Robinson's trade and labor: Di Fu's criticism of political economics of the marine empire

Source: "Chinese Social Sciences Digest" 2022, No. 7 P13 -P14

Author: Kang Zixing

Unit: Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Humanities and Social Science Higher Research Institute, from "Society", 2022, Wang Ning picked up

Since the publication, "Robinson Drifting" has attracted the attention of many classical thinkers, and Rousseau, Li Jiatu, Marx, and Weber have commented on it. Their comments are about how to understand modern society. From Robinson, they see social relations of natural morality, labor value, the spirit of capitalism, and even a specific historical stage. Therefore, "Robinson Drifting" is a fable with a strong social theory. Although these thinkers live in different times and think about modern society from their respective perspectives, they all think of thinking on Robinson. They have a consensus: Robinson is a typical modern person. He has a modern soul, and his life can also present the structure of modern society. These classical thinkers' comments on Robinson have also created a tradition in virtue, making Robinson's story a "battlefield" about the origin of modern society, the spirit and crisis of modern society, the morality and sin of modern society, and the morality and sin of modern society. Scholars and writers are competing here.

Robinson's trade: the structure and crisis of the marine empire

The Difu Fauson wrote Robinson's personal life history and regarded it as a medium of perspective. "Ocean" constitutes the theme of Robinson's life. So what does "ocean" mean? If Robinson's life is the slicing of the times, why should Di Fu shape such a marine? Is it because of his opinion, "the ocean" constitutes the most important issue of the times and has become a powerful force that affects social order?

Smith and Di Fu are almost contemporary. In the "National Fortune Theory", Smi outlines the transformation of Europe from feudal society to modern society. In his pen, European social change follows a "backward and unnatural order", and the development of overseas trade has disintegrated the power of feudal lords and has become the most direct driving force for this change. There is a similar judgment on the impact of overseas trade on the people's conditions and society. He also has similar vigilance to the crisis he may cause. The significance of the ocean to Robinson is the meaning of trade or empire to European society.

In the pen of Di Fufu, the ocean trade brought the desire and fantasy of "rapidly getting rich" to Robinson's hometown, injecting the popularity of trade and adventure in the hearts of young people. They believe that overseas is a place to achieve wealth and glory. The growth of the marine empire has set off a revolution in the hearts of young people and society. The powers compete for the ocean for monopoly trade and build the empire. They are based on conquest and war, not peace. As a result, the world order built by merchant ships and warships contains multiple conflicts and crises. The first is the conflict and confrontation between the conqueror and the colonies. The economic structure and policies of the colonies fully obey and serve the commercial interests of the mother country, and become a vassal of the latter. Secondly, there is also opposition between the businessman of the mother country and other people. Third, when the marine empire was established, the suspicion and confrontation between the European powers extended to the empire level, and the empires became closed political and economic systems, conflicting with each other and invading each other. Just as the imagination of wealthy overnight, the glory of the empire also made the glory of the empire also the blood of the king. At this moment, the empire and individuals were highly the same as the fanaticism and superstition, and they did not know the dangerous road.

After Robinson went to sea, he experienced several experiences and became a sailor, merchant, planting garden owner and slavery, and stepped into the depths of the empire. The structure is of course the result of artificial design, and it also shows the author's intention: Di Fu hopes to use Robinson's travel to present his reflection on the marine empire.

The trade between Europe and the colonies, the production of the American plantation, and the slaves in Africa constitute the basic framework of the empire. This is a hierarchical empire architecture. Colonial trade is the most external appearance of the marine empire. If you only pay attention to this level, the relationship between Europe and the colonies will only appear as a kind of business relationship, and deeper plugging and oppression will be covered. In fact, the goods exported to Europe were produced by plantations. The land of plantation was the result of the military conquest of European colonists. The labor force of the plantation was mainly from slave trade. If all wealth in society is created by labor, then slave labor and planting of slave trade and planting gardens constitute two major foundations of the marine empire. That is, a thorough oppression relationship supports the empire and trade. Through the description of Robinson's life history, or in other words, through the careful design of the plot and internal structure of Robinson, Di Fu revealed the inherent structure of the first generation of marine empires, and also disclosed its inherent sin and injustice. Essence

Robinson's labor and the reconstruction of the empire

Di Fu depicts the angry and dangerous sea, and also portrayed a society like the sea. The war is everywhere in the order of the empire carried by the ocean. The empire's business and political order shaped Robinson's mind, allowing him to have a special understanding of the world and society. In his opinion, the world is a wrestling field, full of disputes and conflicts of interests. In such a society, only through adventure and conquest to obtain wealth and power, talents can get security and achieve themselves.

