brief introduction
Mozi is the only farmer-born philosopher and influential figure in history, and the founder of mohists. The main contents include universal love, non-aggression, Shang Xian, Shang Tong, frugality, funeral, non-happiness, ambition, ghosts and fate, with universal love as the core and frugality and Shang Xian as the fulcrum. Mozi founded a Mozi inkstone with outstanding achievements in geometry, physics and optics in the pre-Qin period.
A whole set of scientific theories. Mozi's research on physics involves many branches such as mechanics, optics and acoustics, and gives many definitions of physical concepts, makes many important discoveries and summarizes some important physical theorems. Mohism had a great influence at that time, and it was also called "outstanding learning" with Confucianism. After Mozi's death, Mohism was divided into three schools: Xiangri Chi Mo, Xiangfumo and Denglingmo. Mozi was proficient in handcraft skills, but he was better at guarding the city than the skilled bus class (commonly known as Luban) at that time. It is said that he is better at guarding the city than the bus class. He calls himself "my man" and is called "the man in cloth". According to historical records, Mozi worked as a doctor in the Song Dynasty. Mozi is probably a taxi with considerable cultural knowledge and close to small producers of workers and peasants. He boasts that "nothing is difficult above the monarch and nothing is difficult under the agriculture", and he is a scholar who sympathizes with the "people of peasants and workers". Mozi once studied the skills of Confucius, praised Yao and Shun Dayu, and studied Confucian classics such as poetry, calligraphy and the Spring and Autumn Period. But later, I gradually got tired of the complicated rites and music of Confucianism, and finally gave up Confucianism and formed my own Mohist school. Mohism is a school that advocates benevolent governance. Before the rise of the Legalist school representing the interests of the new landlord class, Mohism was the most university school opposed to Confucianism in the pre-Qin period and tied for "outstanding learning". "Han Feizi's outstanding learning" records: "The outstanding learning in the world is also Confucianism and Mohism. Wherever Confucianism goes, Kong Qiu also; Wherever the ink goes, Mo Zhai also. " Mozi's life activities are mainly in two aspects: one is to recruit disciples and actively publicize his own theory, and the other is to spare no effort to oppose the merger war. Mohism is a well-organized and disciplined group. The supreme leader is called "Giant" and all Mohist members are called "Mohist". They must obey the guidance and command of giants, and they can "go through fire and water and never leave", that is to say, they will never retreat until they die. In order to publicize his own ideas, Mozi accepted disciples widely, and the number of disciples generally reached hundreds, forming a huge Mohist team. Mozi traveled widely, from Qi and Lu in the east, Zheng and Wei in the north and Chu and Yue in the south. Mozi was a native of Lu (now Tengzhou, Shandong) all his life, and some people said that he was a native of Qi, a native of Song and even an Arab. I have been to Song, Wei, Chu, Qi and other countries, and I plan to go to Yue, but I have never made it. His main deeds are: stopping Luyang from attacking Zheng, and persuading Chu to defeat and attack Song. King Hui of Chu planned to make Mozi a bookstore, and King Yue also planned to make Mozi a land of five hundred Li in the Kingdom of Wu, but Mozi did not accept it. Song Zhaogong was a doctor in the Song Dynasty. But later, the status declined, close to the workers. The book Mozi is mostly a record of Mozi's words and deeds recorded by his disciples or re-disciples. It is the direct material to study Mozi's thought, among which six works, such as Jing Shang, Jing Xia, Jing Shang, Jing Shang and Da Qi Xiao Qi, are the works of later Mohists. Some people think that classics and classics are Mozi's works. In the Book of Mohist Lutz, Mo Zhai put forward ten propositions of Mohism. That is, universal love, non-aggression, Shang Xian, Shang Tong, respect for heaven, ghosts, unhappiness, fate, frugality and frugality. He believes that it is necessary to choose the most suitable scheme among the top ten propositions according to the different situations of different countries. If "the country is in chaos", choose "Shang Xian" and "Shang Tong"; If the country is poor and weak, it will choose "frugal use" and "frugal burial"; Wait a minute. Mohism is a group with strong organizational discipline. Their leader is called a "giant". The first tycoon was Mozi, and later "tycoons" were Meng Sheng, Tian Xiangzi and Xiao Xia. The "Mozi Law" was carried out by the "Giant". The "giant" of Mohism lived in the state of Qin, and his son should