor, but the Buddha's teachings are said to show that such a perception is a prejudice.247)

Shakyamuni valued economic activity grounded in proper distribution, saying that a person who does no economic activity at all is a blind person; a person who knows how to obtain or increase property but has no eye to distinguish good from evil is a one-eyed person; and a person with two eyes is one who both knows how to obtain or increase property and knows how to distinguish good from evil.248)

An economy whose economic potential has expanded through Taoist saving comes, before making a creative leap, to first consider how to distribute the wealth after the leap. Social contractarianism, too, is said to have emerged as an alternative to A. C. Arrow's impossibility theorem—that in libertarianism there is no natural method of maximization for the happiness of the greatest number.249)

In the theory of circulation, development is not a straight line but, as in ‘one yin and one yang, this is called the Way (一陰一陽之謂道)’250), develops in the shape of the letter 乙 (eul), expanding once and contracting once.251) The capacity accumulated by Taoism, after being nurtured (養生) by Buddhist thought, is born and again leaps forward through Confucianism. Buddhism distributes all things precisely in accord with the circular law of dependent origination.252)

If we examine the Buddhist view of the state, it too emphasizes distribution.253) In Buddhism, the king's distribution policy is regarded as important, and it even presents the direction of proper economic management.254)

The Buddha is said to have held that social problems arise from economic inequality, and that the state must realize social fairness through an appropriate redistribution policy.

The standard of the state's distribution policy that the Buddha advocated is said to have considerable similarity to the social-contractarian view of the American political economist Rawls (J. Rawls). Rawls argues that fairness in income distribution, regardless of the present social position of members of society, should be regarded as fair if there is the agreement of the members of society. And he holds that a distribution policy that can raise as much as possible the welfare of the very poor—the lowest income group—can, for the time being, be called fair.255)

The explanation of the Kūṭadanta Sutta (『구라단두경』)256) is that the state can realize social justice through the equal distribution of goods in the right direction by providing a productive base to poor farmers, capital to merchants, and wages to employees. But what may be said to bring the two closer is that both have their foundation in a moral command. In the Kūṭadanta Sutta, the state's distribution policy has its meaning not at the level of temporary poor-relief, but in helping the poor to escape destitution by continuously possessing means of livelihood and engaging in productive activity, thereby building a foundation for self-reliance.257) In Rawls, too, it is said that one must not overlook that a moral principle forms the standard for judging distribution principles.

If we look at the concept of welfare as the Buddhist view of society, Buddhists conduct their economic life mindful of the concept of the three fields of merit (福田) expounded especially in the Upāsaka-śīla Sūtra (『우바새계경』). The three fields of merit are the field of meritorious virtue (功德田＝敬田), the field of requiting kindness (報恩田), and the field of poverty (貧窮田); and as for social welfare, Buddhism too regards it as the result of an individual's voluntary motivation.258)259)

If we examine the value theory of Buddhism, it is similar to Adam Smith's labor theory of value. Adam Smith's labor theory of value is like finding the source of value within the flow of commodities in a state of phenomenological suspension of judgment. That economics begins with Adam Smith is because Adam Smith was the first to advocate the labor theory of value, holding that the source of value is labor.260) In the labor theory of value, the reason a 1,000-won commodity is more expensive than a 500-won commodity is that more labor goes into making the 1,000-won commodity than the labor needed to make the 500-won commodity. Once it was revealed that the standard of value determining the price of all commodities is human labor, all elements related to the economy were consistently organized. The Buddhist theory of dependent origination appears in Western economic thought as the labor theory of value.261) The labor theory of value—that what constitutes the price of a commodity is the labor invested in that commodity—coincides with the theory of dependent origination, that one reaps as one sows. If a commodity is the reward of labor, people can be fairly distributed as much as the reward of their labor.

Because the source of all value is human labor, the reproduction of labor-power, which enhances labor, becomes the most important production. According to Adam Smith, productive labor refers to labor directly invested in the production of the necessities needed to reproduce labor-power. Shakyamuni, too, distinguishes commercial labor from productive labor and emphasizes productive labor.

“There is work that is great in responsibility and requires much effort, and work that is small in what it undertakes and requires little effort. The former is farming and the latter is commerce; if carried out, one obtains great reward, but if not carried out, great reward is not obtained.”262)

The labor theory of value—that the price of a commodity is the quantity of labor invested—seems to have no connection with circulation at all. The circulation that lies behind the labor theory of value appears when one applies the law of equivalent exchange to the circulation of commodities. Because the law of exchange operates in the market, no one in the market makes a non-equivalent exchange. If a human being sells his labor-power at a reward above the reproduction cost of his labor-power and equivalent exchanges continue, no one would suffer loss—so why does surplus value arise? It is precisely because someone is ceaselessly giving, and that is the domain of nature.263)

The concept that most clearly reveals, in the labor theory of value, that the gift through the circulation of nature is the source of value is the distinction between labor-power and labor. Labor-power is the ability to labor, and labor is labor itself. The difference between labor and labor-power is the regenerability by which labor-power is generated anew after a night passes. Labor-power, over the course of a single night, comes endowed with new value from somewhere.

The use-value that arises from Taoist saving is realized in the exchange-and-distribution process. Just as, in the marginal utility theory, the very arising of utility lies in the resolution of difference through circulation, so in the labor theory of value the pure gift through the circulation of nature—that is, use-value—appears in the difference between labor-power and labor. If the labor theory of value grasped circulation from the dynamic standpoint of flow (yuhaeng, 遊行), then marginal utility may be said to have grasped value from a subjective standpoint in the static relationship of polarity (daedae, 待對).

Because Buddhism emphasizes distribution after expansion, its circular character stands out most among Yu-Bul-Seon and Western Religion.264) Buddhist labor becomes labor as gift and distribution—‘no dependent origination, no distribution.’265)

Buddhism has a bodhisattva-capitalist view of distribution holding that, because all living beings and all things are connected and circulate through dependent origination, the human being must regard all things as his own body, like a bodhisattva.266) Recently, economics that emphasizes the circulation of society has, grounded in the circular economic thought of Buddhism, found the hidden circularity of existing value theories. The common feature of existing value theories—labor, utility, innovation—is that, unlike Yu-Bul-Seon, they all emphasize human effort and conceal circulation, thereby hiding that the source of value did not arise from human effort alone but arises when the value generated by the circulation of nature is processed by human effort.

When straight-line classical capitalism failed to resolve the environmental crisis and human alienation, the Western view of goods changed from an ascetic view of goods that restrains desire for the sake of accumulation into an ecological economic view.267) The human being, who had accumulated goods infinitely, ran up against the wall of environmental problems and human alienation and began to ponder a value theory that could resolve the distribution problem through community. The belief that value can be created infinitely through innovation was broken, a circular value theory that considers nature and society together appeared, and it emphasizes the circulation of human labor and the symmetry of desire. In particular, the economic thought of Buddhism, which began to become widely known to the general public only in the latter half of the twentieth century, is said to be the religious economic thought most consistent with human consciousness.268)

If we examine the problems of Buddhism, one may cite problems similar to those of the social-contractarian theory of justice, which resembles Buddhism. In Rawls's social-contractarian theory of justice, the human being moves not for the sake of interest but to keep the duty of the contract. Buddhism aims at fair distribution, but it has the problem that it neither pursues efficiency as utilitarianism does, nor orients toward freedom as libertarianism does, nor orients toward giving first oneself as communitarianism does. Buddhism merely wishes that all values be applied justly. The economic thought of Buddhism, similar to the welfare-state theory of social-contractarian ethics, is low in efficiency and excludes creative virtue. As society grew complex, the boundary of justice and fair dependent origination became unclear.

If we examine the difference between Buddhist bodhisattva capitalism and social contractarianism: both Buddhist bodhisattva capitalism and social contractarianism emphasize the observance of duty, but Buddhist bodhisattva capitalism, because it treasures dependent origination (緣起) more, emphasizes circulation over duty269), whereas social contractarianism emphasizes duty more. Western social contractarianism contributed greatly to the development of capitalism along with the development of social security systems, but, as shown by the collapse of communism, it brought about distrust of human beings and society and caused today's crisis; therefore social contractarianism needs the spirit of requiting kindness that does not betray grace, and Buddhist bodhisattva capitalism needs respect for the community beyond individual liberation. A comparison of bodhisattva capitalism and Rawls's social-contractarian ethics is as follows.

\<Table 2.5\> Comparison Table of Bodhisattva Capitalism and Social Contractarianism

| | Bodhisattva capitalism | Social contractarianism/Classical economics |

| ----- | :---: | :---: |

| History of influence | Influenced Kant, Schopenhauer, and others | Influenced social-contractarian egalitarian thought |

| Theory | Fair distribution according to dependent origination | Valuing fairness over efficiency |

| Principal economic activity | Production for proper distribution | Valuing the principle of justice rather than economic logic |

| View of the state | Neutral state, maintenance of social fairness | Basic social-security state |

| View of society/equality | Field of meritorious virtue, field of requiting kindness, field of poverty | Maintenance of minimum income |

| Value theory | No dependent origination, no distribution | Labor theory of value |

| Representative thinkers | Schumacher | Adam Smith, Rawls, Kant |

| Merits | Recovery of symmetry, recovery of ethics | Occasion for community development through the introduction of duty into economics |

| Problems | Opacity of the boundary of dependent origination | Lack of justification for countermeasures upon breach of contract |

| Difference | Valuing circulation over justice | Valuing justice over circulation |

| Solution | Supplementation of the theory of dependent origination | Justice through observance of duty and solidarity270) |

4. Confucian Capitalism and the Utilitarian View of Labor271)272)

In the latter half of the twentieth century, when only the nations whose state ideology had been Confucianism—China, Japan, and Vietnam, and the so-called Four Asian Dragons of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore—uniquely began to dominate the world economy, a reflection arose as to whether Confucianism, which the Chinese Communist Party had denounced as an anti-modern thought, might be a thought superior to capitalism, and research on “Confucian capitalism” became globally fashionable.273)

Research on the affinity between Confucianism and capitalism was conducted, beginning with Tu Weiming274) of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Michio Morishima (森嶋通夫)275) of Japan, and Ham Jae-bong276) of Korea, and the excellence of Confucian thought—distorted by Western Orientalism—began to be revealed one by one.277) Tu Weiming and others, who energetically propagate Confucian capitalism, expound on how positive a function Confucianism has performed in the emergence and development of capitalism.278)

If we examine Confucian capitalism beginning with the parts close to daily life—in the order of history, principal economic activity, doctrine, view of society, attitude toward economic activity, view of the market, view of the state, value theory, problems, differences, and points for improvement—we come to know that it has a view of labor similar to utilitarianism and Keynesian-Schumpeterian economics.

If we examine the history of Confucian thought's influence on Western economic thought: in the West, once wealth was accumulated through Calvinism, production next became the main problem. The West, from Greece and Rome down to Western Religion, had an extremely negative view of individual greed, but in a situation where goods had become a token of salvation, a change in economic thought arose that regarded self-interest as the source of social ethics. Adam Smith—then a professor of ethics, later called the father of economics—together with his close friend Hume studied the economic thought of China279), and criticized and developed the logic of The Fable of the Bees280)—which at the time caused a social stir by holding that individual self-interest paradoxically brings about social development—thereby causing a Copernican revolution in the Western tradition, descending from the Greeks, of the taboo on greed. Before Adam Smith, the altruistic person, who had been the human standard, came after Adam Smith to be regarded as a swindler, an irrational person, or a person of bad conscience. The innovation-value theory appeared—that value arises not only from use-value but from innovation according to human creativity—and the world became an arena of competition for innovation.

If we look at the theoretical system of Confucianism, contrary to the common notion that Confucianism is a stale theory that suppresses creativity, it may be said to be characterized by a propulsive creativity capable of sprouting the seed made by saving through creativity, as its representative theoretical text, the Great Learning (大學), emphasizes “illustrious virtue (明德),” “renewing the people (在新民),” and “renew yourself day by day, and again day by day (日新又日新).”281) With the Confucian art of enriching the nation and strengthening the military, China boasted the world's foremost economic power until the eighteenth century.282) The reason Matteo Ricci (Yi Madu) of all places went to China to spread a paradise on earth is that China was at the time the world's most advanced nation and Europe was in an age in which it found it hard to catch up with China. What Matteo Ricci and his colleagues, the Jesuit missionaries, came to China and found as the reason for China's wealth was Confucianism, which centered on enriching the nation and strengthening the military. China at the time was, together with Korea, the world's only nation with an educational system in which Confucianism was studied from the king down to the common people, and its intellectual foundation was Confucianism.283)

If we examine the central economic activity of Confucianism, it emphasizes production among saving, production, circulation, and distribution. Confucianism, which emphasized benevolence (仁), came with Mencius to emphasize benevolence and righteousness (仁義) simultaneously, but it most emphasized benevolence (仁), which is production. In Confucian capitalism, the human being forms a community284) in order to circulate all things and has a utilitarian view of labor that carries out structural innovation through the greatest happiness for the greatest number.285) The utilitarian view of labor refers to a method that, like the circular view of saving or the circular view of distribution, centers on circulation but leads circulation through production by means of innovation.286)

If we examine the Confucian view of the state, Confucianism may be said to be represented by Confucius's humanist view of the state.287) Confucius supplemented the problems of the libertarian familial view of the state and brought out its merits, positing the state out of an aspiration for humanistic cultivation aimed at minimal fault, arising from the spontaneity of blood ties, thereby creating the tradition of the philosopher-king state that Europe so envied.288)

As appears in the Analects and Mencius, Confucianism already had Keynesian economic-regulation policies in the Warring States period, and naturally was implementing Adam Smith's laissez-faire policy, carrying out the enriching of the nation and strengthening of the military with maximal efficiency.289) Research on the Confucian origin of Western capitalism finally proved that it was not the East that learned capitalism from the West, but the West that learned Eastern capitalism, and that this is why the economic rankings of Europe and Asia were reversed in the twentieth century.