Before going to the island, Robinson participated in social life the most, and sneaked into the deepest part of the empire, but in a sense, he endured the greatest loneliness, although he had no perception of this loneliness. Although he was born in the wave of society, he was floating, but in the depths of the soul, he was still a lonely person, and he did not belong to any group or country, nor did he belong to any sect. On the surface, he seems to be a citizen of the world, but he is more like a wanderer exile in the world. Therefore, when he was in an isolated island, a busy and noisy social affairs withdrew from him, although he still retained the vanity of a social person, the loneliness deep in his heart emerged, so that it was unbearable. When he encountered an earthquake and infected with malaria, he fell into the weaker and most isolated and helpless situation. On the one hand, in the face of the great power of re -building mountains and the sea, all human strength looks small. Robinson's ingenuity and skills that are based on the island brought by the civilized society are not worth mentioning. On the other hand, when he was stained and weak and painful, he could not even dominate himself. The frightened nightmare also revealed him in the pain: he not only could not control the external world, but also unable to get rid of the dominance of nature; his every move was the attention of the creator. Creator's warning and punishment for his sin.

Faith reshaped Robinson's life, and also reshaped the relationship between individuals and nature and civilization. The faith gives him a new perspective of watching nature and self. Therefore, although the island has not changed and the external environment has not become more mild and pleasant, for Robinson, the desert island is no longer a prison, but a homeland, but a homeland, but a homeland, but a homeland, but a homeland. It is the property and land given by God. Due to the change of perspective, Robinson himself has also changed significantly: he no longer greedy for wealth and endless accumulation, nor is he dedicated to achieving himself by plundering and dominating others. He began to realize that the significance of wealth lies in his use, and his greed was dispelled. He recognized the crime of greed and the happiness of being rescued by God, so he established a new moral self that does not rely on others. Since then, the wisdom of God has become the basis for his thinking about property rights, social relations, and even the order of the country and the empire. After forging a new self, Robinson forged civilization and empire on this sacred moral basis.

Labor is the way he appreciates God's will and natural rationality, and also allows him to print on the desert island. In his own situation, Robinson realized the grace of God, and this grace also gave him a complete possession of the island. As a result, in the sense of property rights, he became the owner of the island and obtained the material foundation of the "kingdom".

Therefore, Robinson not only rebuilt himself on the island, but also rebuilt the empire, at least showing the basic principles of rebuilding the empire. This new empire is not based on oppression and plundering, but is based on the divine wisdom and natural rationality that Robinson understands on the desert island. People follow the relationship between the divine and rational labor, and establish the relationship between moral order, property rights, domination and obedience. Therefore, civilization grew up, and society and political order also grew up at the same time. This is an empire built in the sense of nature. It breaks the gap between civilization and barbaric nature, integrates the two into a universal order, and believes that they have a common natural foundation. He established civilization with labor and rebuilt the empire above civilization. Therefore, this is both an empire that is consistent with the nature of nature and a civilized empire.

In a sense, Di Fu shows a new way of thinking about natural law. This is a historical dialectics of civilization and nature. The universal order of natural law soil builds a unified civilized empire. In this empire, different religion, survival models and lifestyles have obtained their respective positions based on civilized order, and generally follow natural rationality and justice.

In today's world, the concept of recreationalism has risen again, and Di Fu's thoughts on trade and empires can inspire us. Reward the logic of wealth and power can cause conflict and war. At the moment when the situation is changing, we should care about the natural justice of natural justice and civilization in trade, so as to seek common groundwork between the civilized body, maintain communication and cooperation Essence

- END -