Mozi
Mozi 墨翟 | |
---|---|
Born | c. 470 BCE |
Notable ideas | Mohism |
Mozi | ||
---|---|---|
Hanyu Pinyin Mò Dí | | |
Bopomofo | ㄇㄛˋ ㄉㄧˊ | |
Wade–Giles | Mo4 Ti2 | |
Tongyong Pinyin | Mò Dí | |
IPA | [mwô.tǐ] | |
Yue: Cantonese | ||
Yale Romanization | Mahk Dihk | |
Jyutping | mak6 dik6 | |
IPA | [mɐk̚˨ tek̚˨] | |
Southern Min | ||
Hokkien POJ | Ba̍k Ti̍k | |
Middle Chinese | ||
Middle Chinese | Mok Dek | |
Old Chinese | ||
Baxter–Sagart (2014) | *C.mˤak Lˤewk |
Mozi (
Born in what is now
The concept of
Life
Most historians believe that Mozi was a member of the lower artisan class who managed to climb his way to an official post. Mozi was a native of the State of Lu (modern Tengzhou, Shandong), although for a time he served as a minister in the State of Song.[6] Similar to Confucius, Mozi was known to have maintained a school for those who desired to become officials serving in the different ruling courts of the Warring States.[7]
Mozi was a
According to some accounts of the popular understanding of Mozi at the time, he had been hailed by many as the greatest hero to come from
Mozi travelled from one crisis zone to another throughout the ravaged landscape of the Warring States, trying to dissuade rulers from their plans of conquest. According to the chapter "Gongshu" in the Mozi, he once walked for ten days to the
Philosophy
Mozi's moral teachings emphasized introspection, self-reflection, and authenticity, rather than obedience to rituals. He observed that people often learned about the world through adversity.[8] By reflecting on one's own successes and failures, one attains true self-knowledge rather than mere conformity to ritual.[9] Mozi exhorted people to lead a life of asceticism and self-restraint, renouncing both material and spiritual extravagance.
Like Confucius, Mozi idealized the
Mozi tried to replace what he considered to be the long-entrenched Chinese ideal of strong attachments to family and
Overlooked by those critics, however, was a passage in the chapter on "Self-Cultivation" which stated, "When people near-by are not befriended, there is no use endeavoring to attract those at a distance."
In addition, Mozi argued that benevolence comes to human beings "as naturally as fire turns upward or water turns downward", provided that persons in positions of authority illustrate benevolence in their own lives. In differentiating between the ideas of "universal" (jian) and "differential" (bie), Mozi said that "universal" originated from righteousness while "differential" entailed human effort.
Mozi also held a belief in the power of ghosts and spirits, although he is often thought to have only worshipped them pragmatically. In fact, in his discussion on ghosts and spirits, he remarked that, even if they did not exist, communal gatherings for the sake of making sacrificial offering would play a role in strengthening social bonds. Furthermore, for Mozi the will of
Mozi opposed the Confucian idea of "Destiny",[14] promoting instead an idea of "anti-fatalism" (非命). Where the Confucian philosophy held that a person's life, death, wealth, poverty, and social status were entirely dependent upon destiny and therefore could not be changed, Mozi argued that hard work and virtuous acts could change one's position in life.
Ethics
Mohist
Some believe the best descriptor to be state consequentialism.
Alternative readings locate the main focus of Mozi's consequentialism in the welfare of the people themselves rather than that of the state as a whole.[20] Such interpretations as Chris Fraser's argue that it is a mistake to view Mozi's focus on the collective well-being of a population as a focus on the well-being of the state itself rather than its constituents. In this way, Mozi tended to evaluate actions based on whether they provide benefit to the people, which he measured in terms of an enlarged population (states were sparsely populated in his day), a prosperous economy, and social order. Indeed these are collective goods rather than individual ones, which is a major difference between Mohist consequentialism and modern, Western versions. However, this reading emphasizes that collective goods are better considered as aggregated individual goods rather than as state goods.
