在本书中，资本主义指的是依据资本主义理论来组织一个社会的经济与金融事务的体系。因此，首先应当指出，资本主义的失败并不必然意味着采用资本主义作为经济制度的社会或国家的失败与崩溃。社会与国家可以采用其他制度，也可以在没有资本主义的情况下适应新的环境。然而，在新的制度被建立并稳定下来之前，经济制度的失灵将对国家和社会履行其正常职能、满足社会与个人需求的能力产生重大影响。

Capitalism, in the context of this book, refers to the system which is responsible for organizing the economic and financial affairs of a society on the basis of theories of capitalism. As such, it should be immediately noted that the failure of capitalism does not necessarily mean the failure and collapse of the society or state which adopts capitalism as an economic system. Societies and states can adopt other systems and can adapt to a new environment without capitalism. However, the failure of the economic system will have a great impact on the ability of the state and the society to carry their normal functions and to satisfy the needs of the society and the individuals until a new system is created and stabilized.

另外在继续之前还需要说明一点：资本主义对不同的人有不同的含义。许多书籍和参考资料中都有关于资本主义的各种定义和描述。最为广泛接受的定义是资本主义是一种"基于私有制的经济制度"。《韦氏词典》将其定义为"一种以私人或公司对资本品的所有权为特征、投资由私人决策决定、价格、生产和商品分配主要由自由市场上的竞争决定的经济制度"。从更一般的意义上说，资本主义通常指这样一种制度：生产资料由私人控制；劳动力、商品和资本在市场上交易；利润分配给所有者或由投资者再投资；劳动者获得工资。在这一意义上的资本主义拥护者和倡导者包括亚当·斯密、弗朗西斯·培根、大卫·休谟、大卫·李嘉图、马克斯·韦伯、约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯、米尔顿·弗里德曼等许多人。资本主义的反对者和批判者包括卡尔·马克思、弗里德里希·恩格斯、弗拉基米尔·列宁等许多人。

Another issue to note before we proceed is that capitalism means different things to different people. Various definitions and characterization of capitalism can be found in numerous books and references. The most widely accepted definition of capitalism is an “economic system based on private ownership.” It is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.” In the more general sense, capitalism typically refers to a system in which the means of production are privately controlled; labor, goods, and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or reinvested by the investors; and wages are paid to labor. Proponents and advocates of capitalism in this capacity include Adam Smith, Francis Bacon, David Hume, David Ricardo, Max Weber, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and many others. Opponents and critiques of capitalism include Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, and many others.

卡尔·马克思认为，资本主义注定会兴起，成为社会演进循环中的一个阶段，这是由"历史唯物主义的必然性"所决定的32。运用同一理论，马克思还认为，资本主义最终会衰落并消亡，为社会主义和共产主义的兴起让路。这一理论在二十世纪末之前便已被打破，当时苏联的社会主义崩溃了。弗朗西斯·福山依据马克思自己关于社会发展的理论得出结论：人类意识形态演进的终点是自由民主制度（包括资本主义），而不是共产主义33。然而，福山所认定的这一最终终点，后来证明只是一个温和而暂时的终点，因为市场开始崩溃，银行纷纷倒闭，用福山在其文章《美国公司的衰落》中的话来说，"某种资本主义的图景已经崩塌"。

Karl Marx believed that capitalism was destined to rise as one of the evolutionary cycles of a society as dictated by “historical materialism inevitability”32. Using the same theory, Marx also believed that capitalism will eventually decay and vanish, leaving the way for the rise of socialism and communism. This theory was put to an end before the end of the twentieth century when socialism collapsed in the Soviet Union. Relying on Marx’s own theory of the development of societies, Francis Fukayama concluded that the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution was liberal democracy (including capitalism) rather than communism33. However, this final end as detected by Fukayama turned out to be only a soft and temporary one when the markets began to collapse and banks began to fail and “a certain vision of capitalism has collapsed,” using Fukayama’s own words in his article “The Fall of America, Inc.” .

亚当·斯密在《国富论》(1776年)中对"自然自由制度"的论证，通常被视为古典政治资本主义经济学的开端。斯密提出了一套至今仍与资本主义紧密相连的概念。他认为，个人对自身利益的追求，会无意中为社会带来集体的福祉。为支持自由企业，斯密批评了垄断、关税、税收以及其他由国家施加的限制，并认为市场是分配资源最公平、最有效的仲裁者。大卫·李嘉图在《政治经济学及赋税原理》(1817年)中赞同斯密的观点，并进一步发展了资本主义理论。

Adam Smith’s reasoning for “the system of natural liberty” in The Wealth of Nations (1776) is usually taken as the beginning of classical political capitalist economy. Smith devised a set of concepts that remain strongly associated with capitalism today. He argues that the pursuit of individual self-interest unintentionally produces a collective good for society. In support of free enterprise, Smith criticized monopolies, tariffs, duties, and other state-enforced restrictions and believed that the market is the most fair and efficient arbitrator of resources. David Ricardo, in “The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation” (1817), shared Smith’s views and further developed the theories of capitalism.

