Wang Haiming - The Principles of New Ethics I; Meta-ethics (China Perspectives)

Utilitarianism is a most vital field of thinking in contemporary Chinese pluralistic thought. It is rooted in Chinese peoples everyday life experience. If we should choose a leading figure of utilitarianism in China, Professor Wang Haiming is undoubtedly the best candidate. He is the first to systematically expound the principles of utilitarianism in contemporary China and the first in China to put forward new principles in what can rightly be called the new utilitarianism. In the past, both in the West and China, utilitarianism has predominantly advocated the principle of net balance of the maximum interests or the greatest interests for the greatest number as the ultimate goal of morality. The measurement of all actions under the new utilitarianism established by Wang Haiming is, as a crucial point of difference, rather a system of the ultimate standard of morality. The net balance of maximum interests is conditional in that is only the ultimate standard of morality in the circumstance of interest conflicts, increasing the quantum of interests without negatively affecting anyone. The ultimate standard of morality is to be found in the circumstance that the interests do not conflict with one another, therefore increasing or decreasing everyones quantum of interests is the ultimate standard of morality and should be absolutely followed under any circumstance. Obviously, this new utilitarianism can avoid the criticism that utilitarianism certainly leads to injustice.

Wang Haimings utilitarian thought, which originates from the profound utilitarian tradition of China, is closely related to the ethical thoughts of Western utilitarianism, and is deeply rooted in the life of the Chinese people whose thinking and behaviors have changed with the process of market economy reform in contemporary China. The formation of his utilitarian thought comes from his frank and sincere personal character, as well as from his discontentment with, and criticism of the hypocrisy surrounding ethical conduct and moral norms prevalent in China when he was a young man. The utilitarian thinking of this work is therefore characterized not only by his understanding of the everyday life experiences of the Chinese people, but also by his own lived experience and acute sense of right or wrong, much of which also reflects his deep immersion in scholarly studies of formal logic. The utilitarian theory he has cultivated completely discards anything that is beyond the realities of human nature and society and any kind of ethical thinking that is hypocritical.

Perhaps, for some time, certain hypocritical ethical principles will still prevail with the support of social or political power, but these sorts of principles will never have the universal and eternal values as that of the utilitarian principles and doctrine expounded by Wang Haiming. The blood, sweat and tears of ordinary Chinese people, their honorable conduct and way of thinking, are what weighs on Wang Haimings mind and motivates his ethical principles. In this way, his work can be seen as both an indictment of specious morals and a call for the return to a world based on true moral conduct. The utilitarianism proffered by Wang Haiming, in its consideration of the concept of self-interest, is by no means a theory for the justification of selfishness, in fact, his criticism of egoism shows that his utilitarianism is based on one of the most fundamental principles of human nature: justice. It is most gratifying that he has inherited and popularized the critical spirit of the May 4th Movement, that his utilitarianism and the theory of justice have fallen in love and are integrated into a coherent whole.