Category Archives: Mohism

Episode 31 of “This Is the Way”: The Great Music Debate — Mohists vs. Classical Confucians

Is music an extravagance in a world of scarcity or a necessary expression of our humanity? We explore Mozi’s consequentialist condemnation of elaborate musical performances and Xunzi’s argument that music, proper guided, plays a critical role in taming unruly emotions and building social bonds. Beneath the disagreement lies a profound clash over basic human goods, how emotion should be shaped, and whether the arts are dispensable or essential to human flourishing. Continue reading →

Episode 28 of “This Is the Way”: Mencius Against Mohist Impartialism

In this episode, we continue our exploration of Mohist impartial caring (jian’ai 兼愛) by examining two of Mencius’s most influential objections: (1) the “Without a Father” Argument (Mencius 3B9) and (2) the “Two Roots” Argument (Mencius 3A5).

Along the way, we take up some important questions: Should moral values be impartial even between family members and total strangers? Is radical impartiality incompatible with being human? And should ethics be grounded in (rational) doctrine or in human nature? Continue reading →

Episode 27 of “This Is the Way”: Mohism—Two Arguments for Impartial Caring

This episode examines the Mohist doctrine of impartial caring (jian’ai 兼愛) via two arguments in the Mozi — the Caretaker Argument and the Filial Piety Argument. We examine the arguments’ logical structure, the psychological plausibility, and practical applicability. We also discuss the importance of reciprocity and competing interpretations of “impartial caring,” from the less demanding don’t-harm-anyone interpretation to stronger equal-concern readings, setting them against the Confucian model of care-with-distinctions (graded love). We also consider what genuine filiality requires and how different moral frameworks shape familial and social practices. Continue reading →

New Book: Berger, Introducing Chinese Philosophy

Douglas L. Berger, Introducing Chinese Philosophy: From the Warring States to the 21st Century has been recently published through Routledge. The book presents an introductory survey of the major themes, thinkers and texts, philosophical genres and profound insights of the Chinese philosophical tradition. Its coverage ranges from the foundational history of Chinese thought in the 6th–5th centuries BCE up to the present day.

To access the book for further reading, please visit this site.

Presentation Summaries of the 7th Rutgers Workshop on Chinese Philosophy

The Rutgers University Department of Philosophy has produced summaries of the presentations and discussion from the 7th Rutgers Workshop on Chinese Philosophy (RWCP), “An International Conference on Moral Conflict in Early Chinese Philosophy.” The summaries were produced by the workshop’s rapporteurs, Frederick Choo and Esther Goh, who are doctoral candidates at Rutgers University Department of Philosophy. Please find the summaries in this document.

Episode 17 of “This Is the Way”: The Mohist State of Nature Argument

In this episode, we delve into the Mozi’s “state of nature argument,” which includes a vision of human life before political order and an explanation of how humans left that state. The Mohists were history’s first consequentialists and an important and influential classical school of thought. Were they right about the foundations of political society and government? Join us as we examine the Mohists’ most influential moral and political ideas and explore how moral disagreement and self-interest shape political order. Continue reading →

Episode 13 of “This Is the Way”: Family Before State

Confucianism is well known for prioritizing familial responsibilities and love over other competing demands such as public interest or duties to the state. In this episode we explore two of the best known passages from early Confucianism that some modern scholars believe makes Confucianism morally problematic. The first passage we discuss is the “Upright Gong” passage, Analects 13.18, which has Confucius advocating mutual “covering up” of crimes by fathers and sons. The second passage is Mengzi 7A35, in which Mengzi is asked what the sage king Shun would have done if his father had committed murder. Mengzi’s answer, briefly stated, is that Shun would have given up his throne and would have fled with his father to care for him for the rest of his life.

Through these passages we explore questions about justice, consequentialist ethics, and the nature of moral dilemmas (and Confucian ways of handling them). Continue reading →

The Mojing: New Translation of Sun Zhongyuan’s Research on Mohist Logic

Brill has recently published the English translation of Sun Zhongyuan’s work on Mohist Logic, The Mojing. In this book, Sun investigates the historical contributions made to the research of logic in China, its modern value, its significance to the world, and how the form of logic developed in China is united with those from the rest of the world, focusing on Mohist (mojia 墨家) logic in particular as its core concern. The book is accessible here.