Mozi Philosophy and Confucianism - Essay Example

Mozi Philosophy and Confucianism Mozi Philosophy and Confucianism Mozi (Mo Tzu) is believed to have been the first Chinesephilosopher and he cited to have been the pioneer of the popular argumentative essay model and created the initial normative and political theories that spread all over the Chinese kingdom. Mozi coined a practical theory of language that gave the classical Chinese philosophy its unique disposition. All the literature that is available on the origins of Mozi brings to light the social mobility of the period. The best explanation of the wide influence of Mohism associates it to the rise in influence of arts and guilds all over China. The spread of Mohism began taking place when the traditional Chinese priest craft was challenged by the emerging technical intelligence. Mozi is believed to have been drawn to prominence by the rising demand of scholars during the era of the Warring States. There are other accounts that depict him as a fortifications officer in the military while the numerous criticisms demonstrate that he was conversant with the Confucian priesthood (Hansen, 2009). Although there is very few literature that talks about Mozi, majority of them depict him as having been against Confucianism. One of Mozi’s greatest critics was Mencius (371-289 BC) who claimed that the writings of Mozi were all over the social media and for that reason, most people were influenced to believe in his distorted view of Confucianism. Mozi is believed to have been a strong advocate of utilitarianism and equal concern for each individual. The Mohist movement, which had begun with Mozi in later stages led to a much newer fashion of Daoism and Confucianism. The central Mohist literature has an intended argumentative style. It utilizes an unprejudiced symmetry of expression and repetition that makes it easy to memorize as well as in passing along the message. Symmetry and repetition are commonly used stylistic devices for classical Chinese and it is mostly in analytical form (Mei, 2008). Various books document the life of Mozi and his works. Nearly all of the available works explain Mozi’s story in the light of the “craft theory” since it helps in explaining the unique personality of well-organized logical thought in China that had its roots in Mozi. These pieces of literature mostly dwell on moral debates but mostly focus on the entire Mohist system to which they credit Mozi as having been the founder. Mozi, according to the available literature believed that the moral standards should be in a measurable form, e.g., in the manner of a carpenter with a plumb line or a measuring square. Although experts are more inclined to get better results than someone who has not been trained, all of them have the potential of acquiring good results. Mozi, to a large extent does not approach moral philosophy as a means to finding the ideal moral principle but rather it is about searching for a fixed standard that can be used as a standard of moral interpretation and direction in life (Mei, 2008). In his teachings, Mozi usually found time to attack the prevailing teachings on Confucianism as a prologue to his argument for the value standard. In his attack, Mozi demonstrated that traditionalism (Confucianism) cannot be depended upon. In trying to pass along his message, Mozi tells of a story of a tribe that murders and eats their first-born kids and points out that it would be unacceptable to claim that such a tradition is in any way moral or compassionate. This he claims is the folly of treating Confucianism as a standard for the application of morality and benevolence. For this reason, there is need for extra-traditional standards to find out which traditions are right and those that are wrong. Mozi then went ahead and proposed utility as the ideal measurement standard for both benevolence and morality. Utility, Mozi quips, is ideal in selecting among moral traditions, neither openly to select certain actions nor to make certain rules. The body of moral discourse that is necessary in promoting and encouraging is the one that brings about social behaviour that fully manifests the general utility. The moral status of utility is justified in that it is in itself natural preference (Duda, 2001). Constancy and Nature One of the major interests for Mozi was tian, or nature where in traditional China, tian was cited as the one and only foundation of political power. By the time Mozi came to existence, tian had been naturalized from its deity nature and people now saw it as something mundane as the course of nature. Besides being a moral authority, Confucians believed that its movement was constant and no one could therefore change it. However, this was unacceptable to Mozi and he spend quite considerable time debating about the constancy and the as authority of nature. According to Confucianism, traditions varied from one place to the other and in different times. If an individual does not like the traditions that are existent in a certain place, they have the freedom to relocate from that place at any given time without anyone questioning them. However, it is impossible to run from the constancy of tian and for that reason; it is only constancy that is able to judge between conflicting traditions. To claim that a social status was unchanging was akin to saying that it was impartially true (Pines, 2005). Mozi wanted to change this belief and his new form of natural urge was measurable meaning that one could see themselves measuring the benefits against the possible harms. Mozi therefore proposed utilizing the preference for advantage as an unfailing, natural standard for selecting and interpreting ancient preferences. Given this explanation, the traditional discourses that promote utility can therefore be counted as moral and benevolent. According to Mozi, the ordinary impulse to utility can mainly be compared to a compass or only a square. It does therefore not rely on an established perception or teaching (Pines, 2005). Moral Reform Mozi points out that moral reform in the society can only happen when there is reformation in the guiding discourses of the prevailing social status. People who adhere to the new discourse internalize it and this gives rise to a new form of virtuousness. Our own virtuousness