defenses. 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. By reflecting on one's own successes and failures, one attains true
self-knowledge rather than mere conformity to ritual. Mozi exhorted people 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 also criticized the Confucian belief that modern life should be patterned on the ways of the ancients. Mozi argued that what is thought of as "ancient" was actually innovative in its time, and thus should not be used to hinder present-day
innovation. Though Mozi did not believe that history necessarily progresses, as did
Han Fei Zi, he shared the latter's critique of
fate (,
mìng). Mozi believed that people were capable of changing their circumstances and directing their own lives, which could be achieved by applying one's senses to observing the world, as well as judging objects and events by their causes, functions, and historical bases. This was the "three-prong method" Mozi recommended for testing the truth or falsehood of statements. His students later expanded upon this theory to form the
School of Names. Mozi tried to replace what he considered to be the long-entrenched Chinese ideal of strong attachments to family and
clan structures with the concept of "impartial caring" or "universal love" (,
jiān ài). He argued directly against Confucians, who had philosophized that it was natural and correct for people to care about different people in different degrees. Mozi, in contrast, argued that 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, 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." This point was also precisely articulated by a Mohist in a debate with Mencius (in the
Mengzi), where the Mohist argued, in relation to carrying out universal love, that "we begin with what is near." Also, in the first chapter in the
Mozi on the topic of universal love, Mozi argued that the best way of being filial to one's parents is to be filial to the parents of others. The foundational principle was therefore that benevolence, as well as malevolence, is requited, and that one would be treated by others as one treats others. Mozi quoted a popular passage from the
Book of Odes 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. Mozi also differentiated between "intention" and "actuality", thereby placing a central importance on the will to love, even though in practice it might 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 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, or in an
Intercessory manner. 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
Heaven (,
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 would love others "as they love themselves". According to Mozi, Heaven should be respected because failing to do so would subject one to punishment. For Mozi, Heaven was not the "amoral", mystical nature of the
Daoists; rather, it was a benevolent, moral force that rewarded good and punished evil. Similar in some ways to the beliefs systems found in the
Abrahamic religions, Mozi believed that all living things lived in a realm ruled by Heaven, and Heaven possessed a will which was independent from, and higher than, the will of people. Thus Mozi wrote that "Universal love is the Way of Heaven", since "Heaven nourishes and sustains all life without regard to status." Mozi's ideal of government, which advocated a meritocracy based on talent rather than background, also followed his idea of Heaven. Mozi opposed the Confucian idea of "Destiny", promoting instead an idea of "anti-fatalism" (). 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 was one of several critics of Mozi, in part because Mozi's philosophy was believed to lack
filial piety. Mohist
ethics is considered a form of
consequentialism, according to which the morality of an action, statement, teaching, policy, judgment, and so on, is determined by the consequences that it brings about. In particular, Mozi thought that actions should be measured by the way they contribute to the benefit of all members of society. With this criterion, Mozi denounced things as diverse as offensive warfare, expensive funerals, and even music and dance, which he saw as serving no useful purpose. According to the
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Mohist consequentialism, dating back to the 5th century BCE, is the "world's earliest form of consequentialism, a remarkably sophisticated version based on a plurality of intrinsic goods taken as constitutive of human welfare". Consequentialist theories vary over exactly which consequences are relevant, though they all share the same basic outcome-based structure. With Mozi's overwhelming focus on "benefit" (,
li) among other ends, and his explicit focus on making moral evaluations in light of them, Mozi's ethics indeed shares this consequentalist structure. For interpreting Mozi, however, there is some debate over how to understand the consequences Mozi seems most concerned with, and therefore over which kind of consequentialism to ascribe to him. Some believe the best descriptor to be state consequentialism. Such state-related goods include social order, material wealth, and population growth. By centering his ethical theory around the promotion of such state-related ends, Mozi shows himself to be a state consequentialist. Unlike
hedonistic utilitarianism, which views pleasure as a moral good, "the basic goods in Mohist consequentialist thinking are ... order, material wealth, and increase in population". During Mozi's era, war and famines were common, and population growth was seen as a moral necessity for a harmonious society. Mozi opposed wars because they wasted life and resources while interfering with the fair distribution of wealth, yet he recognized the need for strong urban defenses so he could maintain the harmonious society he desired. The "material wealth" of Mohist consequentialism refers to
basic needs like shelter and clothing, and the "order" of Mohist consequentialism refers to Mozi's stance against warfare and violence, which he viewed as pointless and a threat to social stability. 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: • 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 ==