资本主义理论在十八世纪中叶的兴起，与其他两种现象同时出现，并在某种程度上先于它们，这两种现象即“政教分离”和“启蒙时代”。源自这些现象的思想对资本主义作为组织社会金融与经济交易的方式之发展产生了巨大影响。事实上，可以认为资本主义是政教分离的自然结果之一。政教分离意味着人摆脱了教会范围之外的宗教教义的约束。这种自由主要体现在四个方面，即言论自由、所有权自由、信仰自由和个人自由。言论自由一旦被充分运用和发展，便决定了一个社会的政治制度，并导向各种形式的民主。所有权自由一旦被充分运用和发展，便决定了一个社会的经济制度，并导向各种形式的资本主义。其余两种自由塑造了社会中的个体性格，进而产生各种形式的宗教、习俗、传统、道德、伦理和外在形象；一旦被充分运用和发展，它们便塑造了社会制度的面貌。民主的政治制度、资本主义的经济制度和个人主义的社会制度，连同政教分离的理念，构成了一个完整而全面的意识形态体系。

The rise of the theories of capitalism in the mid-eighteenth century coincided and in some ways was preceded by other phenomena, namely, “the separation of church and state” and the “era of Enlightenment.” Ideas derived from these phenomena had a great impact on the development of capitalism as a means of organizing the financial and economic transaction in the society. In fact, it can be argued that capitalism has emerged as one of the natural consequences of the separation of church and state. The separation between church and state dictates that man becomes free from the religious doctrines outside the scope of the church. This freedom manifests itself in four major areas, namely, the freedom of speech, the freedom of ownership, the freedom of worship, and the personal freedom. The freedom of speech, once fully utilized and developed, defines the political system of a society and leads to various forms of democracies. The freedom of ownership, once fully utilized and developed, defines the economic system of a society and leads to various forms of capitalism. The other two forms of freedom define and shape the individual characters in the society giving rise to various forms of religion, customs, traditions, morals, ethics, and physical outlook; once fully utilized and developed, they define the shape of the social system. The political system of democracy, the economic system of capitalism, and the social system of individualism, together with the idea of the separation of the church and state, forms the structure of a complete and comprehensive ideology.

这一意识形态既被互换地称为民主主义，也被称为资本主义。两者指的是同一种结构。该意识形态的拥护者在想要强调其政治自由层面时，就使用“民主”这一名称。在为近来对伊拉克和阿富汗的战争与入侵辩护时，美国政治家强调有必要向这些国家输出“民主”。当然，随民主而来的还有资本主义和社会个人主义。在试图理解当前的金融危机及其对社会的影响时，经济学家和政治家则使用了“资本主义”这一名称。关键在于，“民主”与“资本主义”指的是同一个意识形态结构。

This ideology is interchangeably referred to as the ideology of Democracy or capitalism. Both refer to the same structure. The proponents of the ideology use the name “Democracy” when they want to emphasize the political freedom aspect of the ideology. In trying to justify the recent wars and invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, US politicians emphasized the need to export “Democracy” to these nations. Of course, along with democracy go capitalism and the social individualism. In trying to understand the current financial crisis and their impact on the society, the economists and politicians used the name “capitalism.” The point is that “Democracy” and “capitalism” refer to the same ideological structure.

这一意识形态最初兴起于欧洲和俄国的皇帝与国王们将宗教当作剥削民众、侵害他们的工具之时。他们把神职人员当作实施这种剥削的工具。这使得一些哲学家和思想家完全否定宗教。另一些人承认宗教，但主张将其与民众的日常生活事务分开。最终，大多数哲学家和思想家的观点归结为一种看法，即将宗教与生活和国家分离。这是一种折中方案，一方面是试图以宗教之名控制一切的神职人员，另一方面是否定宗教和神职人员权威的哲学家与思想家。因此，构成资本主义/民主主义意识形态基础的主要信条，就是宗教与生活的分离。托马斯·杰斐逊在1802年致丹伯里浸信会的信中写道，美国宪法应当在教会与国家之间筑起一道分离之墙36。

This ideology originally emerged when the emperors and kings of Europe and Russia were using religion as a means to exploit the peoples and transgress against them. They used the clergy as an instrument for this exploitation. This led some philosophers and thinkers to deny religion completely. Others acknowledged religion but called for its separation from the people’s daily life affairs. Eventually, the opinion of the majority of the philosophers and thinkers settled on one idea, which is the separation of religion from life and state. That was a compromise solution between the clergy who sought to control everything in the name of religion and the philosophers and thinkers, who denied religion and the authority of the clergy. Consequently, the main doctrine, which underlines the ideology of capitalism/democracy, is the separation of religion from life. In a letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, Thomas Jefferson wrote that the American constitution should build a wall of separation between church and state36.

理解政教分离及其对生活事务的影响，对于讨论当前金融危机背后的道德与伦理危机相当必要。这有助于理解米尔顿·弗里德曼（Milton Friedman）得出的一些结论背景，例如："股东唯一的共同利益是实现利润最大化"；"除了赚钱之外，任何承担其他社会责任的承诺都是一种不合法的税收，甚至是盗窃"37。资本主义作为从政教分离中产生的制度，其历史发展也使人们能够理解资本主义在非基督教占主导地位的社会中的运作动态。

Understanding the effect of the separation of church (religion) from state and the life affairs will be quite necessary when discussing the moral and ethic crises which stand behind the current financial crisis. It helps understanding the background for conclusions such as the one made by Milton Friedman: “The only common interests shareholders have is to maximize profits”; “Any commitment to fulfilling social responsibilities other than making money is an illegitimate tax, or even theft”37. The historic development of capitalism, as one that emerged from the separation of church and state, also allows one to understand the dynamics of capitalism in societies where Christianity was not the dominant religion.