However, although the West learned capitalism from the East, it failed to learn the circular economic view of the Book of Changes (易) within it, and thus came to bring about great calamity.

If we examine the Confucian view of society, Confucian capitalism emphasizes efficiency but, in that it emphasizes the collective efficiency of society as a whole, is ethically close to utilitarianism.290) Adam Smith's economic thought—that even if the human being pursues greed, the invisible hand regulates it—was an imitation of the “Way (道).” Confucianism orients toward a Great Unity society in which the members of society pursue a single goal. Adam Smith's classical capitalism was a transformation of Quesnay's agriculture-centered capitalism—which had originally imitated Mencius's liberal economic thought—into a commerce-and-industry-centered liberal capitalist economy.

If we examine the value theory of Confucianism, it appears as the innovation-value theory and sign-value.291) Examining the innovation-value theory: the fact that, even when labor-value and marginal-utility-value are identical, the result differs according to the person means that, besides labor and utility, there is another value-creating factor. It is precisely the human factor that determines labor and utility that determines value, and the more technology develops, the greater the human role in making value becomes. The human being is invested and managed as human capital.

Confucianism ceaselessly reproves people so that they create something new. If labor-value and marginal utility are a value theory that creates the maximum through polarity (daedae) and flow (yuhaeng) within a given framework, then creativity or the innovation-value theory may be called a value theory that expands the framework itself. Human innovation, which regulates production and distribution, may be said to move to the right the more equally opportunity circulates. Schumpeter held that innovation is the source of value and that a society without innovation can have no value. Confucianism, which set out from an occasion of initial creativity, somewhat stagnated the economy as the occasion for creativity disappeared after it monopolized society's value system; but, renewed in modern society, it played the role of a locomotive leading the development of the Asian economy.

Examining sign-value: it appears that the source of sign-value, too, like innovation, lies in circulation.292) First, that something is created means that the polarity (daedae) and flow (yuhaeng) of circulation are made smooth. For example, if red is in fashion, blue will be in fashion next, and to prepare red things while blue things are in fashion may be called innovation. Innovation today produces the “sign” of difference that distinguishes self from other.

Let us examine the merits of Confucianism and utilitarianism. The use-value of Taoism and the exchange-value of Buddhism are mutually opposed; if the two concepts are valid concepts at the minimum subsistence level of the human being, then beyond that level the creation of a new sign that harmonizes the two is required. If “use-value” and “exchange-value” are values needed in the economy of “quantity (量),” then the Confucian “sign”-value is a concept needed in the economy of “quality (質).”293) What the human being should most focus on may be said to be production through labor and innovation through imagination.294) The use-value of Taoism and the exchange-value of Buddhism are signified by Confucianism, innovated, and born as new qualitative value. Confucianism, which prefers sign-value, gives top priority to the distinction that ‘X is X and –X is –X.’ Late capitalism, the age of semiotics, has become the most efficient system for producing and consuming signs.295) The sign-value of Confucian capitalism humanizes the community and brings about sustainable development.

If we examine the problems of Confucianism and utilitarianism: utilitarianism seems closest to the welfare state, but it has problems in common with Confucianism in that it does not emphasize individual utility, does not consider the inequality of society as a whole, and—positing a subject that evaluates utility monistically—disregards the collective choice process of the diverse members of society. In Adam Smith's classical capitalism the invisible hand operates like the Way (道) to balance supply and demand, but what Adam Smith and Quesnay both failed to learn from Chinese economic thought was the circularity that underlies Chinese thought. Like the Chinese thought of the Book of Changes (易), the invisible hand can achieve sustainable growth only if it develops in a spiral, but after Adam Smith European economy chose linear development rather than spiral development. The European economy that pursued linear development met first the Marxist revolution and second the environmental crisis, and came again to return to its Eastern origin and pursue spiral development. Just as China makes its system flexible and capitalist nations strengthen their social-security systems, utilitarianism and Confucian capitalism can be developed by guaranteeing the interests of the weak and practicing mutual life-giving (sangsaeng) through the Three Bonds and Five Relations of Confucianism. A comparison of Confucian capitalism and utilitarianism thus far is as follows.

\<Table 2.6\> Comparison Table of Confucian Capitalism and Utilitarianism

| | Confucian capitalism | Utilitarianism/Keynesian-Schumpeterian economics |

| ----- | :---: | :---: |

| History of influence | Influenced Adam Smith and Quesnay | Influenced the welfare state |

| Theory | Valuing creativity; ‘renew day by day, and again day by day’ (日新又日新) | Effective demand, entrepreneurship |

| Principal economic activity | Production, benevolence (仁), labor | Mass production for the greatest happiness of the greatest number |

| View of the state | Humanist view of the state | Welfare state |

| View of society/equality | Great Unity society, the equality of Great Unity296) | Emphasis on collective efficiency |

| Value theory | Sign-value | Innovation-value theory |

| Representative thinkers | Confucius, Sima Qian | Bentham, Mill / Keynes, Schumpeter |

| Merits | Humanization of community, innovation | Innovation, occasion for community development |

| Problems | Group-centered, uniformization | Infringement of individual human rights, disregard of qualitative distinction |

| Difference | Circulation takes precedence over utility | Utility takes precedence over circulation |

| Solution | Respect for the weak in the Three Bonds and Five Relations | Guaranteeing the interests of the minority |

5. Western Religion (Seogyo), Western Capitalism, and the Communitarian View of Goods

After Max Weber published The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Western Religion came to be known as closely connected with capitalism. But, contrary to what Weber revealed, it may be said that Protestantism succeeded in establishing capitalism because its communitarian spirit grounded in the universal-love spirit of Western Religion was differentiated from Confucianism.297)

If we examine Western Religion and Western capitalism beginning with the parts close to daily life—in the order of history, principal economic activity, doctrine, view of society, attitude toward economic activity, view of the market, view of the state, value theory, problems, differences, and points for improvement—we come to know that it has a view of goods similar to communitarianism and institutionalist economics.

If we examine the history of Western Religion and Western capitalism: unlike Weber, who regarded Protestantism as identical to Western Religion, the universal-love thought of Western Religion had a thought exactly opposite to the Protestant view of wealth.298) If the Taoist view of wealth plays the role of pulling in and accumulating all things, like “water (水),” then “universal love (博愛)” plays the role of circulating accumulated wealth by consuming it where needed, like “fire (火).” “Universal love,” concentrating on consumption, does not fail to produce value; rather, it produces value by realizing utility. In fact, Western Religion expresses the Holy Spirit as “fire (火).”299)

If we examine the principal economic activity of Western Religion, it corresponds to circulation among the economic cycle of saving, production, circulation, and distribution. Value built through saving, labor, and innovation is realized as value only after passing through circulation grounded in the communitarian view of goods that is universal love. Western Religion leads circulation mainly through circulation among the four economic stages of saving–production–circulation–distribution.300) Circulation, unlike existing saving, distribution, and production, is the concept of consumption and the gift (贈與) unrelated to production. The sign generated by Confucian innovation becomes a symbol that integrates value, and as it is given as a symbol of love, economic activity concludes one cycle.301)

If we examine the doctrine of Western Religion in connection with economy, what allows us to say that Western Religion symbolizes circulation is that, unlike Islam—a religion that believes in the same one God—it recognizes “interest (利子).” Western capitalism may be said to have begun by recognizing “interest,” going beyond mere saving for reuse.302) The interest that Calvin recognized was a thought that did not appear in Islam or Judaism, which worship the same one God. The recognition of interest was a logic acceptable through the universal love and the Trinity of Western Religion.303) The Son (聖子) is value increased by circulation through unconscious symmetry, and universal love has as its special strength circulating all things like “fire.”304)

“Money,” another expression for currency, symbolizes circulation, and universal love has the doctrinal system most suited to the attribute of “money.”305) In fact, the missionaries of Western Religion, like Matteo Ricci, traveled the whole world and circulated Western Religion. The monotheistic thought of Western Religion had a thought that unifies everything by a single standard, like currency.306)

If we examine the view of the state of Western Religion, as in the view of the state of communitarian ethics, the state becomes a place that actively realizes the ideal of community. Although Western Religion is a religion with a dual system of pope and king, the king can realize the ideal of community in the state. The view of the state of Western Religion may be said to orient toward a paradise on earth through community.

If we look at the view of society of Western Religion, it may be said to be close to communitarianism in that independent individual subjects look critically at the market economy307) and assert the common good.308) Communitarianism, unlike social contractarianism, regards social solidarity not as a matter of calculating interests but as an emotional community formed historically. Western Religion does not value the family, so all are called brothers and sisters. Communitarianism may be called the most ideal economic thought, but for this a firm guarantee of circulation is needed.

If we examine the value theory of Western Religion and Western capitalism, the value theory closest to the circulation–view of goods of Western Religion may be called the cultural-value theory309) or the symbolic-value theory.310) The law of marginal utility—which circulates to the person who most needs something and draws out the highest utility—is accomplished through the practice of the gift that is universal love through circulation, and at this time exchange-value, use-value, and sign-value become symbolic value. The symbolic value of communitarianism appears in Western Religion as a promise with God.

The theory of universal love of Western Religion becomes the first step from the stage of production to the stage of circulation and consumption. In particular, the logic of the gift operates and the value of the commodity begins to harden into symbolic value. The change of the commodity—which had developed to the point of indicating semiotic differences of status—hardens into symbolic value as it circulates, and becomes spiritual (靈) capital.311)

If we examine the merits of Western capitalism: unlike the Protestant view of wealth that Weber pointed to as the cause of capitalism's establishment, what truly gave rise to capitalism in the West may be said to be this gift-thought of universal love, which is lacking in the Eastern thought of Yu-Bul-Seon. Western Religion, unlike the East, widely circulated the goods manufactured by the Taoist and Confucian policy of enriching the nation and strengthening the military, in accordance with the thought of universal love, thereby promoting the circulation of goods and succeeding in building industrial capitalism. Agrarian peoples have deep emotional bonds but, through long cohabitation, cannot but give rise to something like crony capitalism; whereas non-agrarian peoples maintain fair relationships and are thus more advantageous for forming community.

If we examine the problems of Western Religion and Western capitalism: just as the Western view of wealth changes with the death of God and the death of ideology, the conception of the symbolic value of goods also changes. Goods as proof of God's mercy come, after the death of God, to appear as objects of use, and after the death of ideology, as virtual reality. Today Western Religion has become prosperity theology, and goods have again become proof of salvation; but beyond the level of absolute poverty they are no longer objects of envy, but merely a token of the desire of the other.312)

Western capitalism, which developed by harmonizing well the values of saving, labor, and innovation, achieved the development of material civilization, but material civilization came to obstruct the spiritual civilization of the Yu-Bul-Seon circular structure that was its root. The circularity of society and nature, which is the source of the capitalist economy, became a boomerang of environmental crisis and human alienation and came to hold back the modern economy. Rather than the realization of value through circulation, a gambling capitalism that sacrifices today for the sake of heaven became economic value. The realization of circular value, which is its own root, was deferred to a later day, and a linear material civilization came to be pursued. The economic view of the individual, too, lost circular ethics and pursues economy, but the economy became more difficult.313)

Communitarianism, which alone is unrelated to production, is increasing explosively, and this is said to have a strong dimension of seeking an alternative following the collapse of socialism in the Eastern European nations.314)

The reason one must make a gift, for which there is no guarantee of return, for the sake of economic circulation is that when circulation collapses, the intentionality of human consciousness—which always orients toward something—collapses. In fact, the modern person, immersed in meritocracy, frequently falls into depression and helplessness. MacIntyre, who represents communitarianism, holds that the problem facing today's free society is the loss of a sense of purpose due to the absence of the gift, and that as long as there is no sense of purpose, morality becomes no more than a hobby or taste.315)

The difference between Western Religion–Western capitalism and communitarianism may be said to be that, in the order of priority of the common good and circulation, Western Religion–Western capitalism places the common good above circulation compared with communitarianism. This is because in Western Religion the good of the community, too, is ultimately only the will of the Absolute.

Economic communitarianism has not yet discovered the psychological mechanism by which communitarianism arises, but psychoanalysis has proven that communitarianism necessarily arises owing to unconscious symmetry. Matte Blanco discovered, in Lacan's psychoanalysis, that the unconscious is composed symmetrically.

\<Table 2.7\> Comparison Table of Western Capitalism and Communitarianism

| | Western Religion (西敎) Western capitalism | Communitarianism/Institutionalist economics |

| ----- | :---: | :---: |

| History of influence | Non-agrarian-culture communitarianism | Modern communitarianism |

| Theory | Recognition of interest, Trinity | Gift-economy theory, general economics |

| Principal economic activity | Community through the realization of universal love | Gift, circulation, consumption |

| View of the state | Paradise on earth | Communitarian state |

| View of society/equality | Brothers and sisters of God | Emotional community |

| View of equality | Equality before God | Equality before the community |

| Value theory | Promise with God | Symbolic value |

| Representative thinkers | Calvin, Wesley | MacIntyre, Michael Sandel |

| Merits | Collective action possible | |

| Problems | Environmental problems | Lack of practicality |

| Difference | Emphasis on circulation | Emphasis on community |

| Solution | Promotion of dialogue | Strengthening the sense of purpose |

Human consciousness has an exchange-consciousness advantageous only to itself, but, owing to the symmetry of the unconscious, the human being has an intentionality of coming to give to someone and a sense of indebtedness that returns what was received. Mauss holds that in the world's gift-economy systems people appeal to a sense of indebtedness. What makes the human being feel indebtedness may be said to be unconscious symmetry. What has been discussed so far may be organized as in the following table.

Chapters II-1, 2, 3, and 4 may be summarized in the following table.

