Mutualism: the ultimate value and winning strategy
According to Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), the longstanding philosophy behind his actions is ‘mutualism’ (共生), a term often misunderstood. He believes that it is the only way Taiwan, a highly polarised society and faced with a hostile country that never gives up its claim over Taiwan, can survive and develop further.
Below is my loose translation of the first chapter his book: Mutualism and Prosperity: Believing in Taiwan (共生繁榮, 看好台灣). I did not translate word for word but the meanings of his original writing. I have also trimmed off parts that are not essential and swapped a few points around to make it flow better in English.
I have left the translations in black and marked my elaboration or explanation in green.
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I often ponder on what the ultimate value of human civilisation is and what a politician’s true mission is. Through experience, I have learned the answers. I believe that mutualism is the ultimate value and a politician’s primary mission is to draw up and implement policies and strategies that help the society move towards mutualism.
What is mutualism?
Mutualism, in biology, denotes the interactions between two organisms where both parties benefit. When applied to human societies, there are three levels:
The first and the most fundamental level of mutualism is coexistence. It refers to a state where various organisms (including human beings or human organisations) live in the same space without disrupting one another. Once this has been established, there has to be positive reciprocity between individual units or groups. In social psychology, this term refers to responding to a positive action with another positive action. It indicates that individual units would interact and their actions are based on mutual benefit, which will eventually maximise the overall well-being of the whole society. To achieve mutualism, both levels must be reached because different groups can coexist in a society with minimum interactions or even in total isolation from each other. Such a passive state may be sustainable for a while but in the long run, individuals within each group may be susceptible to misunderstanding about the other groups or at the very least miss the opportunity to maximise the overall benefits they could create for each other.
The third level of mutualism is the understanding of the interdependence between individual units and their environment and the fact that every organism is intrinsically linked together. Only when individual units fulfill their potential can the society reach its optimal development and vice versa. Interdependence may also refer to the causality or interrelatedness between events, in other words, karma. Every event can potentially be the cause or the effect of another, just like the butterfly effect in chaos theory. At this level, mutualism points to the Buddhist idea of ‘shared karma’ (共業). Whatever decisions we make or actions we take, everyone else will eventually be affected by those decisions/actions in some way.
To me, mutualism is not simply a biological or social phenomenon but symbolises the ultimate value, a universal ideal and the highest good. In other words, I see mutualism from a philosophical point of view. Different religions or cultures seem to have different names for what they see as the ideal world. Confucianists call it ‘the world of harmony (大同世界)’; Buddhists call it ‘the pure land on earth (人間淨土)’. Some may emphasise ‘we are the world (四海一家)’; some emphasise compassion (慈悲) and love without discrimination (博愛). Even though the terms are different, they all come down to the same concept, which I call mutualism. When talking about humanity, the core philosophy is mutualism. When asking for peace, the basis is mutualism. Even when we promote democracy, the aim is to achieve mutualism. When I proposed to build Taiwan as a community sharing a common destiny (台灣命運共同體), the idea is also mutualism.
As mutualism is the direction all civilisations should be headed for, the ultimate indicator for the progress of a society would be how much closer it is getting towards the state of mutualism. Human development starts from individual survival, which is largely based on natural instinct and therefore should be neutral. However, after a society is formed, it would be chaotic and irrational if everyone solely focuses on only their own survival and disregards the well-beings of others. Only when the majority act on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit can a society be considered rational and advanced. An advanced society is one that embraces values in line with mutualism and encourages actions that are conducive to creating a mutualistic state. In this regard, each individual has the responsibility to promote mutualism by living its principles and the assessment of a politician’s achievements should also be based on how much he/she facilitates the move towards mutualism.
Mutualism as a winning strategy
In game theory, zero-sum games occur when a participant’s gains are a result of other participant(s)’ equivalent losses. If the total gains are added up and the total losses are subtracted, everything will come to zero. In such a situation, everyone may employ negative tactics to beat the others in order to maximise their own winning. Non-zero sum games are, on the other hand, situations where a player’s gains do not necessarily come from the other(s)’ losses. Players’ interest may overlap and therefore, each participant may be more motivated to work for the others’ interests as a way of benefitting themselves at the same time. As all players are expected to consider each others’ interests and reciprocate appropriately, trust is implied, at least implicitly, in nonzero sum games. They are much more complex than zero-sum games because in order to accommodate so many factors at play, the whole system will inevitably become more and more advanced and sophisticated over time. If a society moves towards zero-sum games, it is going backwards and on its way to destruction. Therefore, to solve problems which the zero-sum mindset cannot solve, we need to work towards a more sophisticated system and turn zero-sum games into nonzero sum games.
Mutualism, in this respect, can be seen as a nonzero sum game and also the ultimate winning strategy. The success of mutualism is not the total of each zero sum game. It will create a win-win situation or even multiple rewards for the whole through changing their strategies. No one should resort to tactics that may win a battle but lose the war.
Here, I need to clarify that mutualism does NOT mean amalgamation or surrender. Before moving towards mutualism, everyone has to be sure that their own survival and existence is not under threat. All individual units must be able to keep their identity, coexist and have positive interactions with the others. Therefore, mutualism certainly includes independence and autonomy. After all, respect for one’s own and the others’ rights to exist is the very basis of coexistence because without individual existence, there would be no one to coexist with in the first place.
Similarly, mutualism does NOT eliminate competitions. The key is to make sure that everyone competes with respect to the others and refrain from using unethical tactics. Mutualism certainly does NOT mean no tension or resistance between individuals or groups because if the focus is solely on a stable appearance and reconciliation, injustice and unfair treatment will never be gone. For example, if someone keeps bullying the other(s) and we keep emphasising reconciliation without dealing with the bullying behaviour, we are in effect condoning bullying.
Mutualism and globalisation
In the climate of globalisation, mutualism is even more important. Otherwise, globalisation will be marred by unfair exploitation. Every time there was a WTO or G8/20 meeting, there were always agricultural or environmental groups protesting outside. Some of the demonstrations may have been a bit extreme but the points they were making cannot be dismissed.
Globalisation has increased the gap in development between the better off and the worse off. Even though the overall wealth has increased, the income distribution has left something to be desired. Governments should adopt policies to support those at a disadvantage and share the benefit of globalisation with them. It is only when the entrepreneurs, the workers and the vulnerable all benefit can the global economic system be sustained.
Another issue the world has to face is the changes in population due to cross-cultural marriages and the employment of foreign workers. This trend has led to countries becoming increasingly multicultural. Such diversity may become the norm and mutualism is, therefore, of greater significance. Take Taiwan as an example, Taiwan has always been an immigrants’ society. Apart from the aboriginal groups, there have been several waves of immigration from China. The island has also been occupied by the Europeans and the Japanese for various lengths in history. In recent years, many have migrated from South East Asia. Official statistics show that approximately 1 in 7 newborns are from transnational marriages. Taiwan will see a much more complex and diverse population makeup. Diversity brings a lot of strengths but also has potential setbacks. For the country to run effectively, developing a mutualistic system is necessary.
Living by the principles of mutualism may be the best contribution Taiwanese can make for the world. If we can resolve the animosity between ethnic groups and between political parties and become an example of mutualism to the others, Taiwan will be much closer to the global standard and can better influence the Chinese people. If Taiwan can overcome all the difficulties and create democracy based on mutualism and cooperation, our success must be able to have profound and positive impact on the Chinese population.
Taiwan was once an economic miracle. We have also created a political miracle by ending one party rule and establishing democracy. If Taiwan can work towards mutualism, another miracle may just be around the corner. The reality is that the whole world has no other options but adopting mutualism. We Taiwanese can learn the necessity of mutualism the hard way, i.e. through conflicts, disruptions or even destruction or we can let our inner wisdom prevail and avoid potential harm by moving towards mutualism early on.
(Coming up next: ‘Mutualism in politics’)