This consequentialist structure supports Mohist ethics and politics, which survives in the form of 10 core doctrines. These doctrines are as follows:
- Promoting the Worthy
- Identifying Upward
- Universal Love (sometimes called "Inclusive Care")
- Condemning Aggression
- Moderation in Use
- Moderation in Burials
- Heaven's Intent
- Understanding Ghosts
- Condemning Music
- Condemning Fatalism
Each of these doctrines is justified on the grounds that it produces the best consequences for society, and that all people stand to benefit from adopting them. Promoting the worthy, for example, encourages people in positions of power to hire competent and worthy subordinates to fill posts, rather than hire friends and relatives instead. The reasoning here is that someone better qualified for the job will perform better and enable society as a whole to benefit. Identifying upward refers to the idea that people in subordinate positions in society must look to their superiors as models for their own conduct. Provided that the superiors are indeed morally competent and worthy of emulation, the rest of society will always have a reliable guide for their own actions, thereby giving rise to social benefits.
Universal love refers to the basic normative attitude the Mohists encourage us to adopt towards others. The idea is that people ought to consider all others as being part of their scope of moral concern. Indeed this is perhaps the most infamous of Mohist doctrines, and was criticized early on by philosophers such as Mengzi, who held that the doctrine was akin to renouncing one's family. However, close readings of the texts by modern scholars have shown the demands of Mohist universal love to be much more mild and reasonable.[21] Additionally, given the accretional nature of the texts, the audience of such texts may have changed depending upon the Mohists' social influence, and so the demands for universal love made on rulers, for example, is considerably higher than that made on the masses.[22] At its most basic, however, the doctrine merely encourages a general attitude of care towards others. However, this does not require that we renounce all forms of special relationships we have with our families and friends. In fact, the Mohists introduce the problem that universal love is meant to solve by lamenting the fact that fathers and sons don't care for each other, and so must instead adopt an attitude of universal love.[23] Conversely, the Mohists hope, when people adopt an attitude of universal love, society as a whole will benefit.
Dovetailing with this idea is that of condemning aggression. The main targets of this doctrine are undoubtedly the rulers of the various warring states in China, who regularly embarked on expansionist military campaigns in order to increase their territory, power, and influence. However, such campaigns were enormously taxing on the population, disrupting regular farming cycles by conscripting able-bodied people for these military ends. Additionally, the practices is ethically wrong for the same reason that robbery and murder are wrong. In fact, according to Mozi, the two are actually one and the same; for what is an expansionist war of aggression other than robbery and murder on a grand scale? And yet, Mozi laments, those rulers who execute robbers and murderers engage in the very same practices. With respect to universal love, indeed part of the reason why rulers believe it is acceptable to invade and conquer other states while it is not acceptable for their own subjects to rob and steal from one another is that the people in neighboring states are not part of the rulers' scope of moral concern. If rulers were to instead include these people and refrain from wars of aggression, all states, those attacking and those defending, will benefit.
Moderation in use and moderation in burials are the main Mohist ideas about frugality. In one's own projects, utility ought to be the only consideration.
What is the purpose of houses? It is to protect us from the wind and cold of winter, the heat and rain of summer, and to keep out robbers and thieves. Once these ends have been secured, that is all. Whatever does not contribute to these ends should be eliminated.[19]
— Mozi, Mozi (5th century BC) Ch 20
The Mohists took particular offense to the practice of extremely lavished funerals and demanding mourning rituals. Such funerals and rituals would potentially bankrupt an entire clan, at least temporarily, and disrupt its farming practices. For the dead in higher positions of authority, this disruption would affect an even greater number of people. Again, the point here is to promote benefit across society, and the Mohists believe that adopting frugal practices will do so.
Mozi's ideas about ghosts and spirits follow from their religious beliefs in a morally consistent universe. Heaven, it is argued, is the ultimate moral standard, while ghosts and spirits serve as Heaven's enforcers. Both doctrines, when adopted, promote societal benefit both by enabling people to rely upon an objective standard to guide their actions (namely, Heaven), and by acting as a sort of cosmic authority capable of enacting rewards and punishments.
Mozi's condemnation of music rests on the same economic considerations as their general ideas of frugality. In ancient China, grand musical ceremonies established by rulers would place enormous financial and human strains on populations, and so Mozi condemned such ceremonies for this reason. It's worth noting that Mozi did not object to music in principle—"It's not that I don't like the sound of the drum" ("Against Music")—but only because of the heavy tax burden such activities placed on commoners and also due to the fact that officials tended to indulge in them at the expense of their duties.