\<Table 2.8\> Table Relating to Saving–Production–Circulation–Distribution316)

| :---: | :---: | :---: | :---: | :---: |

Footnotes

136)Yuichi Shionoya (2002), p. 38
137)Yuichi Shionoya (2002), pp. 70–71
138)In ethics, virtue, unlike Eastern virtue, refers to excellence (arete). (Park Hae-gyeong, “A Study on Aristotle's Virtue Ethics and Communitarianism,” master's thesis, Graduate School of Education, Kyungnam University, 2004, pp. 5–7)
139)Aristotle, unlike Kant and the utilitarians, discusses virtue within community and holds that virtue does not depend on an individual's motives, habits, or character, but is something a human being comes to possess within community. (Park Hae-gyeong, 2004, p. 1)
140)The Book of Documents (『書經』) speaks of the “Three Affairs” (三事): rectifying virtue (正德—being), beneficial use (利用—conduct), and enriching life (厚生—institution). (『書經』, 「大禹謨」; requoted from An Yong-jin, “A Study on Confucius's Economic Ethics,” doctoral thesis, Sungkyunkwan University, 2007, abstract) Conduct (heaven), institution (earth), and being (human) can be interpreted as heaven-earth-human, and also through Georges Dumézil's tripartite-function system of politics, production, and religion.
141)Yuichi Shionoya (2002), p. 47
142)‘Excellence’ is a translation of arete in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. Yi Chang-u et al., Ezbooks, 2006, p. 36)
143)Yuichi Shionoya (2002), p. 77
144)Yuichi Shionoya (2002), p. 79
145)The ethical discussion in Rawls's A Theory of Justice greatly influenced economics as well. In particular, Rawls's ethics is said to have served as a catalyst that drew into the domain of economics—into economic discussion centered on efficiency—the consideration of social virtues other than efficiency, namely freedom, rights, and justice. (Park Man-seop, “Justice: The Meeting Point of Economics and Philosophy,” Korean Society, Vol. 7, No. 2, Research Institute for Korean Studies, Korea University, 2006, p. 35)
146)Communitarianism is said to be largely divided into Michael Sandel's identity communitarianism, MacIntyre's virtue communitarianism, and the political communitarianism of Taylor and Walzer. (Park Hae-gyeong, 2004, p. 26)
147)Pareto discovered a function called Pareto optimality, which can find the combination with optimal efficiency within given limits. The optimal allocation Pareto discovered became a solution providing the greatest happiness of the greatest number of the community. Pareto's methodology became welfare economics, a discipline that optimizes welfare.
148)Communitarianism refers to a group of social-theoretical, socio-political, and moral-philosophical positions that emphasize the cultural particularity of small-scale communities and highlight the importance of such communities by emphasizing the values they have for the integrity of personality, the formation of morality, and the formation of community consciousness. According to this position, the concrete meaning of life that justifies human suffering and anxiety as bearable is realized not in an anonymous and pluralistic society, but within a community of a size oriented toward common values and in which people can know one another. Representative theorists include Michael Sandel, famous for Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?, and MacIntyre, who revived Aristotle's philosophy of virtue. (Otfried Höffe, Dictionary of Ethics, trans. Im Hong-bin et al., Yekyong, 1998)
149)The communitarian claim is that, instead of the autonomy and neutrality that form the core of liberalism, one should emphasize community and the common good. (Park Hae-gyeong, 2004, p. 26)
150)In Daesoon Thought, the various religions can have as their core the four of Yu-Bul-Seon and Western Religion. “Again one day Sangje said: ‘Seondo, Buldo, Yudo, and Seodo became the foundations of the cultures of the various peoples of the world. Now I establish Choe Suun (崔水雲) as the patriarch (宗長) of Seondo, Jinmuk (震默) as the patriarch of Buddhism, Zhu Hui'an (朱晦庵, Zhu Xi) as the patriarch of Confucianism, and Yi Madu (利瑪竇, Matteo Ricci) as the patriarch of Seodo.’” (Jeongyeong, Gyoun 1:65)
151)The proposition X is a single sentence such as “water is cold,” and the proposition –X, since “–” indicates negation, means “water is not cold.”
152)Every existent simultaneously has a structural dimension and a flowing dimension. Therefore it may be said that the dynamic balance of yin and yang gives rise to circular change through the yin-yang interaction (感應, resonance) that again achieves harmony, and that by circular change the harmony (調和) of yin and yang is again established. In the Book of Changes (易), this conception is expressed by the principles of hexagram interpretation: position (位) and time (時), correspondence/proximity (應比) and the circulation of coming and going, and the mean (中). (Yi Sang-ik, Philosophy of History and the Thought of the Book of Changes, Sungkyunkwan University Press, 1996, p. 165) In the West too there is circulation in the logic of historical development, but Eastern circulation differs from Western circulation in that it further includes the theory of resonance (感應). The West makes even circulation linear, whereas Eastern circulation, compared with Western circulation, includes a nonlinear theory of resonance. The theory of resonance is the ground on which Eastern circulation becomes a complexity science. Yu-Bul-Seon may be said to be divided according to the position at which the point of resonance for circulation is selected. In Daesoon Thought, Yu-Bul-Seon is expanded into an ultimate system of thought. All the spirits of dao-attainment grant dao-attainment according to what each has cultivated in Yu-Bul-Seon (“...at the time of dao-attainment, the dao-attainment spirits of Yu, Bul, and Seon all gather and cause one to attain the dao according to what each has cultivated in mind and body...,” Jeongyeong, Gyoun 1:41), and the statement that the same Imjin War would take three years if Confucianism undertook it, eight months if Buddhism undertook it, and three days if Seondo undertook it shows that Yu-Bul-Seon is a universal scientific system (“...Had the past Imjin War been undertaken by Choe Punghyeon (崔風憲), it would have been no more than three days; had Jinmuk (震默) faced it, no more than three months; had Song Gubong (宋龜峰) undertaken it, it would have been pacified in eight months. This was only because the methods of Seon, Bul, and Yu differ...,” Jeongyeong, Yesi 1:73). In today's philosophy of science—Feyerabend, Bachelard, Canguilhem, Michel Serres, Gilbert Durand, and others, who adopt methodological liberalism—since science is no different from poetic imagination, there is not only Western-Religion science as the background of science, but Confucian science, Buddhist science, and Taoist science can each be established differently; and in fact even the natural sciences appear differently according to the standpoint from which circulation is viewed—Newton, Einstein, quantum mechanics, and so on. The natural sciences too circulate. The world-renowned philosopher of science Feyerabend says that magic should be taught in schools. (Jang Dae-ik, There Is Something Special about Science, Gimm-Young, 2008, pp. 180–183) The human and social sciences too, as Habermas classifies them, can be divided—according to whether the subject's interest is an emancipatory interest—into positivism, hermeneutics, structuralism, and depth hermeneutics. (Jürgen Habermas, On the Logic of the Social Sciences, trans. Park Seong-su, Munye Publishing, 1986, pp. 7–41) Viktor Schauberger, through his theory of water, showed that the destruction of nature was severe because modern science failed to utilize the circularity of nature, and that creative perpetual devices can be made by using nature's centripetal-implosion principle. (Einstein Was Wrong, Yangmun, 1997, pp. 97–101) Recent quantum mechanics is absorbed in the possibility of a science through the mind, like Yu-Bul-Seon. (Kim Sang-un, Watching (The Magic God Works), Jeongsin Segye-sa, 2011, pp. 36–55)
153)Topology is a modern mathematics that seems to lie at the boundary between Eastern and Western mathematics; as the word “topology (位相)” literally indicates, it is a mathematics that interprets the position and form of things. Topology, like Eastern mathematics, is a mathematics that discovers the essential commonality and distinctiveness of things regardless of their external form. (Yi Jeong-u, Folding and Unfolding, Georeum, 2000, p. 189) Topology abstracts the variables of space and discovers the similarity among figures. With the development of topology, a new chapter of scholarship opened, treating space, algebra, and spacetime within a pluralized framework. Through topology, it became possible not only to analyze the structure of one's own culture but also to help understand one culture by means of another. (Han Tae-dong, The Flow of Thought, Yonsei University Press, 2003, pp. 29–30)
154)The world's logic is represented by Western syllogism and Chinese dualistic logic, and the circular logic of peripheral countries such as Korea appears as a determination by empty words (heosa). (Park Dong-hwan, Where Is Eastern Logic?, Goryeowon, 1993, pp. 102–103) Circular logic has the merit that, because things resonate with one another, it can be variously expressed as determination by empty words.
155)Confucius said, “My Way is pervaded by one thread (一以貫之)” (『논어』, 「이인」 / Analects, ‘Li Ren’), meaning that words and deeds all converge into one. It is said that when Confucius selected seventy from among his three thousand disciples, he used as his standard whether one could pierce things with a single thread. Confucius's logic is summarized as (X)² ∪ (~X) → X. (Han Tae-dong, “The Flow of Thought,” Theological Forum, College of Theology, Yonsei University, 1989, pp. 13–16) The objection that vast Confucianism cannot be simplified into a single formula is refuted by Confucius. The Book of Changes (易) is compressed into the single sign of the Supreme Ultimate (太極), and the Chinese character compresses all things into one and into a single syllable. The Chinese character is said to have come from Siddham, the origin of Sanskrit, an ancient form of Korean. (Kang Sang-won, Chinese Characters Are the Script of the Dongyi People, Korea Sejong Hallimwon Press, 2007, p. 3) Moreover, Korea is said to be the only country in which the meaning and the pronunciation method of Chinese characters coincide. (Park Mun-gi, Master of the Correct Sounds, MS Books, 2011, pp. 38–40) Compression and circulation become the criteria distinguishing the methodologies of Western and Eastern scholarship. Eastern mathematics, grounded in circular logic, compresses inductively, as in the ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches, whereas Western mathematics, grounded in deductive logic, is said to expand infinitely.
156)Laozi, who simultaneously accepts X·(~X), may be called dialectical and paradoxical. In Laozi's Daodejing, composed of the Classic of the Way and the Classic of Virtue, the structure of the Way is “the X that can be called X is not the eternal X,” and the structure of virtue is “I regard the one who is X as X, and the one who is not X I also regard as X—this is precisely X.” Though a short text of 5,000 characters, the Daodejing, with its thorough unity and rich expression, may be called a heritage of humanity. (Han Tae-dong, 2003, pp. 50–54) Synthesizing the Way and virtue, Taoism may in the end be called the theory that X is –X and –X is X.
157)Shakyamuni may be said to have, rather than giving answers to various problems, presented a path by which one can be liberated from the problems themselves. Shakyamuni first analyzed the ground of thought and realized that the dichotomized self-attachment and the realm of form, which we ourselves fabricate, are the source of suffering. Self-attachment continually dichotomizes to form innumerable sentient beings, but since innumerable sentient beings do not actually exist, he said “in truth there are no sentient beings to be led to extinction (實無衆生滅度入涅槃).” The realm of form too continually dichotomizes to form the four-thousand-great-thousand worlds, but these all do not exist, so he said that even giving away the three-thousand-great-thousand worlds is inferior to a single word of Shakyamuni. As a method of overcoming the dichotomization of self-attachment and the realm of form, Shakyamuni presented the Six Pāramitās and spoke of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi—supreme perfect enlightenment (無上正等正覺). “Right equality (正等)” is, in plain words, equality. To be equal is to remove dichotomization. (Han Tae-dong, 2003, pp. 23–25) That Shakyamuni attained enlightenment also means that Shakyamuni's teaching can be compressed into a single logic.
158)The structure of Western Religion is a simplex structure of the threefold union of heaven-earth-human. Among the Ten Commandments, the 1st–4th concern heaven, the 5th–7th concern earth, and the 8th–10th mainly speak of the human being. The Lord's Prayer too says “Hallowed be Thy name (heaven),” “Give us this day our daily bread (earth),” and “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us (human).” In the temptations with Satan unfolded over forty days in the wilderness, Jesus refused the miracle of turning stones into bread, submitting to the order of heaven (heaven); refused the temptation to be given all the kingdoms of the world (earth); and refused the test to throw himself down from the temple (human). (Han Tae-dong, 2003, pp. 50–54) Jesus expressed the source of the threefold union of heaven-earth-human simply with the word “Father,” and in this he accords with Confucianism. As the Western philosopher Charles Taylor said, our age today is at once the least religious and yet outstandingly demands another transcendence that points to ultimacy and transcendence; and the core that Confucianism regards as most meaningful is its this-worldly transcendental consciousness, which is filial piety (孝). (Yi Eun-seon, In Search of the Lost Transcendence, Mosineun Saramdeul, 2009, pp. 58–84) Confucianism, unlike Buddhism and Taoism, does not externalize transcendence but internalizes it, thereby gaining originality. (François Jullien, 2003, p. 142) Filial piety is a method of finding the lost transcendence through circulation. If Taoism mainly speaks of formless heaven, Buddhism of earth that has form, and Confucianism of the human being, then Western Religion speaks of the Absolute, the source of heaven-earth-human. The heaven and earth that Confucianism first harmonized are again, including Confucianism, made to flow a second time in Western Religion, and are harmonized a third time by the Way that circulates them as spring-summer-autumn-winter, including even Western Religion. Theology too has four points of debate: if the harmony of 0 and 1 is creationism, then 1 and 1 is Mariolatry (Both A and B), 2 and 1 is Christology (Either A or B), and 3 and 1 is the Trinity (Neither A Nor B). (Han Tae-dong, “Theology Seen from Mathematical Logic,” Theological Forum, Vol. 5, College of Theology, Yonsei University, 1959, pp. 122–123) Discussing this in connection with the present essay: if the harmony of 0 and 1 is Taoism (creationism), then 1 and 1 is Buddhism (Mariolatry), 2 and 1 is Confucianism (Christology), 3 and 1 is Western Religion (the Trinity), and 4 and 1 may be called the Way (origination-flourishing-benefit-firmness, 元亨利貞).