gives rise to a certain course of action in real situations. For there to be an ideal social coordination, people have to be trained to make certain distinctions on the events that shape life. This means that the key to bringing a reformation to the guiding principles in life is to by first reforming the way in which we make out the differences between moral and immoral (Soles, 2010). Mozi comprehended the instruction process in various interrelated ways with the first being that a deeper emphasis is placed on the set of distinctions that are different and this led to the promotion of different words as nature guides. As an example, he pointed out that a leader was supposed to use words such as universal and not partial. If such a leader thought and acted in such a manner, then he was bound to be more benevolent. For there to be real change, the society is supposed to make the words that bring about more benefits constant in the prevailing social discourse. Mozi then continues to advise people to introduce reformation in the manner in which they distinct the terms that rarely change. An example of this is assigning different things to the concept of right and wrong (Soles, 2010). Reform Impasse As a reformer trying to bring changes to a society that was mostly conservative, Mozi often found himself in an argumentative bind such as the one that was experienced by his fellow reformers in the West. Deep down, Mozi knew that he was challenging well-founded judgments and beliefs. For that reason, he had to come up with an acceptable principle for proposing his alternative principle. In order to ensure that his alternative principles were adopted, he turned to the use of philosophical stories. In one story that countered Confucian pro-family and biased moral positions, he gave an illustration of a recruit abandoning his family to go to war for his country. If such a man had a genuine concern for his family, then he would want to ensure that the person who takes his place adopts a perception of universal concern. Such a person, Mozi continues to point out would not look out for a person who had an impartial moral attitude. In every standard, the recruit is inconstant since he is led to choose a man who has universal instead of partial attitudes. Such a person would attain his partial goals only in the event that the societal morality was unselfish. This opinion by Mozi clashed with that of Confucianism, which he saw as inconstant since it proposed a societal guiding discourse that was incoherent with it. For that reason, there is no way that this can consistently propose itself as a collective social guiding discourse (Soles, 2010). In his works, Mozi mostly chose to concentrate on the political system of his time. The philosopher saw this historical period as having been filled with inefficiency and waste. Mozi coined his philosophies at a time when the political system placed much emphasis on morality to an extent that most of the conflicts had their basis on moral reasoning’s. To Mozi, the society that he lived in was devoid of a leader and this had led the society to look for a way of selecting people who would be worthy leaders. Such a leader would go ahead and select helpers whom he deemed worthy of leading and it was these people who went ahead to draft a morality code according to what they saw as wrong or right (Angus, 2002). In his works, Mozi claims that the existing challenges in ensuring that the political system was coherent depicts a clear tension between the utility standard that was available to the society and the possible changes that Mozi wanted to introduce to the society. Mozi pointed out that the problem had its roots in the ancient society and there was therefore need to introduce a drastic standard that would bring quick results to the society. Although Mozi was so much focused on bringing reforms, he pointed out that both historical and traditional patterns were critical in determining the correct usage for these reforms (Angus, 2002). Mozi was influential as both a teacher and a thinker in many of his philosophies just like it is discussed above. As a teacher, he was influential in espousing what the sage kings and the ancient texts had expressed and how an individual could use the eyes and ears to translate various things. He also used the existing literature to try to prove that spirits did not exist. The philosophies of Mozi were so effective such that they gave rise to a completely new form of system that was referred to as Mohism. This system remained in effect until the emergence of an imperial system that supported a Confucian orthodoxy (Wong, & Hui-chieh, 2004). However, the Confucian orthodoxy was greatly influenced by Mohism and this means that Mozi’s influence extended further than the Confucians wanted to admit. It is believed that Mozi influenced the later Classical Confucian thinkers to guard their normative theory in a classical and by so doing; they ended up adopting most of his main ethical beliefs. Even his main critic Mencius abandoned his traditionalism and developed a new Confucian version of benevolence based on Mozi’s attitudes. It is even clear that the Confucian-Mohist debate led to the growth and development of the ideas of Daoism. Actually, the Chinese philosophy as we know it has its foundation on Mozi and without him, Confucianism could just have maintained the status of just sage sayings while Daoism might have been nothing more than a Yellow Empire sect (Soles, 2010). References Angus, G. 2002. Later Mohist Logic, Ethics and Science. Hong Kong and London: Chinese University Press. Duda, K. 2001. Reconsidering Mo Tzu on the Foundations of Morality. Asian Philosophy 11(1): 23-31. Hansen, C. 2009. Mozi: Language Utilitarianism: The Structure of Ethics in Classical China. The Journal of Chinese Philosophy 16: 355-380. Mei, Y. 2008. Mo-tse, the Neglected Rival of Confucius. London: Arthur Probsthain. Pines, Y. 2005. Foundations of Confucian Thought: Intellectual life in the Chunqiu Period, 722-453 B.C.E. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Soles, D. 2010. Mo Tzu and the foundations of morality. Journal of Chinese Philosophy 26(1): 37-48. Wong, B., & Hui-chieh, L. 2004. War and Ghosts in Mozi’s Political Philosophy. Philosophy East and West 54: 343­-363. Read More