Everything about Mozi totally explained
Mozi (
Lat. as
Micius, ca.
470 BCE–ca.
391 BCE), was a
philosopher who lived in
China during the
Hundred Schools of Thought period (early
Warring States Period). He founded the school of
Mohism and argued strongly against
Confucianism and
Daoism. During the
Warring States Period,
Mohism was actively developed and practiced in many states, but fell out of favour when the
legalist Qin Dynasty came to power. During that period many Mohist classics were ruined when
Qin Shihuang carried out the
burning of books and burying of scholars. The importance of
Mohism further declined when
Confucianism became the dominant school of thought during the
Han Dynasty, disappearing by the middle of the
Western Han Dynasty .
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, although for a time he served as a minister in the
State of Song. Like 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.
Mozi was a master engineer and craftsman, designing everything from mechanical birds to wheeled, mobile "cloud ladders" used to besiege city walls (see
Lu Ban). Though he didn't hold a high official position, Mozi was sought out by various rulers as an expert on
fortification, and managed to attract a large following during his lifetime which rivaled that of Confucius. His followers – mostly technicians and craftspeople – were organized in a disciplined order that studied both Mozi's philosophical and technical writings.
His pacifism led Mozi to travel from one crisis zone to another through the ravaged landscape of the Warring States, trying to dissuade rulers from their plans of conquest. According to the chapter "Gongshu" in
Mozi, he once walked for ten days to the state of Chu in order to forestall an attack on the state of Song. At the Chu court, Mozi engaged in simulated war games with Gongshu Ban, the chief military strategist of Chu, and overturned each one of his stratagems. When Gongshu Ban threatened him with death, Mozi informed the king that his disciples had already trained the soldiers of Song on his fortification methods, so it would be useless to kill him. The Chu king was forced to call off the war. On the way back, however, the soldiers of Song, not recognizing him, wouldn't allow Mozi to enter their city, and he'd to spend a night freezing in the rain.
Though Mozi's school faded into obscurity after the Warring States period, he was studied again two millennia after his death: Both the
Republican revolutionaries of
1911 and the
Communists saw in him a surprisingly modern thinker who was stifled early in Chinese history.
Philosophy
In contrast to those of Confucius, Mozi's moral teachings emphasized self-reflection and authenticity rather than obedience to ritual. He observed that we often learn about the world through adversity ("Embracing Scholars" in
Mozi). By reflecting on one's own successes and failures, one attains true self-knowledge rather than mere conformity with ritual. ("Refining Self" in
Mozi) Mozi exhorted the gentleman to lead a life of asceticism and self-restraint, renouncing both material and spiritual extravagance.
Like Confucius, Mozi idealized the
Xia Dynasty and the ancients of
Chinese mythology, but he criticized the Confucian belief that modern life should be patterned on the ways of the ancients. After all, he pointed out, what we think of as "ancient" was actually innovative in its time, and thus shouldn't be used to hinder present-day innovation ("Against Confucianism, Part 3" in the
Mozi). Though Mozi didn't believe that history necessarily progresses, as did
Han Fei Zi, he shared the latter's critique of
fate (Ming). Mozi believed that people were capable of changing their circumstances and directing their own lives. They could do this by applying their senses to observing the world, judging objects and events by their causes, their function, and their historical basis. ("Against Fate, Part 3") This was the "three-prong method" Mozi recommended for testing the truth or falsehood of statements. His students later expanded on this to form the
School of Logic.
Mozi tended to evaluate actions based on whether they provide
benefit (利 →
lì) 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. Similar to the Western
utilitarians, Mozi thought that actions should be measured by the way they contribute to the "greatest good of the greatest number." With this criterion Mozi denounced things as diverse as offensive
warfare, expensive funerals, and even
music and
dancing which he saw as serving no useful purpose. But to be fair, Mozi didn't reject to music in principle--"It's not that I don't like the sound of the drum" ("Against Music")--but 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.
Mozi tried to replace what he considered to be the long-entrenched Chinese over-attachment to family and
clan structures with the concept of 兼愛 →
jian ai which can be translated as "impartial caring" or "universal love". In this, he argued directly against Confucians who had argued that it was natural and correct for people to care about different people in different degrees. Mozi, by contrast, argued people in principle should care for all people equally, a notion that philosophers in other schools found absurd, as they interpreted this notion as implying no special amount of care or duty towards one's parents and family. Overlooked by those critics, however, is a passage in the chapter on "Self-Cultivation" which states "When people near-by are not befriended, there's no use endeavoring to attract those at a distance." This point is also precisely articulated by a Mohist in a debate with Mencius (in the Mencius) where the Mohist argues in relation to carrying out universal love, that "We begin with what is near." Also, in the first chapter of the writings of Mozi on universal love, Mozi argues that the best way of being filial to one’s parents is to be filial to the parents of others. The foundational principle is that benevolence, as well as malevolence, is requited, and that one
will be treated by others as one treats others. Mozi quotes a popular passage from the
Book of Odes (
Shi Jing) to bring home this point: "When one throws to me a peach, I return to him a plum."
One’s parents will be treated by others as one treats the parents of others. In pursuing this line of argument, Mozi was directly appealing to the idea of
enlightened self-interest in social relations. Also of note is that Mozi differentiated between "intention" and "actuality" thereby placing a central importance on the will to love even though in practice it may very well be impossible to bring benefit to everyone.
In addition, Mozi argued that benevolence comes to human beings “as naturally as fire turns upward or water turns downward”, provided that persons in position of authority illustrate benevolence in their own lives. Furthermore, Mozi’s basic argument concerning universal love asserts that universal love is supremely practical against those who object that it sounds good but can't be put into practice.
Mozi also held a belief in the power of ghosts and spirits, although he's often thought to have only worshipped them pragmatically. In fact, in his discussion on ghosts and spirits, he remarks that even if they didn't exist, communal gatherings for the sake of making sacrificial offering would play a role in strengthing social bonds. Furthermore, for the will of
heaven (天 →
tiān) was that people should love one another, and that mutual love by all would bring benefit to all. Therefore, it was in everyone's interest that they love others "as they love themselves." Heaven should be respected because failing to do so would subject one to punishment. For Mozi,
heaven wasn't the amoral, mystical Nature of the
Taoists. Rather, it was a benevolent, moral force that rewarded the good and punished the evil, similar to the
Christian/
Islamic idea of
God. Thus he writes that "Bo-ai is the way of heaven", since "heaven nourishes and sustains all life without regard to status". ("Laws and Customs" in
Mozi) Mozi's ideal of government, which advocated a meritocracy based on talent rather than background, also followed his idea of
heaven.
Works and Influence
The
Mozi is the name of the philosophical text compiled by Mohists from Mozi's thought. Because Mohism disappeared as a living tradition from China, its texts were not well maintained, and many chapters are missing or in a corrupted state. For example, of the three chapters "Against Confucianism", only one remains.
Mohism was suppressed under the
Qin and died out completely under the
Han, who made Confucianism the official doctrine. However, many of its ideas were dissolved into the mainstream of Chinese thought and re-examined in modern times.
Sun Yat-Sen used "bo-ai" as one of the foundations for his idea of Chinese democracy. More recently, Chinese scholars under Communism have tried to rehabilitate Mozi as a "philosopher of the people", highlighting his rational-empirical approach to the world as well as his "proletarian" background.
From a modern point of view, Mozi's philosophy was at once more advanced and less so than that of Confucius. His concept of "jian-ai" (兼爱) embraced a broader idea of human community than the Confucians, but he's less tolerant than Confucius in his condemnation of all that isn't directly "useful", neglecting the humanizing functions of art and music.
Zhuangzi, who criticized both the Confucians and the Mohists, had this in mind in his parables on the "uselessness of the useful". Of course, this insistence on usefulness comes from a time when war and famine were widespread and could well have made all cultural activities look frivolous.
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's no opposing force ... the motion will never stop. This is as true as that an ox isn't a horse.' which, he claims, is a precursor to .
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. Again, here they made important innovations.
Further Information
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