159)Confucius opposed to the end Laozi's dialectical and paradoxical attitude of simultaneously accepting X·(~X), maintaining the attitude of repaying kindness with kindness and resentment with resentment—“(X)² ∪ (~X)² → X”—so that the two schools of Laozi and Confucius finally came into opposition. (Han Tae-dong, 2003, pp. 62–63)
160)『논어』, 「학이장」 (Analects, ‘Xue Er’), 子曰; 學而時習之, 不亦說乎! (‘The Master said: To learn and to practice it from time to time—is this not a joy!’) (Seong Baek-hyo, Collected Commentaries on the Analects, Korean Classics Research Institute, 1990, p. 27)
161)『논어』, 「학이장」 (Analects, ‘Xue Er’), 有朋自遠方來不亦樂乎 (‘When a friend comes from afar, is this not a pleasure!’) (same book, p. 29)
162)『논어』, 「안연장」 (Analects, ‘Yan Yuan’), 齊景公問政於孔子孔子對曰君君臣臣父父子子 (‘Duke Jing of Qi asked Confucius about government. Confucius replied: Let the ruler be a ruler, the minister a minister, the father a father, the son a son.’) (same book, p. 346)
163)『논어』, 「위정」 (Analects, ‘Wei Zheng’), 知之爲知之不知爲不知是知也 (‘To know what one knows as known and what one does not know as not known—this is knowing.’) (same book, p. 67). Confucius's saying—to regard what one knows as known and what one does not know as not known—seems irrefutable, but Socrates responds with the liar's paradox of saying “I know that I do not know.” The statement that one knows that one does not know yields the paradox that among the things one does not know there is something one knows. (Han Tae-dong, same book, p. 61, 2003)
164)『논어』, 「헌문」 (Analects, ‘Xian Wen’), 以直報怨以德報德 (same book, p. 421); the rendering of the original is: repay resentment with uprightness, and repay virtue with virtue. Preceding this passage is 或曰以德報怨何如子曰何以報德 (‘Someone said: What about repaying resentment with virtue? The Master said: Then with what would you repay virtue?’). This is Confucius's Confucian-logical answer to Laozi's “報怨以德 (repay resentment with virtue)” (『도덕경』 63장 / Daodejing, ch. 63, same book, p. 737).
165)Taoism has so many paradoxical expressions that it is called the aesthetics of ‘reversal (反).’ “Reversal is the movement of the Way (反者道之動, Daodejing, ch. 40)” is an explanation implying that the movement of the Way is circular. This is why Laozi's thought was much used as a ground for dialectics, and by this Laozi was honored as the founder of Chinese dialectics. (Kim Deok-sam, An Introduction to the History of Chinese Taoism, Kyungin Publishing, 2004, p. 145)
166)『도덕경』, 「1장」 (Daodejing, ch. 1), 道可道,非常道; 名可名,非常名 (‘The Way that can be spoken is not the eternal Way; the name that can be named is not the eternal name.’) (Kim Gyeong-su, Annotated Translation of Laozi, Munsacheol, 2009, p. 14)
167)『도덕경』, 「8장」 (Daodejing, ch. 8), 上善若水. 水善利萬物而不爭, 處(居)衆人之所惡 (‘The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things well and does not contend, dwelling in the places people dislike.’) (same book, p. 108)
168)『도덕경』, 「5장」 (Daodejing, ch. 5), 天地不仁, 以萬物爲芻狗 (‘Heaven and earth are not benevolent; they treat all things as straw dogs.’) (same book, p. 80)
169)『도덕경』, 「79장」 (Daodejing, ch. 79), 和大怨, 必有餘怨; 報怨以德, 安[焉]可以爲善? (‘When a great resentment is reconciled, there is sure to be residual resentment; repaying resentment with virtue—how can this be considered good?’) (same book, p. 34)
170)In Buddhism it is said that the Christian command to ‘love your enemy’ conceals affliction under the fine name of ‘love.’ Furthermore, if this is applied to the connective negation of temporality, one reaches a state in which not even an enemy to be hated can exist. (Han Tae-dong, 2003, p. 31)
171)Buddhism, being a religion of the West, has much of the nature of withdrawal and so spoke much of matters after death; Confucianism, being of the eastern region of the rising sun, has a strong nature of advance and spoke of matters during life. Buddhism, being spatial, speaks of impermanence, non-self (無我), and eternal life; Confucianism, being temporal, speaks of temporal change (時變) and the everlasting continuation of descendants (生孫永存). Christianity, being of the nature of emanating yang (發陽), comes to pursue spiritual (靈的) eternal life, and Seondo, like the essence (精) of water (水), comes to pursue the eternal life of the body. (Han Gyu-seong, Lectures on the Principles of the Book of Changes, Yemunji, 1997, pp. 234–235)
172)A community may be said to be a group not of mutually identical individuals but of heterogeneous individuals. For a group of homogeneous individuals can be made into a collective even without communitarianism. For heterogeneous individuals to form a community, there is no choice but to tolerate paradox. To become everything, one must become spirit rather than material body, so that free change is possible. Western Religion succeeded by building its doctrine on the foundation of paradox—which, among the induction, deduction, dialectic, and paradox developed by the Greek Aristotle, was excluded from the rational domain. In logic, the dichotomized whole and individual are quartered into deduction, induction, dialectic, and paradox: deduction, which draws the individual out of the whole; induction, which draws the whole out of the individual; dialectic, which is the dialogue of induction and deduction; and paradox, which is the opposition of induction and deduction. Western Religion, as seen in the Apostles' Creed, established a two-dimensionally-secondary Trinity while opposing the dualism of the Gnostics of Asia Minor, and it is regarded as having thought of the creed decided in order to reject heresy as something unchanging that transcends time. (Han Tae-dong, same book, pp. 6–7)
173)Kaji Nobuyuki, Confucianism, the Religion of Silence (Gyeongdang, 2002), pp. 21–120
174)Buddhism and Taoism have in common, compared with Confucianism and Christianity, that they orient toward individual cultivation rather than community. The introverted direction of thought that seeks, by inwardly observing oneself, to realize the essence of the universe and of life may be regarded as common to the Daoist school and the Chan (Seon) school. (Kim Hang-bae, Buddhism and Taoist Thought, Dongguk University Press, 1999, pp. 80–87, 275–280) Owing to their mutual similarity, by the Sui-Tang period Huayan scholars such as Jizang, Chengguan, and Zongmi broke the traditional Dao-Buddhist cooperation and regarded the relationship as one of superiority and inferiority. This is because the Huayan scholars analyzed the Dao-Buddhist relationship from the aspect of metaphysical substance. (Sin Gyu-tak, “A Study on the Critique of Daoism in Chinese Buddhism—Centering on Jizang, Chengguan, and Zongmi,” Oriental Philosophy, Vol. 28, Korean Society for Oriental Philosophy, 2007, pp. 277–281)
175)If Buddhism and Taoism value individual cultivation, Confucianism and Western Religion tend to value community relatively, so many commonalities between Confucianism and Western Religion have been pointed out. Beginning with Matteo Ricci, recently Julia Ching, and Korea's Ryu Yeong-mo, Ham Seok-heon, Yu Dong-sik, Yun Seong-beom, Yi Eun-seon, and others have pointed out the commonality between filial piety and Christianity. Julia Ching holds that Confucianism and Western Religion have in common an immanence together with an extroversion grounded in a practical concern for social and indeed global responsibility. (Julia Ching, Confucianism and Christianity, Bundo Publishing, 1994, pp. 23–24)
176)Buddhism had a continuous relationship with Confucianism and almost no relationship with Western Religion, but recently it was discovered that, among religions, they share the important commonality of orienting toward the next world, and that God and emptiness (空)—different expressions for the next world—are mutually connected. Jesus Christ can be expressed, in Buddhist terms, as the emptiness (空) of God (神). (Hans Waldenfels, Buddhist Emptiness (空) and God, Daewon Jeongsa, 1993, pp. 303–317)
177)Han Gyu-seong, 1997, p. 233
178)Recently scientists are researching the grounds that the spiritual power religion possesses has a material basis. In particular, in Buddhism and Taoism there is active movement to connect with science, while it is relatively rare in Confucianism and Western Religion. Research on the material basis of religion may be called research on morality and science, and since it is research on the method by which qi (氣) moves the world, it is very important for research connecting economy, economic ethics, and religion. A representative domestic work on the method by which qi moves the world in morality and science is Bang Geon-ung's Qi Moves the World (Yein, 2005).
179)Laozi (『노자』), called the originator of Taoism, may—contrary to the common notion that it is a book of self-cultivation—be called the first book in China to establish the logic of the state and of capital or currency. The Way (道), which appears powerfully in Laozi as the universal legislator of all things, is identical to the universality-logic of capital, the state, and currency today. What strongly opposes the powerful universal-logic of Laozi is Zhuangzi (『장자』), so Laozi and Zhuangzi—which have been classified in the same category—should be classified in opposite categories. The relationship between Laozi and Zhuangzi is like that of Hegel and Marx, or Hegel and Deleuze: if Hegel and Laozi define difference by the logic of identity, then Marx, Deleuze, and Zhuangzi define identity by difference. (Kang Sin-ju, Laozi: The Discovery of the State and the Metaphysics of Empire, Taehaksa, 2004, pp. 174–189) Therefore, when Laozi's Taoism is regarded as the first philosophical text to define the state, it can be regarded as the thought that founded libertarianism.
180)The public benefit (公利) of utilitarianism differs, in being the interest of the community, from the utilitarian gain (功利) in the sense that present-day school education pursues utilitarian gain. (“To establish schools widely throughout this world and teach people is to greatly civilize the world and, attaching it to the work of the Three Realms, to resolve the grievances of gods and humans (神人); but the present school education makes the learner fall only into the base utilitarian gain of official salaries and the like, so I attained the Way outside the established order,” and with these words he concluded. Jeongyeong, Gyoun 1:17)
181)That Western Religion could show a communitarian character from the beginning is because, as Weber said, primitive Western Religion as a prophetic religion had the characteristic of denying blood ties. The Bible says, “A man's enemies are the members of his own household. I came to set a daughter against her mother, a man against his father, a wife against her husband (Matthew 10:34–39).” This means that it gives priority to the spiritual community. By contrast, in the East only the violation of ‘filial piety’ became the root of sin. (Kim Seok-geun, “Confucian Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism?—A Reexamination of the ‘Weber Thesis,’” Oriental Social Thought, Vol. 2, Korean Association of Oriental Social Thought, 1999, p. 219) From its birth, Western Religion, unlike other religions, showed a nomadic form centered on community. Today it is misunderstood that Western Religion represents the materialism of capitalism, but Western Religion is a religion that came from a nomadic people and, true to its doctrine of ‘universal love,’ has the bestowal of material goods as its core. St. Francis, who became the model of medieval monasteries, and Mother Teresa, the symbolic figure of modern Catholicism, were incarnations of service, and Western Religion has an active tradition of social work as ‘the practice of service.’ That Western Religion has today become the symbol of capitalism is because, in the middle, it forgot its main current through the influence of Eastern Yu-Bul-Seon and its collusion with imperialism and capitalism.
182)The Eastern worldview represents the axis of time within a single space, so that the axes of time and space appear simultaneously. For example, spring-summer-autumn-winter and east-west-south-north appear on the same axis. Saving-production-circulation-distribution, connected along the axis of time, also overlaps with the economic view and economic ethics. In food culture too, if the West serves food in spatial order, buffet-style, and China serves it in temporal order, course-style, then Korea appears in a form combining time and space, like its table culture. In architectural style as well, Korea arranges gardens by spring-summer-autumn-winter, simultaneously representing time and space. (Park Yong-suk, Korean Aesthetic Thought, Irwol Seogak, 1990, pp. 213–218)
183)The paradoxical polarity of Taoism was expressed by four mutually different concepts: the mysterious (玄), the one (一), nothing (無), and the Way (道). The polarity-and-flow of Taoism, too, can be expressed as: the circulation of nature is the way of heaven and earth (天地之道), and the human regulating action of circulation is the way of the sage (聖人之道). (Kim Yeong-ju, “Laozi's Thought: A New Interpretation of ＜the Diagram of the Way of Heaven and Earth＞,” Oriental Social Thought, Vol. 20, Korean Sociological Association, 2009, pp. 185–187)
184)The polarity of Taoism is also mentioned as the originating thought of Western deconstructionism, which has swept Western humanities today. Wesling says that the philosophy of Derrida, the master of deconstructionism, is an ‘incomplete Lao-Zhuang philosophical system,’ and the prominent American scholar of yin-yang thought A. C. Graham goes so far as to say that Laozi and Derrida have so striking a similarity that there is a danger of missing the differences. (Kim Sang-rae, “The Deconstructive Thought of Laozi and the Characteristics of His Ethical Theory,” Studies in the Eastern Classics, Vol. 42, Society for the Eastern Classics, 2011, p. 330) Today all things are deconstructed, and Marxism too is mentioned as a form of deconstructionism. Deconstructionism may be called another name for circulationism. To deconstruct all things may be called the Western expression of viewing all things circularly.
185)Zhu Xi is said to have criticized the Legalists as utilitarians. Confucianism is said to have compromised both the statecraft of Legalism and the self-cultivation of Laozi and Buddhism. (Yi Sang-ik, “The Statecraft Theory of Zhu Xi and Yulgok,” Studies in Yulgok Thought, Vol. 11, Yulgok Studies Association, 2005, pp. 45–46) Considering that, if ideal Confucianism was capable of compromise, real Confucianism drifted toward Legalism, Confucianism may be said to be close to utilitarianism.
186)Schumpeter revealed innovation—a third value that none of the masters of the economics of the time, such as Marx, Keynes, and the neoclassicals, had noticed—as the origin of value, and at a young age suddenly became a world-renowned economist. Innovation is a concept in which the human role is greatly emphasized; what creates value was technology, which belongs to none of the three basic economic factors of labor, capital, and land. After Schumpeter, capitalism came to regard knowledge—that is, human capital—as a core factor. Schumpeter, together with innovation, emphasized entrepreneurship, another human value that realizes innovation. There was also criticism that Schumpeter's innovation and entrepreneurship are likewise structural results of society, but it cannot be denied that Schumpeter created a new problematic that both the left and right camps did not know. On Schumpeter's biography there is Mitsuharu Ito's Joseph Schumpeter (trans. Park Yeong-ho, Jisigeul Mandeuneun Jisik, 2004).
