摘要： 作为中国传统经济伦理思想的核心，“义利之辨”是与传统经济形态相适配的价值观念。当近代中国由传统经济向现代市场经济跃迁时，“义利之辨”经历了一段与社会经济形态变迁相对应的流变过程。19世纪40年代后，传统市场格局逐渐由相对封闭转向开放竞争。在这个过程中，“义利之辨”有限度地调适和扩大了“利”在“义”的传统价值系统中的相对位置，以迎合重商思潮的现实诉求。随着经济逐渐挣脱传统道德规范的束缚而成为社会的独立场域，经由西方合理利己主义和功利主义重新阐释的“义利之辨”， 使得“利”不再需要从“义”中寻求合法性，力图消弭“义”与“利”的内在张力，以迎合实业救国的浪潮。不过，在面对资本主义自由市场的流弊时，被认可的利益原则并未让“利”疏远“义”，而是强化了传统观念中的群体性原则，在追求效率的工具理性取向中纳入公平分配的价值理性考量，进而在相当程度上实现了“经世济民”传统道德理想的复归。

关键词: “义利之辨”, 近代中国, 经济转型, 经济伦理变迁

Abstract: As the core of traditional Chinese economic thoughts, the distinction between justice and profit is a value that is compatible with tradition economic pattern. With the gradual transition from a traditional economy to a modern market economy in modern China, the distinction between justice and profit has gone through a process of transformation that is compatible with the changes in the form of socio-economic development. Specifically, when the traditional market pattern shifted from relative closure to opening competition after the 1840s, the traditional view limitedly adjusted and expanded the relative position of “profit” in the traditional value system of “justice” to meet the realistic demands for self-improvement and wealth under the trend of mercantilism. As the economy broke from traditional moral norms and became an independent field in society, the traditional ideology on justice and profit, reinterpreted by Western rational egoism and utilitarianism, made it no longer necessary to seek legitimacy for “profit” in “justice”. And the inherent tension between “justice” and “profit” was eliminated by emphasizing the unity of “self-interest” and “benefiting the group”. However, when modern China was confronted with the shortcomings of the Western free market, it strengthened the group principle in the traditional concept of human nature, and incorporated the value rationality of fair distribution into the instrumental rationality of pursuing efficiency, thus forming to a considerable return to the traditional moral ideal of “governing and benefiting the people”.

Key words: “The distinction between justice and profit”, modern China, economics of transition, changes in economic ethics