現代性的經濟想像：市場觀念在西方論述中的歷史與知識轉折

Abstract

本論文是以絕對化市場觀念(the absolutization of the market)的發展歷程作為研究主題。其主要的核心問題是：為何在現代性的進程中，西方會發展出“去鑲嵌的”(disembedding)經濟想像，並以單一且自律的市場觀念(the self-regulating market)表述之？為何在這個過程中，市場觀念也逐漸地變得越來越去歷史化、去社會化、去制度化、本質化與絕對化？針對此一問題，本文的一個基本論點就是，市場觀念的演進，不僅涉及現代性底下某種看待經濟的特殊方式的出現(現代性的經濟想像)，也涉及了主流經濟論述的理論框架的形成 (經濟學的學科知識想像)，更涉及了這兩者之間所具有的糾結纏繞的關係。為了突破現代性經濟想像與主流經濟論述學科知識想像的糾結纏繞所帶來的限制，我依序從現代性議題(導論：現代性的“想像”與“想像的”現代性)、現象(第一章：經濟學社會工程的爭議與新古典經濟學的理論弔詭)、理論(第二章：市場社會的爭議與主流經濟論述表徵模式的反思)與方法論(第三章：Foucault對於現代性想像的批判與Bourdieu對於正典化學科知識想像的反思)來定位可能的研究理路。基於這樣的設定，我們也分別從市場觀念在古典時期(17-18世紀)的形構 (第四章)、市場所引發的爭議及其治理術的演變(第五章)、經濟論述的正統與異端的鬥爭與市場法則的定位(第六章)，來考察從古典到當代市場觀念的演變，並探究市場觀念為何會朝絕對化的發展歷程邁進。基於這樣的考察，本文發現市場觀念的絕對化涉及了下面六條重要軸線的歷史與知識轉折：一、從家計到經濟；二、從諸多集市(marketplaces)到單一市場(the market)；三、從自由放任原則到競爭性秩序原理；四、從烏托邦想像到市場社會的實現；五、從立法者的科學到形式主義的革命；六、從自然律則到規範性形式公理。基於本論文所做的歷史考察與研究發現，我們也指出了既有社會理論對於市場(或資本主義)的批判與對於新古典經濟學的質疑，都已經失去了應有的力度。因此，我們也試圖對於市場社會理論的重建與現代性的重估，提出可能的思路。

The subject of this dissertation is the developing history of the absolutization of the market concept. The central research questions of the dissertation are 'why and how can the social imaginary of the economy, which is represented by the concept of the self-regulating market, be considered disembedding in modernity?' and 'why and how can the concept of the market be regarded an institution without history and social context, and be essentialized and absolutized?' The main argument is that these questions can be related to a twofold complex composed of the economic imaginary of modernity, which means a particular way to treat the economic reality, and the knowledge imaginaries of the economic discourses, which refer to the theoretical framework of the main current economics. In order to dismantling the complex, I develop a research strategy by reviewing the issues of modernity (Introduction: the imaginaries of modernity and the imaginative modernity), the phenomena (Ch1: the social engineering of economics and the paradox of the theoretical framework of neoclassical economics), the theories (Ch2: the debates of the market society and the meta-reflections of the representation modes of the main current economics), and the methodologies (Ch3: Foucault’s critiques of the imaginaries of modernity and Bourdieu’s reflections of knowledge imaginaries of the main canonized disciplines). According to the strategy, I research the history of the market concept from the classical period (17th -18th century) to the modern era (20th century) by tracing the emergence of the market concept in the classical period (ch4), the debates and the evolutions of the governmentality of the market (ch5), and the orientations of the laws of the market in the history of the fighting between orthodox and heterodox economic discourses (ch6). After that, I find that absolutizing the market involved the historical and knowledge transformations along six axes: 1. from oeconomy to the economy; 2. from marketplaces to the market; 3. from the imaginary of a utopia to the realization of the market society; 4. from the principle of laissez-faire to the constitution of the competitive order; 5. from the science of a legislator to the formalist revolution; 6. from natural laws to the normative formalistic theorems. Based on my discoveries, I argue that the contemporary social theorists’ critiques of the market (capitalism) and neoclassical economics have lost their power because they ignore the transformations of the market concept and the economic discourses, and then I offered some suggestions about the reconstruction of the social theory of the market and the reassessment of modernity.