After Mo Zhai's death, his later research succeeded him. At that time, the improvement of material production, the improvement of cultural level and the contention of a hundred schools of thought were also conducive to academic prosperity. Mohist disciples mostly come from "agriculture and industry", and have accumulated a lot of experience and increased a lot of scientific knowledge in class struggle and production struggle. Classics, classics, classics and classics, Daqu and Xiaoqu are probably the fruits of discussion, debate, continuous summary and perfection of Mohist post-school studies, which involve epistemology, nephrology, geometry, mechanics and optics, and their attainments reached the advanced level at that time.
Regarding the teaching thought of knowledge source, the classic says: "knowledge: smell, speak and be near." "On the Classics" is also interpreted as: "Know: spread it, smell it; The party does not hinder, say it; Look at your body and kiss. " That is to say, there are three sources of human knowledge: ① intimate knowledge, that is, knowledge gained from personal experience, can be divided into two types: "body view" that is, partial and "whole view" that is, comprehensive. (2) Knowing, that is, imparting knowledge, can be divided into "hearsay" and "personal news". (3) Speaking knowledge, that is, knowledge derived from reasoning, is not hindered by the local language. Among these three sources of knowledge, "pre-knowledge" and "pre-knowledge" in "pre-knowledge" are the basis of all knowledge. Because "intimate knowledge" can only know part of it, and "hearsay" is unreliable, we must attach importance to "speaking knowledge" and rely on the method of reasoning to pursue rational knowledge. This is a clear analysis of people's understanding of things.
Mo Zhai also put forward the famous "three tables" or "three methods" about the methods of understanding objective things and checking the correctness of understanding. He first put forward "there are three ways to speak" in Death, and then put forward "there are three ways to speak" in Michit and Death. The contents of the two are basically the same. Three tables or three methods are "those who have a foundation, those who are original and those who are useful." Mo Zhai believes that to judge whether things are right or wrong, it is necessary to demonstrate well-founded arguments. Originating from the ancient holy king is based on the historical experience of the ancient holy king. However, it is not enough to rely on the indirect experience of the ancients to prove it. To be "original", that is, "to examine the truth of people's eyes and ears", that is, to examine the direct experience of the broad masses of people's eyes and ears. The third table is "useful", "for what? Abolish criminal politics and look at the interests of the people of the country. " It is this statement or judging when it will be implemented as a policy decree depends on whether it is in the interests of the country and the people. These three tables or methods are Mohist criteria for judging things right or wrong and distinguishing knowledge from truth. This is also the logic of Mohism. Both Confucianism and Mohism stress logic. Confucius advocated "correcting the name", that is, judging right and wrong with "ceremony" as the standard; Mozi advocates the use of "essence", "yuan" and "utility", that is, to examine history, observe what people have seen and heard, and then examine whether the actual effect of government decrees is beneficial to the country and the people. In contrast, the Mohist method is more progressive.
Mohism attaches importance to the development of thinking and the enlightenment of logical concepts. In order to argue with different schools or scholars, and to persuade the monarchs not to do unjust things, it is necessary to debate their words to strengthen their persuasiveness. Therefore, Mo Zhai created some logical concepts, such as "category" and "reason", and demonstrated them by analogy and reason to maintain his argument. For example, the "king who is good at attacking and cutting" opposes "not attacking and cutting", citing Yu, Tang and Wei as holy kings who are engaged in attacking and cutting. When questioned with these examples, he replied, "I have not checked my words or anything, and I don't know why." He is not an attack, but a punishment. Here, Mo Zhai pointed out that "attack" and "punishment" are different concepts and should not be confused. Mo Zhai also ridiculed the Confucian way of answering questions with "repetition of the same language". Mo Zhai asked Confucianism, "Why are you happy?" Answer: "I am happy. Mo Zhai thinks this is equivalent to asking "Why a room?" ? "The answer is" a room is a room ". Explaining the same thing with the same thing is a typical definition error pointed out by logic. Only when the answer is to avoid the cold in winter and summer, and can distinguish between men and women, is the correct answer to the room. Because Mo Zhai attached importance to logical thinking and distinguished names from principles, it was not only used for demonstration, but also for teaching.
