Mozi (about 468 ~ 376 BC), a famous Zhai, was born in Tengzhou, Shandong Province, Han nationality, a famous thinker in the Warring States period and the founder of Mohism. He once put forward the views of "universal love" and "mutual non-aggression", founded Mohism, and has a book Mozi handed down from generation to generation. Mohism had a great influence at that time, compared with Confucianism.

Second, textual research on Mozi's name

Historians are still unable to determine Mozi's real name, and there are various statements as follows:

1. Mozi's surname is Mo Mingzhai.

The most traditional and popular view is that Mozi's surname is Mo Mingzhai. This is what Lu said in Chunqiu, Huainanzi, Historical Records, Mencius and Biography of Xun Qing. After Yuan He's editing, it was clearly put forward that Mozi was a solitary bamboo king, and this Mohist school was changed to Mohist school. This statement is also used in the "New Tang Shuyi Wen Zhi".

2. Mozi's surname is Zhai Wuming.

Kong Guizhi of the Southern Qi Dynasty called Mo Zhai "Zhai Zi", and Yi Shizhen of the Yuan Dynasty echoed this statement and thought that Mozi's surname was Zhai Wuming. In the Qing Dynasty, Zhou Lianggong's book "The Shadow of the Ancient Bookstore" put forward more specifically: "Take the ink as the Tao, and now take the surname as the name." Think that his surname is Zhai and his surname is changed to his first name; And "ink" is a school. Reading Yan Zi by Jiang Qiong, a scholar in the late Qing Dynasty, inherited Zhou Lianggong's statement, further explaining that Zhai surname did exist in ancient times, but there was no Mo surname. Confucianism, Taoism, fame, law, Yin and Yang, vertical and horizontal, miscellaneous, agriculture and novels in the Warring States period did not take the surname as the school name, so Mo should be the school name.

Mo Zhai is a transliteration of "Zhidi" or "Man Di", not a name.

Hu, a modern scholar, has studied Mozi, and pointed out in the article "Defending Indians" that Mozi is neither a surname nor a surname, nor a name, but a tone sandhi of "De" or "Man De", which is used to address unknown foreigners.

4. Ink is one of the ancient criminal names.

Modern scholar Qian Mu's Biography of Mozi studies Mohist punishment from the point of view that if the ancients committed light punishment, they would be punished as slave workers, hence the name Mohist was a prisoner, but Mohist was poor all his life, and his way was self-suffering. Mozi and his disciples are "calluses, dark-faced, and dare not desire", and everyone can make the appearance of "going through fire and water, and dying without a country". This is called ink. It is also a proof that Ying Bu, the king of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty, was called Qing Bu after being punished. Zhai is indeed a name, because both Mozi and Lv Chunqiu recorded Mo Zhai, so it is often called Zhai.

Although Mozi's name can't be tested, it's true that he is black. His name is: black brother, black.

Fourth, Mozi's thought.

According to Mozi's records, there are fifteen kinds of programs in Mozi's thought, namely, Mozi Lu Wen said: "Anyone who enters the country must choose his own thing and engage in it." If the country is in chaos, then the language is Shang Xian and Monk Tong; If the country is poor, the language will be used sparingly and buried sparingly; If the country is full of sounds, then language is unhappy and fatal; If the country is immoral and rude, then language respects heaven and ghosts; National affairs seize aggression, that is, love words do not attack. "Among them, universal love and non-aggression are the core of Mozi's thought.

Mozi's theory mainly includes the following points:

(1) Love and attack. The so-called universal love means equality and fraternity. Mozi asked monarchs, ministers, fathers and sons and brothers to love each other on the basis of equality. "Love yourself if you love yourself", Mozi believes that the phenomenon of being strong against the weak, rich against the poor, and arrogant is caused by people all over the world not loving each other.

The ghost of Tian Zhiming. Advocating ghosts and gods 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 just ministers of heaven" and "heaven loves people deeply", if a 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.

③ 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 sages in the country, and the people should obey the monarch in public management. 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."

(4) frugal burial. Thrift is a point that Mohist school emphasizes very much. They criticized the extravagance and waste of monarchs and nobles, especially against the custom of long funeral and heavy burial valued by Confucianism. People think that monarchs and nobles should live a clean and thrifty life like Dayu in ancient times. Mozi asked Mohism to practice in this respect.

Philosophy and political 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; People and emperors should obey God's will, carry forward fraternity and practice just politics. Otherwise, it is illegal. This is the meaning of "sharing the world".

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.

[Edit this paragraph] V. Mozi's works

Mozi is the author of 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.

A compilation of Mozi's Mohist works, compiled by Liu Xiang as 7 1 in the Western Han Dynasty, was gradually lost after the Six Dynasties. At present, there are 53 collections of Taoist scriptures, all of which were originally created 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 Mohist military art.

At the end of the Warring States period, Mohist post-school compiled the school's works into Mozi, which is a faithful portrayal of Mozi's words and deeds, also known as Mojing or Mojing Debate.

Mozi 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.

The existing fifty-three articles of Mozi are gradually supplemented by Mozi and his disciples of various generations, and are the basic materials for studying Mozi and Mohism. Among them, Shang Jing, Xia Jing, On the Classics, On the Classics, Daqu and Xiaoqu are generally called Mo Jing or Mohan Debate, focusing on epistemology and logic. In the history of logic, they are called late Mohist logic or Mohist logic (one of the three major logic systems in the ancient world, the other two in ancient Greece), and they also contain many natural sciences, especially astronomy, geometric optics and statics.

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's Records of Han Shu Literature and Art in the Western Han Dynasty included articles scattered in Mozi. Seventy-one articles in all. 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 frugality, the first and second parts of frugality and burial, the second part of Ming Ghost, the second part of Feiyue and the first part of Feiru are all lost. Except for these eight parts, all the other ten articles are lost. Of these ten articles, only poetry is just.

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.

The first category: pro-teacher, self-cultivation, positive dyeing, easy occurrence, seven injuries, congratulations and three arguments.

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 category: Shang Xian, Shang Tong, full love, non-aggression, festival burial, celestial record, ghosts, unlucky, unlucky and funeral.

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: the upper and lower chapters of Jing, Jing Shuo, Daqu and Xiaoqu, with a total of six articles.

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: Geng Xu, Gui Yi, Meng Gong, Lu Wen, Gong Bo, etc.

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: guarding the city. There are eleven items, namely, prepare the city gate, prepare the high surface, prepare the ladder, prepare the water, prepare the dash, prepare the cave, prepare the moth ambush, meet the enemy temple, 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.

Sixth, the influence of Mozi.

Mozi's philosophical thought reflects the duality of the small working class liberated from patriarchal slavery. The reasonable factors in his thought were inherited and developed by later materialist thinkers, and the dross of his mysticism was absorbed and utilized by theologians after Qin and Han Dynasties. Mozi, as the founder of mohists in pre-Qin Dynasty, had a great influence in the history of China philosophy.

In addition, Mozi's achievements and contributions in the field of science and technology are various, mainly including:

1. Cosmology

2. Mathematics

3. Physical properties

4. Mechanical manufacturing

5. Philosophical aspects

6. Military aspects