187)Veblen, renowned as a genius of his age, grasped conspicuous consumption—the secret of capitalism that everyone knows but that even Keynes and Schumpeter failed to discover—as the source of a new economic value. Veblen takes as the foundation of the economy the fact that the human being is not a rational being who produces to obtain a token of predestined salvation, but a snobbish being who consumes in order to show off to others. Veblen, like Freud's censorship of the unconscious, stripped away the hypocrisy of economics that had tried to conceal and showed the naked truth. Veblen's theory of conspicuous consumption exposed the truth but gave rise to another question: why does the human being show off, and what results does conspicuous consumption bring? Conspicuous consumption, though problematic in motive, ultimately brings about the circulation of the economy, so it made clear that sound conspicuous consumption is needed; therefore, since the economy is determined by institutions, he advocated institutional reforms such as donation systems, social-security systems, and anti-monopoly systems. Veblen influenced economists such as Galbraith and provided the economic grounds for scholars such as Baudrillard and Bataille, who discovered the gift as the core of the economy. Veblen's representative work is The Theory of the Leisure Class (Thorstein Veblen, trans. Choe Gwang-yeol, Pakyoungsa, 1983).
188)René Girard gained worldwide fame by exposing that the desire that the modern person living in capitalism cherishes like a sacred relic is in fact a mimetic desire that imitates the desire of others. Starting out as a literary critic of works such as Don Quixote and The Red and the Black, Girard later applied mimetic-desire theory to cultural anthropology and economics as well, building a grand theory. Since Freud's discovery of the unconscious, with a mimetic-desire theory even more shocking than the unconscious, he is serving as a catalyst for the epoch-making development of the humanities. In his analysis of Don Quixote, Girard holds that the modern novel Don Quixote imitates the desire of the medieval knight through external mediation, while in modern novels such as Stendhal's The Red and the Black and Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment the protagonist imitates the other internally, amplifying conflict all the more. (René Girard, Deceit, Desire, and the Novel, trans. Kim Chi-su, Hangilsa, 2001) Mimetic desire gives rise to social violence, and that violence can be resolved only through a scapegoat. (René Girard, Violence and the Sacred, trans. Park Mu-ho, Minumsa, 2000) Christianity is said to have made the contribution of being the first to bring this scapegoat mechanism to the surface. (René Girard, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, trans. Kim Jin-sik, Munhak gwa Jiseongsa, 2007) In capitalism, money may be said to perform a function like that of the scapegoat. Girard, together with Lacan, is a central figure who revealed that the desire of the modern person is the desire of the other. On Girard and his economic thought there is A Critique of Economic Logic Drawing on René Girard (Kim Jin-sik, University of Ulsan Press, 2005). Christianity, in being the first to reveal the scapegoat system, may be said to represent communitarianism. Girard's mimetic-desire theory provides legitimacy to Veblen's desire theory, that all human desire is conspicuous consumption.
189)Institutionalist economics is used here, following Yuichi Shionoya's argument, as a broader concept that includes the American institutionalist economics of Veblen and others.
190)Bataille developed Mauss's theory of the gift to create a general economic theory of the gift. The reason Bataille advocates an economics of the gift is that, unlike a production economy, the economy is a system of energy consumption, and to resolve the oversupply in which the sun always freely supplies energy, ceaseless consumption is more important. Bataille holds that when consumption and gift-giving do not flow smoothly, abnormal phenomena such as world war occur, so society must ceaselessly create gift institutions; but modern society, owing to the hypothesis of selfish man, ceaselessly tries to accumulate, and this drives the economy into crisis. Bataille's theory influenced Baudrillard's structuralist sign-value theory and his gift-economy symbolic-value theory. Bataille received the highest praise as a supreme intellectual from Foucault, a representative theorist of the latter half of the twentieth century. Bataille's work is The Accursed Share (Munhakdongne, 2000), and as a guide to Bataille's communitarianism there is Jean-Luc Nancy's The Inoperative Community (Ingansarang, 2010).
191)Yuichi Shionoya's cultural value advocates a cultural value grounded in the communitarian excellence of Aristotle. Baudrillard's symbolic value and Veblen's conspicuous consumption may be said ultimately to be integrated into a cultural value grounded in the communitarian excellence of Aristotle. (Yuichi Shionoya, 2002)
192)Kang Sin-ju, 2009, pp. 382–385
193)The laissez-faire of Adam Smith and Laozi share a common vein in three aspects. First, they recognize the form of the ‘state’ but hold that society is operated by a spontaneous order. Second, the equal life of human beings through redistribution: Adam Smith spoke of redistribution as one process of satisfying individual desires, and Laozi sought equality by reducing the surplus and giving it to others. Third, harmony with others: Adam Smith called this sympathy, and Laozi called it harmony. (Gu Min-hui, “A Comparison of the Laissez-Faire of Adam Smith and Laozi,” Studies in Eastern Philosophy, Vol. 61, Society for Eastern Philosophy, 2010, p. 536)
194)Lu Xun said that the root of China lies in Taoism, and that if one reads history books with this, countless problems are naturally resolved. (Hwang Won-min, “Three Taoist Economic Ethics,” East-West Thought, Vol. 8, Institute for East-West Thought, 2010, p. 237)
195)The profit-seeking impulse of the Chinese is well known to the world, and the positive valuation of wealth pervading all classes of Chinese society is so active as to be incomparable to any country in the world. (Kim Jeong-gye, “Max Weber's Religious Ethics and Modern Capitalism,” Studies in Industrial Economy, Vol. 15, Institute of Industrial Economy, Changwon National University, 1997, p. 297)
196)China's Taoism is the only one that was established as an organized religion (church Taoism), and it has kept pace with China's peasant uprisings. (Wa Deok-chung and Seo Sun-jang, A History of Chinese Religion, trans. Jo Seong-eul, Hanul Academy, 1996, pp. 40–42, 158–159, 327–332) The religion remaining in Taiwan and Hong Kong today is Taoism, not Confucianism. In Taiwan, Taoist temples are placed here and there in the middle of streets, like Japanese shrines. Broadly speaking, when Mao Zedong's Long March too is said to keep pace with the peasant-uprising tradition of Chinese Taoism, China's economic system today may be called Taoist capitalism.
197)René Thomas is said to correctly point out that Chinese communists now trust Laozi more than Confucius. Mao Zedong held that the dialectical worldview of communism arose in China earlier than in ancient Europe. Mao Zedong's dialectical materialism seems to be closely related to the dialectic of the classical Chinese yin-yang theory. Mao Zedong created a Chinese, or Asian, form of Marxism. (Yang Jae-hyeok, “The Circular Dao of the Chinese Classics and Mao Zedong's Dialectic,” Contemporary China Studies, Institute of Contemporary China Studies, Sungkyunkwan University, 1992, pp. 8–23)
198)That Taoism is well received even by communism is related to China's realistic and optimistic character, but above all—contrary to the common notion that it is a book of self-cultivation—it is because Taoism makes the logic of the state clearest. (Kang Sin-ju, 2004, pp. 105–113) Deng Xiaoping's theory of the black cat and the white cat is deeply related to the pragmatic mode of thinking of Taoism.
199)Taoism, from the beginning, has constantly been mixed with shamanism and widely used among the people as a practical and mystical expedient, and even its religiosity is today secularized. Taoism is usually called China's ethnic religion. (An Gwan-su, “A Hermeneutic Approach to the Interpretation of Laozi's Environmental Sociology Seen from the Weber Thesis,” Educational Research, Vol. 18, Institute for Educational Problems, Wonkwang University, 1999, p. 36)
200)Today there is a tendency for Taoism in the mass media to be commodified as the mysticism of Eastern thought, and this is said to tend to fade the essential aspect of Taoism. (Yun Chan-won, “Modern Laozi-Taoism Discourse Seen Centering on Theories of Civilizational Critique,” East Asian Culture and Thought, Vol. 8, East Asian Culture Forum, 2002, pp. 24–25)
201)Economic justice is said to consist of four elements: the view of equality, the view of society, the view of justice, and organization. The economic characteristics of each religion can be examined in connection with economic justice.
202)The influence of Taoism through Matteo Ricci may be said to be mainly by way of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism. Even while using the same Matteo Ricci materials, England mainly preferred the empiricist thought of ancient Confucius-Mencius Confucianism, whereas the European Continent preferred the rationalism of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism, which was influenced by Daoism and Buddhism. The influence of Taoism may thus be said to have been transmitted indirectly through Song Neo-Confucianism. (Jeon Hong-seok, “The Influence of Song Neo-Confucianism (宋儒理學) on Modern European Enlightenment and Its Cultural-Philosophical Meaning—Centering on the Left-Wing Bayle and the Right-Wing Malebranche of the French Cartesian School,” Studies in Eastern Philosophy, Vol. 57, Society for Eastern Philosophy, 2009, p. 304)
203)Modern ethics related to economy can be divided—by the criteria of individual/whole in method, and good (utility)/right (institution) in oriented value—into Nozick's libertarianism and Rawls's social contractarianism, which belong to individualism, and utilitarianism and MacIntyre's communitarianism, which orient toward methodological holism; and Taoism may be said to be close to libertarianism, which values individual freedom over utility. (Yuichi Shionoya, 2002, pp. 47–81)
204)Bacon, a contemporary of Calvin and said to be the founder of empiricism, highly praised the compass, gunpowder, and printing, but did not know they had originated in China. The European Renaissance over the three hundred years from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century coincides with the period in which Chinese civilization was transmitted to Europe. European civilization, which began in the Renaissance with the sum of Islamic and Chinese civilization, began in earnest after Matteo Ricci's death as China's spiritual civilization entered. (Hwang Tae-yeon, Confucius and the World, Vol. 1, pp. 412–420)
205)Among world cultures, Taoism, which has the most positive view of wealth, emphasizes—like Calvin's thought—the ethics for increasing wealth. The representative Taoist text Taishang Ganying Pian (『태상감응편』) says, “Fortune and misfortune have no gate; they are summoned only by people,” and the representative Taoist ethical manual “Gongguoge (功過格)” refers to a person's reflecting on his daily life and recording its good and evil in a diary form. When a year passes, statistics for that year are tabulated, as one tabulates a student's grades. (Yang Chang-sam, “A Study on the Relationship between Taoism and Korean Christianity,” Nation and Culture, Vol. 2, Institute of Ethnology, Hanyang University, 1994, p. 408) The Taishang Ganying Pian is a scripture that appeared after the Song dynasty, and from then on the three teachings of Yu-Bul-Seon became so mixed as to be difficult to distinguish. That the three teachings are blended today stems from the period after the Song (宋). Benjamin Franklin of the United States, a representative figure of the Puritans, actually recorded his own good and evil deeds in a diary, and this became the origin of today's Franklin Planner.
206)According to Weber, even with the same positive view of wealth, the Chinese view of wealth and the Puritan view of wealth were entirely opposite. Western Religion has a tradition of fiercely attacking the pursuit of wealth, and in Puritanism too, wealth was merely the inner organization for the assurance of atonement. By contrast, Chinese wealth was also a symbol of personality. (Kim Jeong-gye, “Max Weber's Religious Ethics and Modern Capitalism,” Studies in Industrial Economy, Vol. 15, Institute of Industrial Economy, Changwon National University, 1997, pp. 302–303) As Weber showed in his analysis of the relationship between Western Religion and capitalism, capitalism began the accumulation of capital with a positive view of wealth like that of Taoism. Weber, while searching for the reason why capitalism developed first in a West that was technologically backward and relatively poor in resources, came to focus on the frugal spirit of Calvin's Protestantism—the center of the Western-Religion Reformation—which regarded property as a symbol of salvation. Christianity, which had separated from Catholicism, urgently needed a method of finding a token of salvation that could replace the authority of the pope, and material goods, which all members of society could agree upon, were adopted as that token. Once goods appeared as a token of salvation, the production of and technology for goods expanded rapidly. The economic thought of early capitalism was to expand production and accumulate goods as the token of salvation. Goods became the labor invested to produce commodities, and labor was sanctified as conduct for salvation. Goods were an ascetic accumulation for the proof of salvation, rather than a means for individual selfish desire.
207)The Reformation of Calvin and Luther is logically a transition from a first-order equation to a second-order equation, and this can be seen as a similarity with Eastern thought. If before the Reformation there was a first-order structure in which sin was forgiven by keeping the Ten Commandments, after the Reformation it became a second-order structure in which one must oneself again accomplish the salvation that sin had been forgiven. Comparing Luther's thought with Confucianism, Luther possessed a positive double structure (X²) but had not yet advanced to a negative double structure (~X)². X²(Luther) ⊂ X² ∪ (~X)²(Confucianism). Luther thought of committing a fault as a fault, but did not enter the realm of regarding the failure to repent of a fault as sin. (Han Tae-dong, 2003, p. 146)
208)Calvinism and Lutheranism are said to have an Oedipal structure. For Freud, the son symbolizes the sinner of Luther and Calvin, the mother symbolizes the omniscient and omnipotent God, and the father symbolizes the law. (“Lacan and Luther: A Comparison of Identification and the Bondage of the Will,” Korean Journal of Systematic Theology, Vol. 16, Korean Society of Systematic Theology, 2006, p. 40)