Mo Zhai is good at preaching. In addition to saying that he is a storyteller, he also draws on the experience of daily social life and industrial and agricultural production, either directly or as a metaphor. Concrete and vivid, can inspire disciples' thoughts, and is more easily accepted by others. For example, he used the metaphor of building a wall by division of labor to teach disciples to reason, storytellers to tell stories, and practitioners to do things, and then to achieve proper career. Another example is that two or three disciples asked Mo Zhai to learn shooting again. He thought it was too late for a national soldier to go to war and help others, and warned his disciples not to "learn" and "shoot" at the same time. These examples also show that Mo Zhai pays attention to teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, which requires both students to teach in accordance with their aptitude and teachers to evaluate students' "ability" before teaching. Only according to the specific situation of students, students with different abilities can learn successfully and shoot successfully on different bases. For teachers, this is also "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude". As for not letting students "learn" and "shoot" at the same time, it also has the significance of letting students "concentrate" on their studies.
Mo Zhai also attaches great importance to the "people-oriented" positive education attitude. On the one hand, as far as the general "top-down teaching" is concerned, his "speaking from people" is just in contrast with the Confucian "learning from etiquette, not teaching from smell". On the one hand, on the issue of education and teaching, he resolutely opposes the passive teaching attitude adopted by Confucianism to answer questions, that is, "a gentleman rings a bell, and if he doesn't ring, he doesn't ring" and "if he knocks small, he rings." Mo Zhai advocated that teachers should take a proactive attitude, not only answer questions, but also "ring without knocking".
Mo Zhai put moral cultivation in the first place in education. He attached importance to labor, which reflected some ideological consciousness and moral quality of working people. He advocated that "those who rely on the strong will be born, and those who are not poor in money will not be born." He advocates hard work and plain living, and opposes "idleness, gluttony and laziness in politics". He said, "Thrift leads to prosperity, while fornication leads to death."
Moral education lies in example and influence. The Mohist school's numerous disciples and remarkable achievements are an important factor for the school to become a prominent school. Huai Nan Zi praised Mohist disciples for "getting rid of fire and jumping under the sword without dying immediately", which is due to Mo Zhai's "transformation". The so-called "transformation" is the influence, that is, the words and deeds are subtle. Mo Zhai himself was naked and had no food to eat. His eldest son, Liuli, studied for him for three years, with a dark face and calluses on his hands and feet. He dared not ask for anything, and his hard-working style was praised by Mo Zhai. After a long period of edification, Yan Shi became a master of Mohism. Mo Zhai is brave in suppressing the strong and helping the weak. Some people advised him not to "be righteous because of suffering", but he thought that there was no righteousness in the world, so he longed for righteousness more. As the person in charge of the school, the source advances and retreats, and the righteousness is self-sufficient, which plays a leading role in demonstration. Under the influence of his Zhi Tao, most of his disciples adhered to the principles of "universal love", "mutual non-aggression", "self-reliance" and "pleasure in suffering", attached great importance to matching words with deeds, and often followed suit, avoiding difficulties and obstacles. This is an important feature of Mohist moral education.
Mohist moral education, debate education and science education all have their limitations, but they have the same positive factors, that is, attaching importance to practice and combining it with practice. Mo Zhai emphasized that "words are enough to move people to do what is often (still), not enough to move people to do what is not often (still), and not enough to move people to do what is often (still), which is also a slogan". The essence of this passage is that words must be done, actions must be fruitful, words and deeds are consistent, and words must be done. Mohist school opposes "saying more and doing less", thinking that saying more and saying well without implementing it will not lead to good results. Only by "practicing by yourself", that is, only by guiding practice and seeing action, can you become a "scholar" and teach people through practical actions.
Mohism attaches importance to practice, but it is not a general utilitarian view. While attaching importance to efficacy or results, they do not ignore the motivation of behavior, but demand that "ambition" (motivation) and "merit" be unified for investigation. Because Lu Jun chose the prince, he went to consult Mo Zhai. He suggested that Lu Jun "watch his success with ambition". It is to combine motivation with results while judging a person's moral behavior.
Mohism was once a prominent scholar, and an article in Non-Confucianism severely criticized Confucianism. Mencius, a Confucian, criticized Mo Zhai's universal love as "fatherless" and "beast", but Mencius also had to affirm Mo Zhai's spirit of self-sacrifice and saving others, saying that he "put his heel on his heel to benefit the world". The theory and style of study advocated by Mo Zhai and his later scholars had great influence in ancient times. But later, because of the opposition of Confucianism, the internal division of Mohism in the later period and the participation in political activities against the trend of the times, the reputation was lost and the school tended to decline. Mohism's educational thought contains materialistic factors, utilitarianism and the study of learning science and technology, as well as keeping promises and carrying out actions, which is commendable.