have been executed according to law for murder. But King Hui of Qin thought that he was old and had only one son, so he ordered not to kill him. However, the belly said that the Mohism stipulated: "The murderer dies and the injured person is punished." This is a necessary measure to prohibit killing and wounding, and it is in line with "the righteousness of the world", or insist on killing your own son. This story vividly reflects the strict discipline of Mohism. Because of this, Mohist talents are very capable of fighting, and they have the spirit of "going through fire and water, dancing with a knife and never returning to their heels". But Mohism is a religious group, which is often easily used by people. According to Records of the Historian, Meng Sheng, the "giant" of Mohism, was on Yang's side when Yang and others, the old aristocrat of Chu, killed Wu Qi, who was engaged in political reform. Later, Yang fled for fear of sin, and Chu wanted to take back his country. Meng Sheng defended his country and was loyal to Yangcheng Jun. He passed on the "Giant" to Tian Xiangzi. He died for Yangcheng Jun, and many disciples died because of him. It can be seen from this story that Mohism has the spirit of "chivalrous man". As "Historical Records Biography of Rangers" said: If the behavior is not in line with justice, but you keep your word and promise what others want to do, you must do it. There are also decisive actions, not cherishing one's own life, saving others' distress and so on. Not only that. Mozi is still a scientist, and Mohist is also a group of scientists. They have made outstanding contributions in mathematics, physics, medicine, logic and so on, and occupied an important position in the history of ancient science in China. After the death of Mozi, Mohism was divided into three schools: Xiangrichi School, Xiangfu School and Deng Ling School. Xiang's disciples and Deng's disciples mentioned in Zhuangzi Tianxia are bitter and bitter, that is, two of the three schools. They are all students of Mozi, but they are different. Attacking each other is "Mo". In the existing Mozi, each article has three chapters, namely, the upper chapter, the middle chapter and the lower chapter, which is the evidence that Mohism is divided into three schools. According to Guo Moruo's research, Mohist Group tends to concentrate on the State of Qin. Therefore, from the fourth generation of giants, the center of Mohism shifted to Qin. Since then, according to records, Xie Ziyuan, an oriental Mohist, traveled thousands of miles to visit King Hui of Qin. Mohism was still flourishing at this time. But by the Han Dynasty, Mohism had died out. Why did Mohism die so quickly? There are different answers to this question, which needs further study. It is desirable in methodology to analyze the reasons from the inside of Mohism. The difference between Mohism and Confucianism, Legalism and Taoism is that it is a religious group composed of Mohism, with strict discipline, and can go through fire and water without hesitation. These, as ordinary people, are difficult to do. Lili bird was born in the Spring and Autumn Period. Legend has it that he is the chief disciple of Mozi, and his words are cautious. Bird Lili used to be a disciple of Confucianism. She studied in summer and devoted herself to Mohism after switching to Mohism.
Mozi's theory mainly includes the following points:
Love without attacking.
The so-called universal love contains the meaning of equality and fraternity, which is contrary to the Confucian fraternity ("kissing is skillful, respecting sages, etc."). Mozi asked the monarch, father and son, and brothers to get along well on the basis of equality. "If you love yourself, you love yourself", Mozi believes that the phenomenon that the society oppresses the weak, oppresses the poor with the rich, and prides yourself on the humble is caused by the fact that everyone in the world does not love each other. At the same time, Mozi also saw that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the biggest drawback was war. Therefore, non-aggression is derived from the concept of fraternity. Love without attacking is Mozi's most famous thought. Tian Zhiming's "Ghost" preaches the heaven and ghosts, which is a major feature of Mozi's thought. Mozi believes that heaven has ambition-to love all the people in the world. Because "people, regardless of age, are all ministers of heaven" and "the love of heaven is thick", if the monarch violates God's will, he will be punished by heaven, otherwise, he will be rewarded by heaven. Mozi not only believes in the existence of ghosts and gods, but also thinks that they will reward the good and punish the evil for the monarchs or nobles on earth. The innate human rights and the thought of restricting monarchs in Mozi's religious philosophy are one of the highlights in Mozi's philosophy.
