Mozi Annotations

Author: Xin Zhifeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: The main contribution of Mozi's philosophical thought lies in epistemology. He regarded direct sensory experience as the sole source of knowledge, believing that judgment of the existence or non-existence of things should be based on what everyone sees and hears, rather than on personal imagination. Starting from this naive materialist empiricism, Mozi proposed a standard to test the truth or falsehood of knowledge, known as the "Three Tables": "To refer to the deeds of ancient sages and kings," "To investigate the actual observations of the common people," and "To examine whether it benefits the state and the people when applied to laws and governance." Mozi integrated "affairs," "reality," and "benefit," using indirect experience, direct experience, and social effects as criteria, striving to eliminate personal subjective biases. In the relationship between name and reality, he proposed the proposition "It is not based on the name, but on the meaning," advocating that names should correspond to reality. However, Mozi's epistemology also had significant limitations, as he neglected the role of rational cognition and overly emphasized the authenticity of sensory experience. For example, he concluded that "ghosts and gods exist" based on the reason that "some have seen the substances of ghosts and gods and heard their voices." There were deep internal contradictions in Mozi's worldview. On one hand, he emphasized "non-fate" and "veneration of strength," arguing that what determines people's different destinies is not "fate" but "strength." He pointed out, "Life depends on strength, and without strength, there is no life," fully affirming the role of "human effort" in social life and the transformation of nature. On the other hand, Mozi also acknowledged the role of "Heaven's will" and "ghosts." He portrayed "Heaven" as a personified deity with will, preaching that those who "obey Heaven's will" would "be rewarded," while those who "defy Heaven's will" would "be punished." He believed that "universal love and mutual benefit" was "obeying Heaven's will," while "separation and mutual harm" was "defying Heaven's will." He also thought that ghosts and gods could "reward the virtuous and punish the wicked." He equated the will of Heaven and ghosts with the interests of the people, claiming that Heaven and ghosts were dedicated to "promoting benefits and eliminating harms" for the masses, which essentially made them a tool for Mozi. In politics, Mozi proposed ideas such as "universal love," "non-attack," "veneration of the worthy," "uniformity," "frugality in expenditure," "frugality in funeral rites," and "non-music." "Universal love to replace separation" was the core of his social and political thought, while "non-attack" was his specific action program. He believed that as long as everyone "loved each other universally and benefited each other mutually," there would be no oppression of the weak by the strong, arrogance of the noble over the humble, deception of the wise over the ignorant, or mutual attacks between states. He sharply exposed and criticized the harms brought by rulers' wars and the extravagance and indulgence in ordinary rituals. In terms of personnel principles, Mozi advocated appointing people based on merit rather than connections, opposing the idea of "permanent nobility and eternal servitude." He proposed that from the (emperor) and feudal lords to all levels of officials, "the most worthy people in the world" should be chosen, while the people should obey their rulers and achieve "unification of the world's righteousness." Mozi was also one of the important pioneers of ancient Chinese logical thought. In his work Mozi, he consciously and extensively used logical reasoning methods to establish or argue for his political and ethical ideas. Mozi was the first to propose the idea that names must correspond to reality. He also first introduced logical concepts such as "argumentation," "category," and "reason" in the history of Chinese logic. Mozi Translation and Notes is based on the Twenty-Two Classics edition published by Zhejiang Shuju in the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, which was photocopied in 1985 by Shanghai (Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House). The book was compiled and organized by referencing other versions. The entire work consists of fifteen volumes and seventy-one chapters, among which the twenty-second chapter of Frugality in Expenditure, the twenty-third and twenty-fourth chapters of Frugality in Funeral Rites, the twenty-ninth and thirtieth chapters of On Ghosts, the thirty-third and thirty-fourth chapters of Non-Music, and the thirty-eighth chapter of Non-Conduct of Confucians are lost. The fourth and fifth chapters of the tenth volume, The Canon and The Explanation of the Canon, were combined and organized together for easy reference, as their content is mutually explanatory.