Mohism

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Mohism or Moism was a Chinese philosophy developed by the followers of Mozi (also referred to as Mo Di; 470–c.391 BC). It evolved at about the same time as Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism and was one of the four main philosophic schools during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (from 770 to 221 BC). Although it disappeared during the Qin dynasty, Mohism was at one time seen as a major rival to Confucianism.

Mohism rested on the idea of impartial care: Mozi believed that "everyone is equal before heaven", and that people should seek to imitate heaven by engaging in the practice of impartial and collective love. His epistemology can be regarded as primitive materialist empiricism; he believed that our cognition ought to be based on our perceptions – our sensory experiences, such as sight and hearing – instead of imagination or internal logic, elements founded on our capacity for abstraction. Mozi's philosophy was described in the book Mozi, compiled by his students from his lecture notes.

Important beliefs

Morality

In Mohism, morality is defined not by tradition, but rather by a constant moral guide that parallels utilitarianism. Tradition is inconsistent, and human beings need an extra-traditional guide to identify which traditions are acceptable. The moral guide must then promote and encourage social behaviors that maximize general utility. He also believed in the 2nd law and was in conflict with the ancients.

Impartiality

Mohism promotes a philosophy of impartial care - equal care for all individuals. This impartial care is what makes man good according to him. This advocacy of impartiality was a target of attack by other schools, most notably the Confucians who believed that while love should be unconditional it should not be indiscriminate. For example, children should hold a greater love for their parents than for random strangers.

Society

Mozi posited that the existence of society as an organized organism reduces the wastes and inefficiencies found in the natural state. Conflicts are born from the absence of moral uniformity found in man in his natural state, i.e. the absence of the definition of what is right (是 shì) and what is wrong (非 fēi). We must therefore choose leaders who will surround themselves with righteous followers, who will then create the hierarchy that harmonizes Shi/Fei. In that sense, the government becomes an authoritative and automated tool. Mohism is opposed to any form of aggression, especially war between states. It is, however, permissible for a state to use force in legitimate defense. Mohist ideology has inspired some modern pacifists.

Politics

In addition to creating a school of philosophy, the Mohists formed a highly structured political organization that tried to realize the ideas they preached. This political structure consisted of a network of local units in all the major kingdoms of China at the time, made up of elements from both the scholarly and working classes. Each unit was led by a juzi (literally, "chisel"—an image from craft making). Within the unit, a frugal and ascetic lifestyle was enforced. Each juzi would appoint his own successor. However, there was no central authority beyond the writings of Mozi. Mohists developed the sciences of fortification and statecraft, and wrote treatises on government, ranging in topic from efficient agricultural production to the laws of inheritance. They were often hired by the many warring kingdoms as advisors to the state. In this way they were similar to the other wandering philosophers and knights-errants of the period. They were distinguished from others, however, in that they hired out their services not only for gain, but also in order to realize their own ethical ideals.

Supernatural forces

Mohists believed in the heavens as a divine force (Tian), which knew the immoral acts of man and punished them, encouraging moral righteousness. Their belief in spirits was at best vague, but they were wary of some of the more atheistic thinkers of the time, such as Han Fei Zi. They polemicized against elaborate funeral ceremonies and other wasteful rituals, and called for austerity in life and in governance. Mohists also saw music and dance as forms of extravagance, which wasted resources that could be used to feed, house and protect the people.

San-biao

Mozi believed he had discovered san-biao (also known as the Three Gnomons) or the three criteria of assessing the correctness of views. These criteria were:

Assessing them basing on history
Assessing them basing on the experiences of common, average people
Assessing their usefulness by applying them in law or politics

The Logicians

One of the schools of Mohism that has received some attention is the Logicians school, which was interested in resolving logical puzzles. The main philosopher of this school was a late Mohist, Gongsun Long. Not much survives from the writings of this school, since problems of logic were deemed trivial by most subsequent Chinese philosophers. Historians such as Joseph Needham have seen this group as developing a precursor philosophy of science that was never fully developed, but others believe that recognizing the Logicians as proto-scientists reveals too much of a modern bias.

Mathematics

The Mohist canon of the Mo Jing described various aspects of many fields associated with physical science, and provided a small wealth of information on mathematics as well. It provided an 'atomic' definition of the geometric point, stating that a line is separated into parts, and the part which has no remaining parts (i.e. cannot be divided into smaller parts) and thus forms the extreme end of a line is a point. Much like Euclid's first and third definitions and Plato's 'beginning of a line', the Mo Jing stated that "a point may stand at the end (of a line) or at its beginning like a head-presentation in childbirth. (As to its invisibility) there is nothing similar to it." Similar to the atomists of Democritus, the Mo Jing stated that a point is the smallest unit, and cannot be cut in half, since 'nothing' cannot be halved. It stated that two lines of equal length will always finish at the same place, while providing definitions for the comparison of lengths and for parallels, along with principles of space and bounded space. It also described the fact that planes without the quality of thickness cannot be piled up since they cannot mutually touch. The book provided definitions for circumference, diameter, and radius, along with the definition of volume.

Notes

References

Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.
Ivanhoe, Philip J., and Brian W. Van Norden, Eds. Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2001.

External links

Mohism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
Mohist Canons, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
The Ethical and Political Works of Motse (Mozi)
Full text of the Mozi

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Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 11:52:10 PDT (GMT -0700)
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