Shangxian County, Shang Tong
Shang Tong asked the people and the Emperor to keep pace, unite as one, and practice just politics. Sages include those who choose sages as officials and those who choose sages as emperors. Mozi believes that the monarch must elect the country's sages and the people should obey the monarch in public administration. Mozi asked the above to know the situation, because only in this way can we reward good and punish evil. Mozi asked the monarch to use Shang Xian, that is, to appoint the virtuous and get rid of the corrupt. Mozi attached great importance to Shang Xian and thought that Shang Xian was the foundation of politics. He especially opposed the monarch's use of flesh and blood relatives, but ignored the origin of saints, and put forward the view that "officials are impermanent and expensive, and the people have no end."
Save money and pay the bill.
Thrift is a point that Mohist school emphasizes very much. They criticized the extravagance and waste of monarchs and nobles, especially opposed the custom of long burial and rebury valued by Confucianism, and believed that long burial and rebury were not conducive to society. People think that monarchs and nobles should live a clean and thrifty life like three generations of ancient sages. Mozi asked Mohism to practice in this respect.
Le Fei
Mozi was extremely opposed to music, and even when he was traveling, he heard the car driving in the direction of singing and immediately turned around. He believes that although music is beautiful, it will affect farmers' farming, women's textile and ministers' handling of government affairs, which is not in line with the principle of the holy king and the interests of the people, so he opposes music.
Unnatural/violent death
Mozi opposed the Confucian saying that "life and death have life, wealth is in the sky" and thought that this statement was "decorated with life to call the simple people" Mozi saw that this thought was killing and damaging people's creativity, so he put forward a fate.
dominant thought
The main contribution of Mozi's philosophy is epistemology. He regards the direct feeling experience of "the truth of eyes and ears" as the only source of understanding. He believes that judging the existence of things should be based on what everyone sees and hears, not personal imagination. Based on this simple materialist empiricism, Mozi put forward the criteria for testing the truth and falsehood of knowledge, namely, three tables: "The origin of knowledge lies in the matter of ancient sages", "The truth of people's eyes and ears is observed below", and "Abandoning criminal politics and observing the interests of the people in the country". Mozi integrated "matter", "reality" and "benefit" and tried to eliminate personal subjective prejudice by taking indirect experience, direct experience and social effect as the criterion. On the relationship between name and substance, he put forward the proposition of "not taking it by name, taking it by name" and advocated naming it by substance. Mozi's epistemology which emphasizes the authenticity of sensory experience also has great limitations. He once concluded that there were ghosts and gods on the grounds that someone "tasted the things of ghosts and gods and smelled their voices". But Mozi didn't ignore the function of rational knowledge, and Mohist created China's first logical thought system. One view is that Mozi's world outlook has profound internal contradictions. On the one hand, he emphasized "non-fate" and "respect for power" and thought that it was not "fate" but "power" that determined people's different experiences. On the other hand, Mozi affirmed the role of "Heaven" and "Ghost". He described "Heaven" as a personality god with will, and preached that "those who obey the will of God will be rewarded". "Those who go against God's will" will be punished. He believes that "loving each other and benefiting each other" means "obeying God's will" and "opposing evil and stealing from each other" means "violating God's will". However, another view holds that "non-destiny" and "ambition" reflect Mozi's strong thinking tension of "the debate between heaven and man" In Mozi's religious philosophy, ambition loves everything but does not control fate, and heaven rewards diligence, and heaven likes people who are constantly striving for self-improvement. Politically, Mozi put forward the ideas of "universal love", "mutual non-aggression", "Shang Xian", "Shang Tong", "frugal use", "frugal burial" and "unhappy". The core of his social and political thought is "being different", and "breaking without breaking" is his concrete action program. He believes that as long as everyone "loves each other and benefits each other", there will be no bullying, arrogance, ignorance and mutual attacks between countries in society. He sharply exposed and criticized the disasters caused by the wars launched by the rulers and the luxury and enjoyment in ordinary customs. In the principle of employing people, Mozi advocated meritocracy, opposed cronyism, and advocated that "officials are impermanent and expensive, and the people are not cheap." He also advocated that from the emperor, governors to chiefs at all levels, we should "choose the best people in the world and use them" to act as; The people and the emperor should obey God's will, carry forward fraternity and practice just politics. Otherwise, it is illegal. This is Mozi's well-known proposition of "non-aggression, universal love"