209)Löwith regards both the Enlightenment and Calvinism as secularizations of Western-Religion eschatology. The Enlightenment outwardly criticized Western Religion but formally combined Western-Religion eschatology with, in content, Greek secularism. Eschatology and the Enlightenment share an eschatological form and determinism. The ‘grace’ of Western Religion is similar to the ‘reason’ of philosophy, and the atonement of Western Religion was similar to the enlightenment of philosophy. The secularization of the eschatological model brought about the ‘instrumentalization of reason’ and ‘extreme hedonism.’ (Yi Sang-ik, Philosophy of History and the Thought of the Book of Changes (Sungkyunkwan University Press, 1996), pp. 93–94) Calvinism, which secularized eschatology, can be seen in the same vein as the Enlightenment, but its secularization was accelerated by the influence of China. Eschatology can be regarded as having seen a particular context of the theory of circulation. That Weber, even with the same secularism, viewed Christianity and China differently is owing to the influence of eschatology, and it indicates that modern science too has an eschatological premise underlying it.
210)Hwang Ui-seo, “The Economic Ethics of Luther, Calvin, and Wesley,” Faith and Scholarship, Vol. 16, No. 2, Society for Christian Scholarship, 2011, pp. 293–294.
211)Kim Yong-hwan, “Max Weber's Religious and Economic Ethics,” Hoseo Cultural Studies, Vol. 12, Jungwon Cultural Research Institute, Chungbuk National University, 1994, p. 155.
212)Yi Eun-seon, “The Economic Ethics of Calvin and the Puritans,” Journal of Korean Reformed Theology, Vol. 6, No. 1, Korean Society of Reformed Theology, 1999, p. 142.
213)Considering that the Puritans Weber spoke of refer to the English Puritans, Calvin's thought may be said to have had its greatest influence on England. (Yi O-gap, “Calvin's 500 Years,” Theological Thought, Vol. 145, Korea Theological Study Institute, 2009, p. 85)
214)The small state with few people and non-action continue to have influence to this day. Today they may be said to connect with Guattari's ecophilosophy and with the lines of flight of Deleuze, who represents European philosophy. Emptiness (空) and the gong'an (公案/kōan), the results of the small state with few people and non-action, are regarded as the body without organs and as deterritorialization. (Jeong Hyeong-cheol, “The Nomadism of Deleuze and Guattari and the Eastern Mode of Thinking,” Korean Comparative Literature Association, Vol. 38, Korean Comparative Culture Association, 2006, pp. 176–194)
215)The Reformation thought of Calvin and Luther cannot deny the influence of the fleet of Zheng He of Ming China, which reached Italy and handed over printing, paper, and maps. (Gavin Menzies, 1434 (How China's Great Fleet of Zheng He Kindled the Fire of the Italian Renaissance), 21st Century Books, 2010, pp. 341–364) Calvin's Reformation occurred together with the development of printing, and the commerce and industry on which Calvin was grounded were the accounting principles and commercial techniques learned from China's Zheng He. (John M. Hobson, The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation, trans. Jeong Gyeong-ok, Ecolivres, 2005, pp. 160–165) The Protestants, who earned money with commercial techniques learned from the Chinese, unlike existing believers, had to confirm their own salvation by writing in their own diaries made of the printing and paper transmitted from China. (Jeremy Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization, Minumsa, 2010, pp. 329–337) This too is similar to the figure of the Chinese scholar.
216)Western science, which orients toward scientific verification, orients toward objective verification and so is extroverted, whereas the East may be said to be extremely inward. As an extroverted thinker of the East one may cite Zhang Zai of the Northern Song, whose systematic philosophy was severely criticized even by his disciples Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi. (Ying-shih Yü, The Rediscovery of Eastern Values, trans. Kim Byeong-hwan, Dong-Asia, 2007, pp. 90–91)
217)In Taoism, besides the honorific title Guansheng Dijun, Guan Yu is also called the Great Emperor Who Subdues Demons (伏魔大帝) and is made the chief of the underworld gods (地獄神), while those who were emperors in life, such as Han Gaozu and Qin Shi Huang, are rather relegated to the rank of his subordinates. In our land, from some unknown time, he has been revered as the god of wealth (財神) and worshipped especially by merchants. (Cha Gye-hwan, “Taoist Thought in the Late Joseon,” Oriental Studies, Vol. 24, Institute of Oriental Studies, Dankook University, 1994, p. 362)
218)The development of Chinese Taoism is broadly threefold: the immortality thought pursued by the literati, organized church Taoism with a doctrinal system, and folk Taoism spread among the people. Folk Taoism especially valued wealth. From the late medieval period, books of exhortation to goodness (勸善書)—that one can amass wealth by doing good deeds—were widely disseminated. (Kim Nak-pil, “The Ethical Thought of Folk Taoism in the Late Joseon,” Korean Culture, Vol. 12, Institute of Korean Culture, Seoul National University, 1991, pp. 427–435)
219)Cha Gye-hwan, “Taoist Thought in the Late Joseon,” Oriental Studies, Vol. 24, Institute of Oriental Studies, Dankook University, 1994, p. 362
220)The Daodejing mysteriously expresses black as the mysterious (玄). (谷神不死, 是謂玄牝; 玄牝之門, 是謂天地根 ‘The spirit of the valley does not die; this is called the mysterious female. The gate of the mysterious female—this is called the root of heaven and earth.’) (Daodejing, ch. 6; Kim Gyeong-su, ed., Annotated Translation of Laozi, Munsacheol, 2009)
221)小國寡民, 使有什佰之器而不用, 使民重死而不遠徙, 雖有舟輿無所乘之, 雖有甲兵無所陳之, 使人復結繩而用之, 甘其食, 美其服, 安其居, 樂其俗, 隣國相望, 鷄犬之聲相聞, 民至老死不相往來 (‘Let the state be small and the people few. Let there be tools for tens and hundreds, but let them not be used; let the people regard death gravely and not migrate far. Though there be boats and carriages, let there be no occasion to ride them; though there be armor and weapons, let there be no occasion to display them. Let the people return to knotting cords and using them. Let them find their food sweet, their clothing beautiful, their dwellings peaceful, their customs joyful. Though neighboring states be within sight of one another, and the sounds of their cocks and dogs be heard by one another, the people will grow old and die without coming and going between them.’)
222)『논어』, 「위령공장」 (Analects, ‘Wei Ling Gong’), 子曰無爲而治者其舜也與夫何爲哉恭己正南面而已矣 (‘The Master said: One who governed through non-action—was that not Shun? What did he do? He merely made himself reverent and faced due south.’) (McCormick, “Sima Qian and Adam Smith,” p. 85; Confucius and the World, Vol. 2, pp. 863–864)
223)It is said that the Way, which makes all things absolutely equal, is everywhere (the theory that the Way is in no place absent, 道無所不在說). This is because the Way grasps all things not from the standpoint of the Way but from the standpoint of all things. (Jo Min-hwan, “Zhuangzi's Egalitarian Thought,” Studies in Taoism, Vol. 13, Korean Society for Taoist Studies, 1994, pp. 183–184)
224)The marginal utility theory is the value theory that the capitalist camp developed in response when the labor theory of value—running from Adam Smith through Ricardo to Marx—developed into Marx's communist theory; it is the official value theory of modern capitalism and the representative theory that adorns the first page of economics textbooks and middle- and high-school social-studies textbooks. The marginal utility theory too, like other theories, can have its value known only by mutual comparison and criticism before being accepted. In the marginal utility theory, ‘marginal’ means the last good. For example, if one has eaten ten apples, the marginal good is not the ninth apple but precisely the tenth apple; therefore marginal utility is not the utility of eating the ninth apple but the utility of eating the tenth apple.
225)Arrow's social choice theory too ultimately shows that the best choice is possible when there is a moral constraint. (Yuichi Shionoya, 2002, pp. 315–317) Libertarian capitalism is, like Laozi, no more than a passive capitalism. Libertarianism lacks understanding of risk, information uncertainty, asymmetry, and the like. (same book, pp. 402–403)
226)Weber, Polanyi, Marx, and others, like some Korean Protestants, have advocated an ahistorical and anti-scientific Eurocentric view of history, and the lingering effect of this remaining as the mainstream of academia is a factor obstructing a clear-eyed view of the modern economic crisis. The reason for singling out Max Weber in particular is that he is the figure who most painstakingly constructed Eurocentrism. (Andre Gunder Frank (1998), pp. 32, 46, 66)
227)Nozick, together with Rawls, is counted among the representative figures who scientized ethics by applying the game theory of economics to ethics. If Rawls demonstrated social contractarianism through game theory and ignited the explosive expansion of the theory of social justice, which had been fading in the 1970s, then Nozick is the one who appeared as the scientific respondent of the libertarian camp to Rawls. Nozick mathematically defended against Rawls's critique and demonstrated the rationality of libertarianism. (Jonathan Wolff, (Robert Nozick) Liberal Political Philosophy, trans. Jang Dong-ik, Cheolhak gwa Hyeonsilsa, 2006, p. 99)
228)Friedman, a Nobel laureate in economics, is the representative theorist of the monetarism of the Chicago school, which represents today's mainstream economics, and a representative critic of Keynesianism. Unlike Keynes, who saw the problem of depression and the business cycle as the low-income problem of workers, Friedman sees the problem of economic circulation and depression as merely a problem of the money supply. (Park Ju-ho, Analysis of Money and Finance, Hangmunsa, 1999, p. 72)
229)Hayek, a Nobel laureate in economics, is a representative marketist. Hayek led market-ist theory, holding that, while socialism developed through propaganda and agitation, capitalism's value was doubted because it did not respond, and that the essence of capitalism is propaganda and agitation for freedom. (Guy Sorman, Thinkers Who Moved the Twentieth Century, trans. Kang Wi-seok, Korea Economic Daily, 2003, p. 292)
230)Kang Sin-ju, 2009, pp. 160–173
231)Instrumentalism (器局주의) is the attitude of discarding the small to obtain the large; while folk Taoism worshipped wealth, the Lao-Zhuang lineage of Taoism did not covet the small for the sake of the large, but in the end it is the same in valuing wealth. (Sim Baek-gang, “Economic Thought in the Eastern Classics,” Korean Studies Quarterly, Vol. 36, Academy of Korean Studies, 1989)
232)The concept of ‘covenant’ that continued from Judaism to Christianity emerged in the modern age as an important political principle. In social contract theory, since the individual formed society in order to have his property and safety protected, the contract is annulled in a situation where it cannot be observed. Historically, such a contract was actually concluded only at the founding of the United States. The important point is that the conditions for the subject capable of making a contract are fixed. Only a rational subject can make a contract. Social contractarianism greatly influenced modern civil and criminal law. (Nakayama Gen, A Dictionary of Terms of Thought, Bookbybook, 2009, pp. 197–201) In that the social contract is fixed from birth and is variable and dependent-originating, social contractarianism may be said to accord with Buddhism.
233)Buddhism is said to have far more references to economy than Western Religion, which is said to have actually been the beginning of capitalism. This does not seem unrelated to the fact that Buddhism developed in its early period with the support and patronage of newly rising merchants and industrialists. (Yun Seong-sik, “A Study on Buddhist Capitalism as an Alternative to Market Capitalism,” doctoral program, Dongguk University, 2010, pp. 53–54)
234)Weber well points out that Buddhism is essentially anti-ascetic and highly esteems the Buddha's view of the Middle Way. Weber, calling Buddhism an intellectualist religion of salvation, evaluates it as a very outstanding aristocratic intellectual soteriology. It is said that although Buddhism, unlike Confucianism, has a thoroughly world-fleeing and apolitical character, paradoxically, precisely for that reason it came to have a democratic religiosity that liquidated India's caste system. (Kim Yong-jeong, Science and Buddhism, Seokrim Publishing, 1996, pp. 240–241)
235)It is said that the basic principle of Buddhism presents the bodhisattva economic ideal of benefiting both self and other, of sharing and transference (廻向). (Park Gyeong-jun, “Capitalism, Poverty, and Non-possession,” Buddhist Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, Buddhist Review, 2004, p. 51)
236)In medieval Europe too, the word ‘bodhisattva’ already appeared as the word ‘Josaphat,’ and ‘Barlaam and Josaphat’ was one of the most popular stories. Matteo Ricci is said to have held that the Buddhist earth-water-fire-wind and the theory of transmigration imitated the Greek four-element theory and the doctrine of Pythagoras. (Yi Dong-hui, “The Oppositional Understanding and Reception of Buddhism by Modern German Philosophers,” Hegel Studies, Vol. 29, Korean Hegel Society, 2011, pp. 202–205) Since Buddhism was also involved in the controversy over the rites question, the point at which Buddhism began to be seriously discussed philosophically in earnest can be traced to Matteo Ricci. In Part 5 of The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, Matteo Ricci raises six objections to the theory of transmigration. He also states that the commandment against killing, “You shall not kill a person” in the Ten Commandments, is not grounded in the theory of transmigration. (Hirakawa Sukehiro, Matteo Ricci, trans. No Yeong-hui, Dong-Asia, 2002, pp. 471–481)
237)Whether Kant was directly influenced by Buddhism is uncertain, but it is a fact that Buddhism was already much disseminated in Kant's time. Kant's references to Buddhism are found in his lectures on geography. (Yi Dong-hui, same article, p. 206) That deontological ethics in Europe originates from Kant is another reason the connection between Kant and Buddhism is important. For although social contractarianism emerged from the Jewish covenant with God, the deontological ethics of social contractarianism originates from Kant. After Kant, German philosophers continued to express interest in Buddhism, and the similarity of German idealism with Buddhism is mentioned.
238)Kim Jin criticizes Helmuth von Glasenapp's view that Kant was directly influenced by Buddhism. The commonality between Kant and Buddhism lies in their actual frameworks of thought rather than in any meaning in terms of influence. (Kim Jin, Kant and Buddhism, Cheolhak gwa Hyeonsilsa, 2000, pp. 19–21)
239)Sin Seung-cheol, “The Logical Composition of Kant's Moral Philosophy and the Critical Succession by Deleuze and Guattari—Centering on the Categorical, Hypothetical, and Disjunctive Logical Schema and the Composition of the Oedipal Triangle,” Philosophy, Thought, Culture, Vol. 4,
240)Kim Jin, same book, pp. 232–234
241)Schopenhauer opposes Kant's critique of Buddhism and rather criticizes Kant. Schopenhauer criticizes Kant's view that the thing-in-itself cannot be known, and, interpreting Kant's thing-in-itself as will, says that the thing-in-itself is, as in Buddhism, ‘suffering (苦).’ (Yi Dong-hui, “The Oppositional Understanding and Reception of Buddhism by Modern German Philosophers,” Hegel Studies, Vol. 29, Korean Hegel Society, 2011, pp. 215–218)
