Abstract
Until now, we could say China’s reforms were utilitarian reforms. The basic philosophy of utilitarian reforms is that society’s greatest “good” is economic development, in particular gross domestic product (GDP) growth. The standard for evaluating any policy is whether it benefits economic development and GDP growth. Anything that benefits GDP growth is good. Anything that is harmful to GDP growth is bad. For GDP growth, we can even disregard people’s basic rights and dignity.
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Notes
- 1.
The original version of this chapter was written in July 2014, as the keynote speech given by the author on July 4, 2014 at the Second Annual Bund Summit on International Finance, co-hosted by the Shanghai Financial Association and the Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum.
- 2.
For a critical review of Bentham and Mill’s utilitarianism, see Murry Rothbard. 2006 (1995). Classical Economics: An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought. Volume II. Auburn, Alabama: Ludwig von Mises Institute. Chapters 2 and 3. For a more comprehensive review of utilitarianism, see Will Kymlicka. 2002. Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction. Second Edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 2.
- 3.
Most of rights-priority philosophies can be classified as “libertarianism”. For a comprehensive view of libertarianism, see Will Kymlicka. 2002. Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction. Second Edition. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 4. For a review of Rawls’s “Liberal Equality”, see ibid. Chapter 3.
- 4.
See Zhang Pinghui’s article titled “Guangzhou professor fired for alleged breach of the one-child policy” in the December 13, 2013 edition of the South China Morning Post.
- 5.
Ronald Inglehard. 1997. Modernization and Postmodernization: Cultural, Economic and Political Change in 43 Countries. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
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Zhang, W. (2020). Reform Philosophy Must Transition from Utilitarianism to Rights-Priority. In: Ideas for China’s Future. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4304-3_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4304-3_27
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