logical thinking
Mozi is also one of the important pioneers of China's ancient logic thought. He consciously and extensively used logical reasoning to establish or demonstrate his political and ethical thoughts. He also put forward logical concepts such as argument, category and reason for the first time in the history of China's logic. And it is required to study debate as a kind of specialized knowledge. Although Mozi's "argument" refers to the debating technique, it is based on the knowledge of categories (things and the like) and reasoning (grounds and reasons), so it belongs to the category of logical analogy or argumentation. Mozi's "three forms" are not only the ideological standard of speech, but also the factors of reasoning and argumentation. Mozi is also good at revealing the enemy's contradictions by analogy. Due to Mozi's advocacy and enlightenment, Mohism developed the tradition of attaching importance to logic, and later Mohism established the first system of ancient logic in China.
main work
The works about Mozi are Mozi. This book is a record of Mozi's words and deeds by his disciples and his re-disciples. Mozi
Mozi is divided into two parts: one part records Mozi's words and deeds, expounds Mozi's thoughts, and mainly reflects the early Mohist thoughts; On the other hand, Shang Jing, Xia Jing, Jing Shuo Shang, Jing Shuo Xia, Daqu and Xiaoqu, generally called Mo Bian or Mo Jing, embody Mohist epistemology and logical thought, and also contain many natural science contents, reflecting Mohist thought in the later period. In the history of logic, it is called late Mohist logic or Mohist logic (one of the three major logic systems in the ancient world, the other two are the logic system of ancient Greece and the theory of Buddhism); It also contains many natural sciences, especially astronomy, geometric optics and statics. The compilation of Mozi's Mohist works was compiled by Liu Xiang in the Western Han Dynasty and gradually lost after the Six Dynasties. At present, 53 books of Taoist Collection were originally written by Mo Zhai, but there are also works by Mozi disciples and later Mohists, which are the main historical materials for studying Mohists now. The book Mozi can be divided into five groups according to its content: Mozi's early seven works, from pro-Confucianism to three debates, the first three are mixed with Confucianism, which should be the traces of Mozi's early "learning from Confucianism and being taught by Confucius"; The last four chapters are mainly about Shang Xian, Shang Tong, Tian Zhi, frugality, non-happiness and other theories. Twenty-four articles from Shang Xian I to Fei Ruxia are a group, which systematically reflect ten propositions of Mozi: universal love, non-aggression, Shang Xian, Shang Tong, frugality, mourning, unhappiness, ambition, ghosts and fate. Five Chapters from Geng Xu to Gong Bo is a record of Mozi's words and deeds, similar in style to the Analects of Confucius, compiled by Mozi's disciples, and is the first-hand information to study Mozi's deeds. From the following to the last twenty articles (including nine lost articles), "Preparing the City Gate" is devoted to guarding the city skills and the city defense system, and its system is similar to that of Qin, which was written by the Mohist school of Qin during the Warring States Period. This is an important material for studying the military art of Mohism, which has a wide range of contents, including politics, military affairs, philosophy, ethics, logic, science and technology, etc. It is an important historical material for studying Mozi and his later studies. In the Western Jin Dynasty, both Lu Sheng and Le Yi commented on Mozi, but it has been lost. Nowadays, Sun Yirang's Mozi Idleness and The Scholars Integration are very popular. Since the Qin Dynasty, Mozi's and his disciples' remarks have been scattered in various ancient books, such as New Preface, Autopsy, Yanzi Chunqiu, Han Feizi, Lu's Chunqiu, Huainanzi, Liezi, Warring States Policy, Old Events in Palace, Biography of Immortals and so on. Liu Xiang recorded Mozi as seventy-one articles in the Records of Han Shu Yi Wen Zhi in the Western Han Dynasty. There were only 60 articles in the Song Dynasty, and now there are only 53 articles, which have been lost 18. Among them, the second part of Jieyong, the first and second parts of Jiezang, the first and second parts of Minggui, the second and third parts of Yuefei and the first part of Feiru were all lost. Except for these eight parts, all the other ten articles are lost. Of these ten articles, only one is poetic justice. The book Mozi was neither written by one person nor accomplished overnight. It is generally believed that Mozi was written by Mozi himself and his disciples to describe Mozi's remarks. According to Liang Qichao's classification, Mozi's content can be divided into five categories.