242)According to Nietzsche, in the teaching of Buddhism ‘egoism’ becomes a ‘duty.’ For the teaching of Buddhism, ‘by strictly reducing spiritual interest to the individual,’ struggles against the excessive ‘objectivity’ emphasized by Western metaphysics and against the resulting ‘spiritual fatigue,’ the ‘weakening of one's individual interest,’ and the ‘loss of the self-center.’ For Nietzsche, human destiny and one's own liberation depend not on any priest's belief or idol, but on one's own hands. Now appears the Buddha, the teacher of the religion of self-salvation. (Yi Dong-hui, same article, pp. 220–221) Nietzsche is also mentioned as the completer of the Critique of Judgment that completes Kant's deontology. This passage by Nietzsche well shows the process by which liberalism proceeds to social contractarianism.
243)Yun Seong-sik, “A Study on Dependent-Origination Capitalism as a Buddhist Capitalism,” Korean Journal of Seon Studies, Vol. 28, Korean Society for Seon Studies, 2011
244)Park Gyeong-jun, “The Basic Buddhist Position on Production and Consumption,” Korean Journal of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 18, Korean Association for Buddhist Studies, 1993, p. 141.
245)Yi Jae-chang, “The Socio-economic View of Buddhism,” Journal of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 10, Institute for Buddhist Culture, 1973, p. 128; requoted from Park Gyeong-jun (1993), p. 142
246)Yun Seong-sik, “How Does Buddhism View Capitalism?,” Buddhist Review, Vol. 44, 2010
247)Monks, there are three kinds of people in the world. What are the three? The blind person, the one-eyed person, and the person with two eyes—these are the three.
248)(Park Gyeong-jun, 2004, p. 44) Weber says that Mahayana Buddhism's recognition of possession, compared with Hinayana Buddhism, which advocates non-possession, was an unavoidable choice for the sake of propagation. The transition from Hinayana to Mahayana Buddhism also explains the emergence of Consciousness-only (Yogācāra) Buddhism, such as the ālaya-vijñāna. For what the laity craved was not nirvana but paradise. Once Mahayana Buddhism developed this far, it stopped without a further developmental stage; Vasubandhu became the last bodhisattva. (Yu Seung-mu, “A Critical Understanding of Weber's Interpretation of Mahayana Buddhism,” Journal of the Central Sangha University, Vol. 5, Central Sangha University, 1996, pp. 299–304)
249)Park Man-seop, “Justice: The Meeting Point of Economics and Philosophy,” Korean Society, Vol. 7, No. 2, Research Institute for Korean Studies, Korea University, 2006, pp. 51–52
250)‘One yin and one yang, this is called the Way (一陰一陽之謂道)’ is the logic of peace. Dialectics denies the reality of opposites—the thesis (正) and the antithesis (反)—but the theory of one yin and one yang recognizes the reality of opposites. (Yi Sang-ik, Philosophy of History and the Thought of the Book of Changes, Sungkyunkwan University Press, 1996, p. 165)
251)The study of the Book of Changes understands opposites not as a relationship of contradiction but as a relationship of mutual completion through resonance. This presents us with the optimal conception of avoiding extremes and the lesson of prevention—preparing in advance for coming misfortune. (Yi Sang-ik, same book, pp. 352–353)
252)Buddhism and astronomy have in common that they require circular thinking power. Astronomy and the Buddha-dharma seek not a precise answer but a possible answer. (Yi Si-u, “The Buddhist View of the Cosmos Seen from Astronomy,” Journal of Pure Land Studies, Vol. 14, Korean Association for Pure Land Studies, 2010, p. 143)
253)The Buddhist view of the state may be cited as egalitarianism, pacifism, democracy, and humanism. (Kim Hui-o, “The Buddhist View of the State,” Life and the World Seen from Buddhism, Hongbeobwon, 1988)
254)“The king's state is in distress through plunder and devastation. Robbers swarm everywhere, plundering villages and cities, so that one cannot travel with peace of mind. In this situation, if the king levies new taxes, he will be committing a fault. Perhaps the king might think thus: ‘I shall eliminate the criminals by stripping them of their positions, or by banishment, fines, imprisonment, or execution.’ But their licentiousness cannot be brought to a satisfactory end by doing so. The remaining people who escape punishment will still disorder the land. Therefore there is only one way to thoroughly eliminate this disorder. To everyone in the king's land who engages in herding and agriculture, provide food and seed. To everyone in the king's land who engages in commerce, provide capital. To everyone in the king's land who serves in office, provide food and wages. Then the people will devote themselves to their own work and will not ravage the land, and the king's authority will grow stronger by the day; and so the state will be quiet and peaceful, and the people, rejoicing with one another, will dance with their children in their arms, full of happiness, and will live with their doors flung wide open.” The king accepted these words. (Dīgha-Nikāya, I; 『장아함경』 Vol. 1; requoted from Park Gyeong-jun, 2004, p. 48)
255)John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973), pp. 78–82. Requoted from Park Gyeong-jun (2004), p. 48.
256)The Buddha, for the sake of Kūṭadanta, expounded the great sacrifice method (大祀法, the method of holding a great sacrifice). It manifested the merit of renunciation; the Brahmin thereupon released his cattle and the rest, renounced the world, and received the precepts. Recorded in Dīgha-Nikāya 15. (Boryeongak, Great Dictionary of Korean Buddhism)
257)Jeong Seung-seok, “The Basic Buddhist Perception of the Distribution Problem” (Festschrift for Professor Seongdam Kim U-tae, 1992, p. 388); requoted from Park Gyeong-jun (2004), p. 50
258)Im Song-san et al., “The Buddhist View of Welfare,” Life and the World Seen from Buddhism, Hongbeobwon, 1988, p. 265.
259)The ultimate goal of life for the Buddhist is liberation and nirvana. Therefore, revering the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha (佛法僧), which lead sentient beings to liberation and nirvana, is more precious than anything. When the mind of reverence is deep, one will spare no economic support for monks, temples, and the Buddhist order so that the wheel of dharma may roll all the more widely. That is precisely the teaching of the field of meritorious virtue. Next is the field of requiting kindness. To repay kindness is the root of human ethics, and the root of kindness is one's parents. Therefore, being filial to and supporting one's parents is inevitable, and a person who truly practices filial piety will maintain all human relationships harmoniously. The third field of merit is the field of poverty. Almsgiving to the poor and the suffering is in the end helping ourselves. For we human beings are all dependent-originating beings who live together. Shakyamuni expounds in the Ekottara-āgama (《증일아함경》): “To care for the sick is to care for me (the Buddha), and to nurse the sick is to nurse me. Why? Because I now wish to nurse the sick in person.” (Yi Do-heum, “The Buddhist Teaching on Money and Its Historical Development,” Buddhist Review, Spring 2009, Buddhist Review, 2009)
260)Pierre Bayle (1697), Historical and Critical Dictionary. The influence of Buddhism in Western philosophy is connected with Spinoza. Spinoza appears as a person who especially connected Buddhism with Confucianism and processed it in an entirely new way. (Hwang Tae-yeon, Confucius and the World, Vol. 1, pp. 444–446)
261)Adam Smith established the labor theory of value, saying that “the wealth of a nation is not accumulated resources but the yearly product, and its source is labor.” (Park Gyeong-jun, “The Basic Buddhist Position on Production and Consumption,” Korean Journal of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 18, Korean Association for Buddhist Studies, 1993, p. 146)
262)『중아함경』 Vol. 2 (Majjhima-Nikāya, II), pp. 197–198 (requoted from Park Gyeong-jun, 1993, p. 146)
263)Nakazawa Shin'ichi, The Logos of Love and Economy, Dong-Asia, 2004, pp. 162–166.
264)Buddhism is said to constitute the symmetry-thinking closest to circulation. Because Buddhism possesses emptiness (空), the acme of symmetry-thinking, it coincides with the symmetry of all things. (Nakazawa Shin'ichi, Symmetrical Anthropology, Dong-Asia, 2004, pp. 197–221)
265)In ‘bodhisattva-ism,’ which gives alms without attachment to things, one can see a thought in which the logic of symmetry is developed to the extreme. If nature is pure gift, then when labor is a gift-act, Buddhist labor becomes labor as gift. (Nakazawa Shin'ichi, Symmetrical Anthropology, Dong-Asia, 2004, pp. 197–221)
266)The principles of Buddhist economic activity present the bodhisattva economic ideal of benefiting both self and other, of sharing and transference. (Park Gyeong-jun, “Capitalism, Poverty, and Non-possession,” Buddhist Review, Vol. 19, Manhae Thought Practice Association, 2004, p. 51)
267)Schumacher, the ecological economist regarded as the representative Western Buddhist economist, asked: ‘If the background of Western materialism (expansionism) is abandoned and the teaching of Buddhism takes its place, what kind of economic laws appear, and what form would the definitions of the concepts “economic” or “uneconomic” take?’ In Buddhism it is said that the inner calculation of a person who wishes for one won's growth in order to gain one won for himself is in fact false, and is often a claim that has forgotten the distribution that brings another person's one won. (E. F. Schumacher, Buddhist Economics, Daewon Jeongsa, 1988; requoted from Park Gyeong-jun, “The Problem of Ideology Seen in Early Buddhism,” Journal of Buddhist Studies, Vol. 30, Institute for Buddhist Culture, 1993, p. 238.)
268)Buddhism is said to be, among the higher religions, the only one that coincides with the savage mind and the most highly developed savage mind. Buddhism may be called the religion of distribution in which the gift principle, the principle of symmetry, is finally completed. (Nakazawa Shin'ichi, Symmetrical Anthropology, Dong-Asia, 2004, pp. 180–193)
269)Buddhism, compared with social contractarianism, emphasizes duty grounded purely on the view of equality rather than on justice. (Kim Hang-bae, Buddhism and Taoist Thought, Dongguk University Press, 1999, pp. 336–339)
270)Yuichi Shionoya (2002), p. 20
271)The Spring and Autumn period was an age in which each state vied for supremacy, and so it was an age in which enriching the nation and strengthening the military was urgently required. Confucius's economic thought can be divided into the thought of enriching the people, the thought of frugality, and the thought of equal distribution. (Yi Yeong-chan, “Confucius's Economic Thought and View of Labor,” Journal of Korean Studies, Vol. 38, Institute of Korean Studies, Keimyung University, 2009) The thought of enriching the people, the thought of frugality, and the thought of equal distribution may be said to share a vein with utilitarianism, which pursues the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
272)Confucius's view of labor mainly concerns the labor of rulers, and he rarely directly mentioned the labor of common people. Confucius's view of labor regarded productive labor as fundamental and exchange labor as peripheral, valued impersonal/transpersonal labor over particular labor, and—as ethical labor in accordance with justice—may be summarized as a view of moderating/harmonizing (junghwa) labor. (Yi Yeong-chan, “Confucius's Economic Thought and View of Labor,” Journal of Korean Studies, Vol. 38, Institute of Korean Studies, Keimyung University, 2009, pp. 102–106)
273)There are also many objections to Confucian capitalism, but they mainly present as grounds the non-liberal character of Confucianism rather than its utilitarian character. Yi Sang-ik holds that the term Confucian capitalism does not hold, because the Confucian view of wealth denies the modern notion of efficiency, does not introduce a competitive system, and loathes the pursuit of profit through circulation. (Yi Sang-ik, “The Economic Thought of the Confucian School and the Validity of the Theory of Confucian Capitalism,” Philosophy, Vol. 66, Korean Philosophical Association, 2001, pp. 34–35) But this holds only for liberalism, not for the Confucian utilitarianism of enriching the nation and strengthening the military. For there is a circular relationship in which, if one gives priority to ethics over economy, the economy develops.
274)Tu Weiming (2005), East Asian Problems and Perspectives (Munhak gwa Jiseongsa, 1995), pp. 372–375.
275)Michio Morishima (森嶋通夫), in Britain and Japan, Continued, held that British capitalism may be called Protestant capitalism and Japanese capitalism Confucian capitalism.
276)Ham Jae-bong, Postmodernity and Confucianism, Nanam, 1998.
277)The earliest studies of Confucian capitalism explain from various angles the background by which Asia came to lead the world economy. But none of the early studies mention that it was less than 150 years since Asia ceded leadership to the West. Such studies vanished in an instant with the IMF crisis of the Asian nations in 1997. (Andre Gunder Frank, ReOrient, Isan, 2003, pp. 20–21)
278)Kim Tae-man, “The Success and Frustration of the Asian Economy,” Journal of International Maritime Affairs, Vol. 12, Korea Maritime University, 2001, pp. 11–12
279)Adam Smith is said to be the scholar of the last age that described China as the economic center of the world. Thereafter the West uniformly changed to a tone of denouncing China. (Andre Gunder Frank (1998), ReOrient, Isan, 2003, pp. 71–73)
280)Mandeville, earlier than Adam Smith in the West, criticized the hypocritical morality that denounces the pursuit of individual interest, thereby greatly influencing Hume, Adam Smith, Kant, and others, and became the originator of today's neoliberalism. Today the originator of libertarianism is Mandeville rather than Adam Smith, and Adam Smith rather criticizes Mandeville. (Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees, trans. Choe Yun-jae, Munye Publishing, 2010, pp. 5–7) Mandeville too criticized the hypocrisy of his time, and Mandeville's contribution to today's economic thought may be said to be great.
281)The power of emanation that Confucianism possesses is also called the magic power that is the power of the human community through sacred ritual. (Herbert Fingarette, Confucius—The Secular as Sacred, Seokwangsa, 1993, pp. 21–42)
282)At the time of the British Industrial Revolution, steel production was only 68,000 tons, but China already exceeded 70,000 tons in the latter half of the eleventh century. (Kim Seung-uk, “A Study on the Causes of Eastern Stagnation (停滯),” Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 15, Institute of Economic Research, Chung-Ang University, 2000, pp. 238–239)
283)From the mid-nineteenth century, Europe began the Orientalist task of distorting history in order to recover from its inferiority complex toward China. Greece and Rome suddenly appeared as the ancestors of European civilization, and China was described as a barbarous and poor country. But as the indicators of the time and later research revealed, Europe was imitating even China's economic thought. (Zai Yuzhong, The Book of National Wealth, Deosup, 2010, pp. 249–253)