Finally, the Mohists rejected the idea of fatalism, or the idea that there is fate. The Mohists reject this idea on the grounds that it encourages lazy and irresponsible behavior. When people believe that there is fate, and that the consequences of their actions lie beyond their control, people will not be encouraged to improve themselves, nor will they be willing to take responsibility for disasters. As a result, society will suffer, and so the doctrine that there is fate ought to be rejected.
Works and influence
"Mozi" is also the name of the philosophical anthology written and compiled by followers of Mozi. The text was formed by an accretional process that took place over a period of hundreds of years, beginning perhaps during or shortly after Mozi's lifetime, and lasting until perhaps the early Han dynasty.[24] During the Han dynasty, as Confucianism came to be the official school of political thought, Mohism gradually lost both its adherents and influence while simultaneously being partly incorporated into more mainstream political thought.[25] The text was eventually neglected, and only 58 of the text's original 71 books (pian) survive, some of which, notably the later Mohist Canons, contain significant textual corruptions and are fragmentary in nature.[26] The anthology can be divided into 5 main groups, which are determined on the basis of both chronological and thematic features:
- Books 1-7 consist of short, miscellaneous essays containing summaries of Mohist doctrines, anecdotes about Mozi, and ideals about meritocratic government. Some appear to be relatively late texts, expressing mature Mohist political and ethical thought on some topics.
- Books 8-37 contain the Mohists' key essays on the ten "core" Mohist doctrines. Though they exhibit explicit thematic unity, textual evidence suggests that the Mohists revisited their core doctrines throughout their activity, responding to objections and addressing issues unresolved in earlier, often shorter and simpler expositions.
- Books 38-39 are a series of polemics against the Ru (Confucians). They are often grouped with books 8-37, though they do not expound a positive doctrine, and their purpose is entirely critical.
- Books 40-45 are often referred to as the "dialectical books." These are often considered "later Mohist" writings, though actual chronological details about them are difficult to glean. They are written in an idiosyncratic style, and focus on a broad range of issues that go well beyond those of the Mohist core doctrines, including logic, epistemology, optics, geometry, and ethics.
- Books 46-51 are dialogues. They are probably later, and likely fictional, exhibiting Mozi in conversation with various interlocutors.
- Books 52-71 are chapters on military affairs, specifically focusing on preparing for defensive warfare.
The Mozi is a rich source of insight into early Chinese dynastic history, culture, and philosophy. The text frequently cites ancient classics, such as the Shang Shu, and at times departs from the received version, giving scholars insight into the textual development of such classics as well.
The texts portray Mozi as a mouthpiece for Mohist philosophy and not much else. This picture contrasts that of Confucius and Mencius found in the Lunyu (Analects) and Mengzi respectively, wherein the thinkers in question are portrayed as expressing emotions, chiding students, and even making mistakes. (Consider Mengzi's disastrous advice to the King of Qi to invade the state of Yan.)[27] To contrast, Mozi has little if any personality in the text, instead serving only as a mouthpiece for Mohist philosophy.
Mohism, like other schools of thought at the time, was suppressed under the
In modern times, Mohism has been given a fresh analysis.
Some views claim that Mozi's philosophy was at once more advanced and less so than that of Confucius. Indeed the Mohists were radical political reformers who sought primarily to benefit the masses and challenge the practices of the ruling orthodoxy, often targeting a perceived wasteful aristocracy whom they referred to as "the gentlemen of the world." The Mohist idea of "universal love" embraced a broader idea of human community than that of the Confucians, arguing that the scope of individuals' moral concern should include all people. Opponents of this idea often claimed that "universal love" was akin to renouncing one's family,[32] and indeed more strict Mohists living in Mohist communities as the school flourished may have exhibited such behavior. However, there is some scholarly debate over just how radical the provisions of universal love actually are, and, as can be seen from the example of Gongsun Hong above, the less radical components of the doctrine were eventually absorbed by mainstream thought.