First kind
There are seven articles: pro-scholar, self-cultivation, positive dyeing, easy hair, seven diseases, resignation from the country, and three debates. This kind of miscellaneous has the words of famous scholars and mixed with the words of miscellaneous scholars. For example, ""in the article "Home"? Those who make mistakes must lose first, and those who make mistakes must lose first. "Ganjing is exhausted first, wood is cut first" and "Too prosperous to keep" all come from the language of Taoism. The word "cultivate one's morality" is a Confucian saying. The suspicion that "dyeing is weak, dyeing is yellow" in Dyeing By is due to the nature of famous artists. The word "easy to send" is suspected to be the words of legalists, which is purely false. The last four articles are Mohist theses, which may be Mohist theses.
the second type
Shang Xian and Shang Tong all love each other, do not attack, use it sparingly, bury it sparingly, record it in heaven, make it expensive, and Le Fei is not clear. This category represents the main political thought of Mohism. Except for the first book "Non-attack" and the second book "Non-Confucianism", all the articles have the word "Mozi Zi Yue", which is considered to be written by Mozi's disciples.
The third category
Classic upper and lower chapters, classic upper and lower chapters, Daqu, Xiaoqu, * * * six chapters. This kind of person treated by Mohism is called Mohist Debate, also called Mohist Scripture. These six articles are difficult to translate, with many old sayings and profound arguments. They are also mixed with simple materialism and idealism theories, natural science theories such as photomechanics and mathematics, social science, ethics, logic and so on. It is really difficult to understand. This category is the essence of Mozi. Liang Qichao believed that these six articles were written by Mo Zhai. And Sun Yirang thought it was written by post-Mohist scholars. One of the reasons that Sun Yirang relied on was that GongSunLong and Mozi lived in different times. GongSunLong was behind Mozi, and there could be no strong white stone theory.
The fourth category
There are five articles: Geng Xu, Gui Yi, Meng Gong, Lu Wen and Gong Bo. These five articles were written by Mozi's disciples. It is also a record of Mozi's life, and its genre is close to The Analects.
The fifth category
Guard the city. They are eleven items: prepare the city gate, prepare the high surface, prepare the ladder, prepare the water, prepare the sudden, prepare the cave, prepare the moth ambush, meet the enemy hall, flag, order and miscellaneous guards. This can be said to be the art of war of Mohism. Mozi advocates not attacking, but focusing on defending, and all eleven are methods that focus on defending. Mohist art of war was developed by Mohist disciples. There are many ancient words in these eleven articles, and there are also many words in the ancient art of war, which are rarely translated. The style of this book is unpretentious, but some of its contents have been discounted, so that few people care about it for two thousand years. Until modern times, some scholars read this ancient book carefully, only to find that Mohist school had discussed optics (light propagates along a straight line, and some imaging situations of plane mirror, concave mirror mirror and spherical mirror, especially the theory that light can form an inverted image through pinhole), mathematics (the definition of circle has been discussed scientifically), mechanics (the relationship between force and weight has been put forward) and other natural sciences as early as 2,000 years ago. It's a pity that this science, however, shocked the current academic circles and made modern people sit up and take notice of Mohism and even a hundred schools of thought. In an era when hundred schools of thought contended in the pre-Qin period, Mozi stood out from the crowd, which was the best proof of his strength.