284)The community of utilitarianism differs in character from the community of communitarianism. The community of utilitarianism may be called a human-ethical community for production centered on norms, rather than a welfare-centered community like that of communitarianism. According to Yi Sang-ik, Zhu Xi regarded as one of his missions the guaranteeing of the people's constant livelihood (恒産—a fixed occupation) and, through it, the nurturing of the people's constant mind (恒心—an ever-unchanging mind), and the Confucian ideal may be said in a word to be the realization of a human-ethical community. (Yi Sang-ik, “The Confucian Community,” Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 38, No. 1, Institute of Social Sciences, Yonsei University, 2007, pp. 22, 30)
285)China's traditional culture, representative of Confucian culture, set forth the public benefit (公益) of the community over the individual private benefit (私利) of the person, and prayed that the world might become a world of Great Peace (太平). Community has the meaning of a unit by which one accomplishes self-cultivation (修身), regulation of the family (齊家), governance of the state (治國), and peace under heaven (平天下). (An Yong-jin, “A Study on Confucius's Economic Ethics,” doctoral thesis, Sungkyunkwan University, 2007, p. 210) The efficiency owing to the utilitarian character of Confucian capitalism drew world attention as the Confucian capitalism that designated past Japanese capitalism, but, like the limits of utilitarianism, it vanished from public attention with the bailout and Japan's long recession.
286)Confucius is said to present wisdom, benevolence, and courage (智仁勇) as the Three Universal Virtues (三達道), the means of forming the Confucian community. 天下之達道五所以行之者三曰君臣父子夫婦昆弟朋友之交也五者天下之達道也知仁勇三者天下之達德也所以行之者一也 (『中庸』 20章 / Doctrine of the Mean, ch. 20): ‘The universal ways of the world are five, and the means of practicing them are three. Ruler and minister, father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, and the intercourse of friends—these five are the universal ways of the world. Wisdom, benevolence, and courage—these three are the universal virtues of the world; and the means of practicing them is one.’ This may be said to be in the same vein as the knowledge-economy-based theory—that is, value creation through innovation—that Peter Drucker, the father of modern management studies, is said to have taken the lead in theorizing. (An Yong-jin, 2007, pp. 217–218)
287)Sin Jeong-geun, “Confucius's Humanist State,” Journal of Chinese Studies, Vol. 44, Korean Association for Chinese Studies, 2001, pp. 414–420
288)To be caught up in the perspective of ‘monarchy’ versus ‘democracy’ in comparing the Confucian view of the state with liberal democracy is not a proper comparative perspective. Confucianism and liberal democracy should be viewed from the standpoint of duty (道理) and rights (權利). In Confucianism, individual freedom cannot be defended; only the autonomy by which the human being regulates himself by principle is glorified. But liberalism holds that the objective principle of this society does not exist. It regards the human being as essentially a free being. (Yi Sang-ik, “Confucianism and Liberal Democracy,” Studies in Political Thought, Vol. 3, Korean Association for Political Thought, 2000, pp. 21–23) There is also a view that sees the Confucian view of the state from a communitarian perspective, as the realization of a human-ethical community. (Yi Sang-ik, “Confucianism and Liberal Democracy,” Studies in Political Thought, Vol. 3, Korean Association for Political Thought, 2000, p. 33) But in Confucianism, where a monarch clearly exists and anarchism is the ideal, communitarianism has its limits.
289)Postwar German philosophers and economists such as Menzel and Albrecht assert that the protective welfare-state theory developed in Central Europe, such as Austria, is ‘made in China,’ while Walter Davis, Leslie Young, Hans Chr. Gerlach, and others determine that Quesnay's agriculture-centered free-market theory, Smith's industry-centered free-market theory, and the ‘invisible hand’ are made in the Far East. (Hwang Tae-yeon, “The Non-Action and People-Nurturing Philosophy of Confucius-Mencius and Sima Qian, and the East Asian Origin of the Western Free-Market and Welfare-State Theories,” Korean Philosophical Association Autumn Conference, 2011, pp. 66–67)
290)Yuichi Shionoya (2002), p. 384.
291)There are three approaches to Confucianism in sociology. One is the approach concerning the relationship with capitalism, following the Weberian tradition; the second is as an object of criticism as a ruling ideology; and the third is the research of Yi Yeong-chan, Hong Seung-pyo, and Choe Bong-yeong, who view Confucianism as a symbolic system that is an alternative supplementing the problems of modernity. When Confucianism is viewed as a symbolic system, yin-yang is neither energy nor a life activity but a symbolic system. Yin-yang becomes the dichotomous code that makes possible the symbolic exchange Baudrillard spoke of. The world of Confucianism is full of symbolic systems. But, as the cases of modern history show, although Confucianism can supplement the loss of meaning-system that accompanies the rationalization of capitalist society, its realization is more effective in small communities than in grand narratives. (Choe Jong-ryeol, “Confucianism as a Symbolic System and the Postmodern,” Oriental Social Thought, Vol. 13, Korean Association of Oriental Social Thought, 2006, pp. 161–201)
292)In Confucian thought, propriety is a common symbol connecting politics, economy, and ethics. Confucianism may be said to be precisely a symbolic politics, possessing a communitarian art that makes everyone spontaneously feel commonality. (Im Tae-seung, The Origin of Confucian Thought, Hakgobang, 2004, pp. 36–38)
293)Despite Marx's claim that quantitative difference determines qualitative difference, Marxist economics is said not to have escaped the limits of quantitative economics and to have disregarded the demander's side. Marxist economics is said to be valid for a production system below the subsistence level. (Choe Ui-mok et al., Naturalist Economy, Bibong Publishing, 1993, pp. 375–380)
294)Marx is said to have stated that what makes us human is imagination. (David Graeber, Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value, Greenbee, 2009, pp. 201–202) Confucianism produces creation grounded in imagination as signs.
295)Baudrillard, in The Mirror of Production, divides value into use-value, exchange-value, sign-value, and symbolic value. Among use-value, exchange-value, and sign-value, sign-value is the value of today's modern age, at the very summit of production, and it is said that this must be resolved into symbolic value, the gift-value that neutralizes production through consumption. (Kang Sin-ju, 2009, pp. 382–385)
296)Jo Min-hwan, “Zhuangzi's Egalitarian Thought,” Studies in Taoism, Vol. 13, Korean Society for Taoist Studies, 1994, p. 182.
297)Confucianism and the Puritans, contrary to their outward appearance of rationalism, are very contrasting on the inside. In the relationship with God, the Puritans show a very passionate tension and opposition, whereas Confucianism minimizes it. The Puritans deny the sanctity of tradition, whereas Confucianism greatly respected it. The Puritans regard the remaking of the world as their task, whereas Confucianism regarded adaptation as its task. (Kim Seok-geun, “Confucian Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism—A Reexamination of the ‘Weber Thesis,’” Oriental Social Thought, Vol. 2, Korean Association of Oriental Social Thought, 1999, pp. 211–212)
298)Prosperity theology, which pursues this-worldly prosperity, is said to be unbiblical when seen from Calvin's Meditatio Futurae Vitae, which is said to be the origin of Protestantism. (Yun Gwang-won, “Prosperity Theology Seen from the Perspective of John Calvin's Meditatio Futurae Vitae,” Studies in Systematic Theology, Vol. 12, Korean Evangelical Society of Systematic Theology, 2009, pp. 63–64)
299)While the disciples were gathered together praying, suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting; and what looked like tongues of fire that separated came to rest on each of them.
300)In Luther, who emphasizes asceticism and the immorality of money, and in Calvin, who evaluates the sabbatical year positively, one can also see the ideas of socialism or communism, so it is said that to see the Puritan ethic as having given birth to capitalism alone may be a narrow argument. (Hwang Ui-seo, “The Economic Ethics of Luther, Calvin, and Wesley,” Faith and Scholarship, Vol. 16, No. 2, Society for Christian Scholarship, 2011)
301)It is said that capitalism, which on the surface seems to move coldly, centered only on exchange and production, in fact connects love and economy. Love and economy are said to be a single movement possessing wholeness. (Nakazawa Shin'ichi, The Logos of Love and Economy, Dong-Asia, 2004, pp. 17–20)
302)Before Calvin, usury was already in vogue in European society, unlike in Islamic society, not only among Jews but even among adherents of Western Religion. Jacques Le Goff is said to provide the interesting analysis that the concept of ‘purgatory’ was a concept created in order to recognize usury. (Bernard Maris, 2003, pp. 55–56)
303)Western Religion is said to be a peculiar monotheism that incorporates the logic of symmetry into the essence of God, together with scripture and Mary, thereby logicizing absurdity and making it operate. (Nakazawa Shin'ichi, Symmetrical Anthropology, Dong-Asia, 2004, pp. 116–118)
304)It was a principal task of economists to research the secret of capitalism by which the circulation of the economy increases wealth. Value is finally realized and increased through the gift—the values produced by labor, saving, and innovation. (Nakazawa Shin'ichi, The Logos of Love and Economy, Dong-Asia, 2004, pp. 134–142)
305)Weber's statement that Protestantism is the origin of the spirit of capitalism pointed out only one side of the matter. The trigger of the capitalist economy is said to have already been completed in Catholicism. The place where the first double-entry bookkeeping was developed was Catholicism, and Quesnay's economic table, on which Adam Smith was grounded, is said to have come from the double-entry bookkeeping created by Catholicism. Western Religion, running gift–pure gift–exchange, and capitalism, running Son–Holy Spirit–Father, may be called twins born of the same mode of thought. (Nakazawa Shin'ichi, The Logos of Love and Economy, Dong-Asia, 2004, pp. 183–184)
306)Because economics greatly requires crowd psychology, it values human mimetic desire. Contrary to economics' outward denial of mimetic desire, the greatest economists have assigned a central role to imitation. (Bernard Maris, 2003, p. 164) Simmel, in The Philosophy of Money, analyzes the process by which money, a transcendent good, came to stand at the center of the human community. As René Girard reconfirmed, money was a kind of scapegoat that could control the crowd only temporarily. (Bernard Maris, 2003, pp. 244–246)
307)According to the Scottish Enlightenment tradition that produced Adam Smith, the market economy is said to have three rules: the limits of human reason, or the unbound human (homo economicus); the human being as an animal that follows rules; and spontaneous order and action. By contrast, the community economy is said to follow three principles: the human being bound to community, the priority principle of the good, and communitarianism. (Min Gyeong-guk, “The Communitarian Critique of the Market Economy and the Communitarian Economic Order,” Journal of Korean-German Business and Economics, Vol. 17, Korean-German Business and Economics Association, 1998, pp. 76–77, footnote 19)
308)Yuichi Shionoya, 2002, pp. 408–411.
309)Unlike modern man, the primitive does not mediate the human being and physical nature through technological development, but confronts them through the medium of culture (symbol and meaning). According to Sahlins's concept of culture, he newly constructs the relationship of matter and spirit as a third term, rather than as a dualistic opposition of matter and spirit. That is precisely the ‘personification of matter,’ and this is explained as a transcendent spiritual communication operating in the process of the gift economy and reciprocity. (Won Yong-chan, “The Methodological Critique of Economics and the Paradigm of Cultural Economy,” Journal of Cultural Economics, Vol. 1, No. 1, Korean Association for Cultural Economics, 1998, pp. 33–34)
310)Karl Polanyi held that for the modern age, securing the supremacy of society over the economy is the most urgent task, and the supremacy of society was precisely the restoration of the status of culture. According to the symbol of the community, even the same physical existence of money conveyed a different social meaning. Modern money is all-purpose money combining means of payment, measure of value, unit of account, means of accumulating wealth, and means of exchange, but ancient money differed according to specific purposes. (Won Yong-chan, 1998, p. 31) Today communitarians sometimes propose implementing coupon systems, such as donation cards, that actually reveal symbolic value.
311)In economic theory, the spiritual (靈的) capacity that bears symbolic value is increasingly emphasized. Barro, professor of economics at Harvard University in the United States, is said to have emphasized the importance of spiritual capital from 2003 onward. (Barro and McCleary, 2003; requoted from Hwang Ui-seo, “The Economic Ethics of Luther, Calvin, and Wesley,” Faith and Scholarship, Vol. 16, No. 2, Society for Christian Scholarship, 2011, p. 308)
312)Bill Gates holds that human nature has two minds at once—the pursuit of self-interest and care for others. He holds that a creative capitalism in which corporations save the very poor is the hope of capitalism. (Bill Gates, Creative Capitalism, Econ, 2011, pp. 23–24)
313)Modern economists, if there is more than one answer to a problem, regard this as unscientific and dislike it. This is because it destroys their world, which is single and predictable. They are said to bind themselves to the principle of diminishing returns. (Brian Arthur, Complexity Economics, trans. Kim Ung-cheol, Pyeongbeomsa, 1997, pp. 63–66) The principle of diminishing returns was a fundamental assumption of economics, but Brian Arthur introduced the principle of increasing returns. Circular economics is an economics of increasing returns and of increased production.
314)Min Gyeong-guk, “The Communitarian Critique of the Market Economy and the Communitarian Economic Order,” Journal of Korean-German Business and Economics, Vol. 17, Korean-German Business and Economics Association, 1998, p. 68.
315)MacIntyre (1990); Seo Gwang-jo, “Communitarianism and Economic Principles,” The History and Thought of Economics, Vol. 4, 2001.
316)
317)From a linear mode of thinking comes the logic of the maximum, and from a circular mode of thinking comes the logic of the optimum. (Yi Sang-ik, Philosophy of History and the Thought of the Book of Changes, Sungkyunkwan University Press, 1996, p. 350)
318)The modern economic, political, and social system consists of the three elements of capitalism, democracy, and social security, and this integrated whole is called the welfare state. (Yuichi Shionoya, 2002, p. 21)
319)If 1,000 won is in a bank in the form of currency, it can grow ten-fold or a hundred-fold according to the reserve requirement ratio. Saving can circulate all things even without moving.