有的學者以為孔孟是道德家，只重仁義，忽略功利，反對追求財富，不重視勞動與技術，致使 中國積弱不扳。事實真相顯示，孔孟相當重視經濟，他們對各種產業的地位，無分軒輊，不僅不反 對追求功利，更重视勞動與技術。孔孟教人在看見了利得的時候，必須先想一想，這利得是不是合 於義的，若是合於義的，儘可取得，不合於義，便應放棄，並非教人一見了利，便應掉頭不顧，連 義不義不屑去考慮。 在私利方面，孔孟所反對的是損人利己的不正之利，而非用以維持生活之利。孔孟未嘗以贫賤 為樂，而是以道為樂，在國家有道時，且以貧賤為恥，並提倡要過著「富而好禮」的生活。 在公利方面，孔盂相當看重經濟發展。孔子認為執政者是人民的公僕，其積極的義務與職责， 是發展經濟，'使天下的人，都有利益，過著豐富而安適的生活。孟子認定經濟是「王道之始」。有 了經濟建設基礎，那縻王道仁政才可開展。所以政府對於農業、工業、商業、漁業、林業等各種產 業的全面建設，要讓人民有足约的時間去從事，不可剝李人民的經濟生產之權利。經濟目的實現之 後，要及時教育人民，以實現文化目的。 當代著名的學者認為，早期的經濟發展是以物質建設和工業建設為主，到了後期，要邁向更高 層次的發展，全社會的配合就更重要。這個發展策略，似得之孔孟「先富後教」與「先教後政」的 啟示。

Some scholars consider Confucius and Mencius as Moralists. They found that both Confucius and Mencius devote themselves to the fulfillment of becoming benevolent and righteous instead of the pursuit of material welfare and richness. Therefore, they concluded that the teachings of Confucius and Mencius neglect the training of skills and physical labor, thus lead to the decline of the Middle Kingdom (China). On the contrary, many facts reveal that Confucius and Mencius consider various kinds of economical and industrial activities of highly im-portance. They also encourage people to seek wealth through their own effort; that is, they teach people to seek for rightful wealth but forsake the unjust enrichment. When instructing ordinary people, Confucius and Mencius say that one should neither gain wealth by doing harms to other people nor attain benefits which are of no use to the expense of the household. Confucius and Mencius do not advocate poverty as an agreeable state; instead, that it is a shame for anyone to be poor if the nation is well-governed and prosperous. Therefore, everyone should try to establish himself in society of richness and politeness. When instructing the government administrators, Confucius teach them of the significance of economic growth. On one hand, Confucius say that, in fact government administrators are public servants. They have to tackle with the national economic development problems and build up an abundant and comfortable society for people. On the other hand, Mencius, firmly believes that economy is the foundation of a well-governed nation, thus, government administrators should bear the responsibility .of engaging in overall development in every aspect; such as agriculture, industry, business transaction, fishing, foresty and so on. Moreover, administrators should grant people as much power as possible to seek for material welfare without depriving them of any right. Once a rich and prosperous society has been constructed, the administrators have to teach people to become well-educated and polite citizens. In other words, as the goals of economic development have been achieved, the administrators should advance to obtain objectives of cultural development. Many famous contemporary scholars advocate that at the earlier stage, a nation's development should be emphasized on the economical and industrial aspects where as at the later stage, high level cultural aspect should be greatly stressed. This development strategy seems to correspond with Confucius and Mencius, two instructions, only after a better living then people can be educated, and only after well educated then people can be governed.