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?

Key passages

     Mencius 3B9 (“Without a Father”)

。。。楊朱、墨翟之言盈天下。天下之言，不歸楊，則歸墨。楊氏為我，是無君也；墨氏兼愛，是無父也。無父無君，是禽獸也。

…the doctrines of Yang Zhu and Mozi fill the world. If a doctrine does not lean toward Yang Zhu, then it leans toward Mozi. Yang Zhu is ‘for oneself.’ This is to not have a ruler. Mozi is ‘impartial caring.’ This is to not have a father. To not have a father and to not have a ruler is to be an animal.

(Mengzi 3B9, Van Norden’s translation)

     Mencius 3A5 (“Two Roots” or “Two Sources”)

「。。。吾聞夷子墨者。墨之治喪也，以薄為其道也。夷子思以易天下，豈以為非是而不貴也？然而夷子葬其親厚，則是以所賤事親也。」

[Yi Zhi was trying to pay a visit to Mencius and Mencius remarked to his student:] “…I have heard that Yi Zhi is a Mohist. In dealing with funerals, Mozi took frugality as the Way. Yi Zhi surely does not long to change the world to something that he thinks is wrong and base! Nonetheless, Yi Zhi buried his parents lavishly, so he served his parents by means of what he demeans.”

徐子以告夷子。夷子曰：「儒者之道，古之人『若保赤子』，此言何謂也？之則以為愛無差等，施由親始。」

[Mencius’s student] told Yi Zhi this. Yi Zhi said, “According to the Way of the Confucians, the ancients treated the people ‘like caring for a baby.’ What does this saying mean? I take it to mean that care is without distinctions, but it is bestowed beginning with one’s parents.”

徐子以告孟子。孟子曰：「夫夷子，信以為人之親其兄之子為若親其鄰之赤子乎？彼有取爾也。赤子匍匐將入井，非赤子之罪也。且天之生物也，使之一本，而夷子二本故也。」

[The student] told Mencius this. Mencius said, “Does Yi Zhi truly hold that one’s affection for one’s own nephew is like one’s affection for a neighbor’s baby? The passage from the Documents is only using that as a metaphor. When a crawling baby is about to fall into a well, it is not the baby’s fault. In other words, sages treat the people like infants only in the respect that the people need care and guidance in order to avoid hurting themselves or engaging in wrongdoing. Furthermore, Heaven, in giving birth to things, causes them to have one source, but Yi Zhi gives them two sources.

(Mengzi 3A5, Van Norden’s translation)

Sources and phrases mentioned

• Episode 27: Mohism—Two arguments for impartial caring (previous episode)
• Mencius (Mengzi 孟子, 4th century BCE)
• Peter Singer, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”
• utilitarianism (a type of consequentialism)
• Famines in Ethiopia, 1983-1985
• Supererogatory acts (good acts that aren’t strictly required, because they go beyond the call of duty)
• Jian’ai 兼愛 “impartial caring”
• Chris Fraser, The Philosophy of the Mòzǐ, see especially chapter 6 on jian’ai (“inclusive care”)
• li 利 (“benefit”)
• Yangists (school of thought traditionally traced to Yang Zhu 楊朱 in the Warring States period)
• Two interpretations of Mencius’s “without a father” claim:
  • The lifestyle/behavior interpretation
  • The attitude interpretation
• “success concept”
• Mencius 2A6 (another passage that suggests that it’s important for humans to retain their humanity)
• qinshou 禽獸 (animal, beast)
• Dai Zhen 戴震 (1724-1777)
• lei 類 (type, natural kind)
• “Proxy debate” (Justin’s phrase)
• Yi Zhi 夷之, a Mohist philosopher who debates a modified version of “impartial caring” with Mencius
• The demandingness objection to consequentialism
• Shangshu 尚書 or Shujing 書經 (the Book of Documents)
• “two sources” or “two roots” (er ben 二本)
• David Nivison, “Two Roots or One?“
• human nature ([ren]xing [人]性), probably one of Yi Zhi’s “sources”
• doctrine (yan 言), possibly Yi Zhi’s second “source”
• Joshua Greene, “The Secret Joke of Kant’s Soul“
• Elizabeth Anscombe, “Mr. Truman’s Degree“
• a “wholeheartedness criterion” for ethics (see Tiwald, “Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism” or Angle and Tiwald, Neo-Confucianism, chapter 4)
• Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200), and his interpretation of the “two sources” criticism
• Wang Yangming 王陽明 (1472-1529)
• Mengzi (Mencius) 6A1
• Michael Stocker, “The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories”