120 philosophical essays you must read in your life

Chapter 55

Chapter 3 Section 12 Credits

Zhao Gang
At the end of the 16th century, in order to break the monopoly of the Spaniards and Portuguese on the Indian Ocean routes, and at the same time to gain greater profits, the Dutch tried to find their own routes to China and the East Indies.

In 1596, the Dutch organized an expedition voyage.During this voyage, William?Barents became a world-famous hero, and the ocean west of the Arctic Ocean was named after him.However, what makes people unforgettable for a long time is not the legendary expedition experience of Barentchina, but the honesty and trustworthiness of those unknown sailors.

Before the expedition set off, the merchants in Amsterdam loaded some goods on board the ship that were going to be traded with China.When the expedition reached the Arctic Ocean, summer was over and the expedition ship was frozen in icy water.The whole crew was forced to land, and they built wooden houses on Xindi Island by themselves, waiting for the arrival of spring.

In the extremely harsh environment, in the plight of starvation and cold, some sailors died of starvation and disease.As soon as the ice and snow melted in the second year, the expedition team couldn't wait to set foot on their way home.However, troubles followed one after another: due to the long-term impact and extrusion of ice, the sailboat was damaged, and all the crew had to be immersed in the waist-deep icy sea water.

But "even in this desperate moment of struggling to escape from death, the crew still carried the cargo they originally intended to do business with the Chinese."When the sailors were rescued and landed, the first thing they did was to "unpack and dry these goods, so that they could be brought back to Amsterdam in the best possible condition." ("Fang Loon on Man") Although the sailors were in ragged clothes at this time, many of them were seriously ill and shivering in the sea breeze, but no one used the clothes in the iron box.

On October 1597, 10, the expedition team finally returned to their hometown. These expedition members who went deep into the extreme northern seas had already run out of money, but the goods entrusted by the merchants before leaving were all returned.The sense of mission and loyalty embodied by these sailors, this kind of moral restraint and conscience commitment, is the power of credit.With credit, we can treat each other with sincerity; with credit, we can communicate and cooperate with each other.As Max?Weber said in the book "Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism": credit "is not just the kind of commercial spirit that can be seen everywhere, but a kind of spiritual temperament", "honesty is useful because it can guarantee credit", and "credit is money".

【Together with you】

"A man cannot be established without trust." Trustworthiness is the reason why man is a man, and it is one of the important symbols that distinguish human beings from animals and form a civilized society.That is to say, credit is an indispensable qualification for being a person in a civilized society and an important factor for having a moral personality.This ethical requirement applies to all people and all behaviors in society, and has universal significance.This personal benefit of credit is of inestimable value.Credit not only embodies mutual trust, but also embodies moral education and commitment of conscience.Self-conquest is the final and great triumph of man.

(End of this chapter)