Mozi is also famous for his ideas about frugality, such as those concerning moderating expenses and eliminating wasteful ceremonies including music and funerals. A common misconception is that the Mohists eschewed all forms of art, but of course the Mohists' targets are more specifically elaborate, state-sponsored rituals that would place incredible financial burdens upon a mostly peasant population. This can be seen from Xunzi's own arguments against Mozi in book 10 of the Xunzi "Enriching the State," where Xunzi argues against Mozi that prominent displays of wealth on the part of the state is necessary to maintaining social order.
Some modern-day supporters for Mozi[who?] (as well as Communism) make the claim that Mohism and modern Communism share a lot in terms of ideals for community life. Others[who?] would claim that Mohism shares more with the central ideas of Christianity, especially in terms of the idea of "universal love" (in Greek, "agape"), the "Golden Rule", and the relation of humanity to the supernatural realm. However, Mohism is undoubtedly a product of Warring States China, a period of tremendous political violence and turmoil. The Mohists were political reformers, but they did not seek to challenge the monarchical model of government that prevailed during that time, and sought instead to reform from within by encouraging governments to hire competent people to carry out political tasks, care for their people inclusively, eliminate frivolous government spending, and halt all wars of aggression.
In many ways the influence of Mohism was a victim of its own successes, and it is fairly easy to understand its decline. The Mohists' ideas about the importance of meritocracy and universal love were gradually absorbed by mainstream Confucian thinking. Their opposition to offensive warfare became irrelevant once the various Warring States were unified under the Qin and later Han dynasty, and their religious superstitions were eventually replaced with less supernatural accounts. So their most promising ideas were metabolized by the tradition, while their more radical and anachronistic ones were gradually discarded, leading to their demise during the Han dynasty.
Mohism and science
According to Joseph Needham, Mozi (collected writings of those in the tradition of Mozi, some of which might have been by Mozi himself) contains the following sentence: 'The cessation of motion is due to the opposing force... If there is no opposing force... the motion will never stop. This is as true as that an ox is not a horse.' which, he claims, is a precursor to Newton's first law of motion.[33] Mozi also contains speculations in optics and mechanics that are similarly strikingly original, although their ideas were not taken up by later Chinese philosophers. The Mohist tradition is also highly unusual in Chinese thought in that it devoted time to developing principles of logic.[34]
He is the first to describe the physical principle behind the camera, also known as the camera obscura.[35][note 1][36]
See also
- A Battle of Wits – a historical film based around Mohism
- History of geometry
- List of people on stamps of the People's Republic of China
- Fa, an influential concept elaborated by Mozi
Notes
References
Citations
- ^ "Mo-Zi". Collins English Dictionary.
- ^ "Mozi". Collins English Dictionary.
- ISBN 978-0-19-506729-3.
There was a fleeting movement to introduce use of Micius for Mozi, whose bones no doubt relaxed when the movement failed.
- ^ Průšek, Jaroslav and Zbigniew Słupski, eds., Dictionary of Oriental Literatures: East Asia (Charles Tuttle, 1978): 119-120.
- ^ Fraser, Chris (2002). "Mohism". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- ^ Needham & Wang 1956 165.
- ^ Needham & Wang 1956 165–184.
- ^ Mozi, "Embracing Scholars".
- ^ Mozi, "Refining Self".
- ^ Mozi, "Against Confucianism, Part 3".
- ^ Mozi, "Against Fate, Part 3".
- ^ Mozi, "Self-Cultivation".
- ^ Mozi, "Laws and Customs".
- S2CID 143576827.
- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87220-780-6.
"he advocated a form of state consequentialism, which sought to maximize three basic goods: the wealth, order, and population of the state
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8.
- ISBN 9780393922080.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-60384-468-0.
- ISBN 9780231149266.
- S2CID 201752116.
- ^ Defoort, Carine (2005). "The Growing Scope of 'jian': Differences between Chapters 14, 15, and 16 of the Mozi". Oriens Extremus. 45: 119–140.
- ^ "Mozi : Book 4 : Universal Love I - Chinese Text Project". ctext.org.
- ^ "Mohism > Texts and Authorship (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)".
- ^ "Mohism". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. 2020.
- ^ Graham, Angus. (1978). Later Mohist Logic, Ethics, and Science. New Territories, Hong Kong SAR: The Chinese University Press.
- ^ "Mengzi : Gong Sun Chou II - Chinese Text Project". ctext.org.
