Founder of the Mohist school, the most organized and practically spirited philosopher of the early Warring States period. Of artisan origin, he championed "universal love and mutual benefit" from the standpoint of commoners, advocated "non-aggression" against wars of conquest, and promoted "frugality" and "moderate funerals" to critique aristocratic extravagance. He proposed the "Three Standards of Judgment" as a rational criterion for testing knowledge and propositions, pioneering China's earliest tradition of logic. The Mohists were renowned for their strict organizational discipline and chivalric spirit of self-sacrifice; alongside Confucianism, they were known as the "two prominent schools" of the Warring States era, with ideas containing the seeds of early utilitarianism and scientific rationalism.
Personal name Di, a native of the state of Lu (some say Song) in the early Warring States period, born into a craftsman family. He was a master woodworker, on par with Gongshu Ban (Lu Ban). Living in an era of intensifying wars of annexation, he witnessed great powers bullying the weak and small states suffering untold calamities. Resolving to save the world through universal love and non-aggression, he once led his disciples on a ten-day-and-night march from Qi to the Chu capital of Ying, where he used brilliant defensive simulations and moral persuasion to successfully prevent Chu from attacking Song—the legendary righteous deed of "stopping Chu's attack on Song." He "wore away his head and ankles for the benefit of all under heaven," constantly traveling among the states to defend the weak and oppose aggression. His disciples, several hundred strong, were willing to face boiling water and fire without turning their heels—the most ascetic and knight-errant academic community in Chinese history. In his later years, Mohism split into three factions and gradually declined, but its spirit of universal love and its tradition of logic and science remained unique in the history of Chinese thought.
Ontologically, Mozi takes "the Will of Heaven" as the highest criterion—heaven has will and consciousness, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked, providing the metaphysical ground for universal love. In ethics, he advocates "universal love and mutual benefit," rejecting the Confucian graded love in favor of treating others as oneself, with no distinction of near and far, noble and base. Epistemologically, he proposes the "Three Tests" as criteria for true knowledge: the test of ancient kings' precedents (historical experience), the test of the people's senses (collective empirical evidence), and the test of practical benefit to state and people (pragmatic utility). In political philosophy, he advocates "elevating the worthy" to break hereditary privilege and "conforming upward" to unify standards. The Mohists also made pioneering explorations in optics, mechanics, and geometry.
"Universal love and mutual benefit. — Mozi, "Universal Love, Part II""
Mohist "undifferentiated love" is noble, but given humanity's natural inclination toward gradations of intimacy, is it an unattainable fantasy or the call of a higher civilization?
Mozi's "mutual benefit" takes reciprocity as the basis of morality, while Bentham takes "the greatest happiness for the greatest number" as the principle. Both measure morality by utility—a cross-temporal resonance of utilitarianism—yet Mozi's universal love is grounded in the Will of Heaven, while Bentham's utility is grounded in human nature.
Is the foundation of morality utility calculation or universal compassion? Mozi unites love with benefit—can this resolve the justice problems that Bentham's utilitarianism faces?
Mozi advocates undifferentiated universal love, while Jesus preaches loving others as oneself. Both break through the barriers of blood and tribe to make universal love the highest virtue, yet both were met with cold reception and even persecution in the real world.
Is undifferentiated universal love a transcendence of natural human partiality or a violation of it? Why do the ideals of Mozi and Jesus always encounter the greatest resistance in reality?
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