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The Mozi: The Ethical and Political Works of Mo Tzŭ
"Among all Chinese philosophers, he comes closest to the Christian teachings, for he alone taught universal love as the basis of society and of peace, and showed that Heaven loved the people equally... He enunciated the clearest teachings "against offensive wars," and even developed in great detail the technique of defensive warfare. He also developed a system of logical method... But what is more, Motse's teachings were a stern call to action... Mencius referred to him as one who "would wear his head and his heels off to benefit the world." He taught and practised altruism, frugality and the hard life... His influence grew so great that for two centuries after Confucius, the Mohists became the rivals of Confucianists... Why the Mohist School's influence suddenly stopped completely remains a matter of speculation."– Lin Yutang, 1942Mo Tzŭ (4th century BC) was an influent sage of Ancient China, among other schools of thought, he made the greatest opposition to Taoism and Confucianism, the two main schools of thought at that time. Mohism's influence sudden fall brought some consequences to what we know of his many chapters are lost, thus, although we can read most of his work, we are not able to read his complete work.This edition of Y. P. Mei's translation brings us the following the LearnedSelf-cultivationOn DyeingThe seven causes of anxietyIndulgence in ExcessExaltation of the Virtuous I / II / IIIIdentification with the Superior I / II / IIIUniversal Love I / II / IIICondemnation of Offensive War I / II / IIICondemnation of Offensive War IICondemnation of Offensive War IIIEconomy of Expenditures I / IISimplicity in Funerals IIIWill of Heaven I / II / IIIOn Ghosts IIICondemnation of Music I /Anti-Fatalism I / II / IIIAnti-Confucianism IIGeng ZhuEsteem for RighteousnessGong MengLu's QuestionGong Shu
146 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 30, 2021
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June 21, 2024
The Mozi is a 2000 year old text of ancient China. It’s a canonical text of Mohist thought and it is a particularly interesting window on the issues which rival schools were disputing at that time.
One of the disagreements between Confucianism and Mohism was over whether love should be indiscriminate or not. Confucius had a hierarchical view which stressed levels of love, broadly following family and clan hierarchies. Mozi thought that humans should love each other equally, and that doing so was the basis for justice and prosperity in a nation. Book 4 of this treatise gives us the insights into that fascinating debate and Mozi’s reasoning and arguments for his view.
Otherwise, the book is very much of its era, focusing upon a vision of prosperity and justice which is appropriate to a kingdom of states which are constantly slipping from friendship to conflict in the warring states period.
Mozi seems to have believed that rulers should exemplify virtues and that leadership success is directly proportionate to their exercise of virtue. There is some obvious truth in the fact that the exercise of self-control which enables virtuous behaviour is a useful skill for a leader. But must kings be philosophers and saints? That was a set of issues which Plato was exploring in Greece at a broadly similar time that Mozi was exploring it in China.
One of the interesting things about this book is the insights that it gives into daily life. For example there are off the cuff comments about the wisdom of different types of clothing. ‘In winter the underwear shall be made of spun-silk so as to be light and warm. In summer it shall be made of coarse flax so as to be light and cool’ (10%).
In a similar way Mozi’s discussion of ghosts is revealing, because it encourages him to talk about how we can know which opinions are true. Ultimately his views are very simplistic, and it seems to come down to the fact of whether “many” people agree. If lots of people report seeing ghosts then ghosts exist. We know now to be cautious, even about group claims, but Mozi seems to have never had cause to think about their reliability.
Some of Mozi’s views are less easily understood. He seems to have also been very opposed to music. He explains that instruments are useless and that listening to music is just a distraction (67%), therefore wise people should have nothing to do with music. Is that really a considered opinion of music, or does it tell us more about Mozi’s own limited experiences of music?
Overall this is a fascinating document which is well worth reading. This particular edition of the text just presents the raw text. That’s a shame as the names of people crop up in the text and a few footnotes and explanations would be very helpful for readers.
One of the disagreements between Confucianism and Mohism was over whether love should be indiscriminate or not. Confucius had a hierarchical view which stressed levels of love, broadly following family and clan hierarchies. Mozi thought that humans should love each other equally, and that doing so was the basis for justice and prosperity in a nation. Book 4 of this treatise gives us the insights into that fascinating debate and Mozi’s reasoning and arguments for his view.
Otherwise, the book is very much of its era, focusing upon a vision of prosperity and justice which is appropriate to a kingdom of states which are constantly slipping from friendship to conflict in the warring states period.
Mozi seems to have believed that rulers should exemplify virtues and that leadership success is directly proportionate to their exercise of virtue. There is some obvious truth in the fact that the exercise of self-control which enables virtuous behaviour is a useful skill for a leader. But must kings be philosophers and saints? That was a set of issues which Plato was exploring in Greece at a broadly similar time that Mozi was exploring it in China.
One of the interesting things about this book is the insights that it gives into daily life. For example there are off the cuff comments about the wisdom of different types of clothing. ‘In winter the underwear shall be made of spun-silk so as to be light and warm. In summer it shall be made of coarse flax so as to be light and cool’ (10%).
In a similar way Mozi’s discussion of ghosts is revealing, because it encourages him to talk about how we can know which opinions are true. Ultimately his views are very simplistic, and it seems to come down to the fact of whether “many” people agree. If lots of people report seeing ghosts then ghosts exist. We know now to be cautious, even about group claims, but Mozi seems to have never had cause to think about their reliability.
Some of Mozi’s views are less easily understood. He seems to have also been very opposed to music. He explains that instruments are useless and that listening to music is just a distraction (67%), therefore wise people should have nothing to do with music. Is that really a considered opinion of music, or does it tell us more about Mozi’s own limited experiences of music?
Overall this is a fascinating document which is well worth reading. This particular edition of the text just presents the raw text. That’s a shame as the names of people crop up in the text and a few footnotes and explanations would be very helpful for readers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review