- ^ https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=66344. Graham (1978) was the first to notice this among contemporary scholars.
- ^ Chad Hansen. (1992). A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought. New York: Oxford University Press.
- ^ https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=13330#s10030758, https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=2771#s10027275
- .
- ^ "Chinese Text Project Dictionary". ctext.org.
- ^ "No. 2080 The Survival of Invention". www.uh.edu.
- ^ FENRONG, LIU; JIALONG, ZHANG (January 2010). "NEW PERSPECTIVES ON MOHIST LOGIC". Journal of Chinese Philosophy. 37 (4): 605–621.
- ^ Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilization in China, vol. IV, part 1: Physics and Physical Technology (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 3, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
- ^ "Camera Obscura History - Who Invented Camera Obscura?". www.photographyhistoryfacts.com. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
Sources
- Fraser, Chris. "Mohism," article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- ISBN 978-1-55729-043-4.
- ISBN 978-90-04-19127-3.
- ISBN 978-0-521-05800-1.. (Printings were 1956, 1962, 1969) See also the 1986 edition published in Taipei by Caves Books Ltd.
- Cui, D (2009). "Rational awareness of the ultimate in human life—The Confucian concept of "destiny"". Frontiers of Philosophy in China. 4 (3): 309–321. S2CID 143576827.
Further reading
- Bertolt Brecht. Me-ti. Buch der Wendungen. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1971.
- ISBN 0-691-01964-9.
- Wejen Chang, Traditional Chinese Jurisprudence: Legal Thought of Pre-Qin Thinkers. Cambridge 1990.
- Chris Fraser, The Philosophy of the Mòzi: The First Consequentialists, New York, Columbia University Press, 2016.
- Jane Geaney, "A Critique of A. C. Graham's Reconstruction of the 'Neo-Mohist Canons,'" Journal of the American Oriental Society, 119, no. 1 (1999), pp. 1–11.
- Anna Ghiglione, Mozi, complete translation from classical Chinese, annotated and commented, Québec, Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 2018. Series « Histoire et cultures chinoises », edited by Shenwen Li.
- Angus C. Graham, Disputers of the TAO: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China (Open Court 1993). ISBN 0-8126-9087-7
- —. Later Mohist Logic, Ethics and Science by A. C. Graham, (1978, reprinted 2004) The Chinese University Press, Hong Kong. 700 pages.
- Hansen, Chad (1989). "Mozi: Language Utilitarianism: The Structure of Ethics in Classical China". The Journal of Chinese Philosophy. 16: 355–380. .
- —. A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992)
- Kung-chuan Hsiao. A History of Chinese Political Thought. In: Volume One: From the Beginnings to the Sixth Century A.D.. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1979 (übersetzt von F. W. Mote).
- Mei Yi-pao Mo-tse, the Neglected Rival of Confucius. London: Arthur Probsthain, 1934.
- Ralf Moritz, Die Philosophie im alten China. ISBN 3-326-00466-4.
- Peter J. Opitz, Der Weg des Himmels: Zum Geist und zur Gestalt des politischen Denkens im klassischen China. Fink, München 1999, ISBN 3-7705-3380-1.
- Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer, (ed.), Mo Ti: Von der Liebe des Himmels zu den Menschen. Diederichs, München 1992, ISBN 3-424-01029-4.
- —. Mo Ti: Solidarität und allgemeine Menschenliebe. Diederichs, Düsseldorf/Köln 1975, ISBN 3-424-00509-6.
- —. Mo Ti: Gegen den Krieg. Diederichs, Düsseldorf/Köln 1975, ISBN 3-424-00509-6.
- Aronovich Rubin Vitaly, Individual and State in Ancient China: Essays on Four Chinese Philosophers. Columbia University Press, New York 1976, ISBN 0-231-04064-4.
- Robin D. S. Yates, "The Mohists on Warfare: Technology, Technique, and Justification", Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 47, mo. 3 (1980, Thematic Issue S), pp. 549–603.
- Ian Johnston, The Mozi: A Complete Translation, New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
External links
- Mozi, biographical profile, including quotes and further resources, at Utilitarianism.net
- Mozi at Curlie
- Full text of the Mozi (Chinese with English translation based on Mei's translation.)
- Mozi in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy