Mozi and His Thoughts

Concerning the relationship between ming (concepts) and shi (concrete materials), Mozi maintained that ming is subordinate to shi. He thought that things that were considered to be existent in the world were those that could be seen and heard by people, otherwise, they were considered as nonexistence. He said that the fact that a blind man could not tell white from black was not because he did not know the concepts of white and black, but because he had never seen the two colours. Mozi put forward three principles to judge the truth. They are: ben (in administering the state, the conduct of the previous sagacious kings should be referred to); yuan (decisions should be based on the experiences which people gained from what they had seen and heard); and yong (the effect of policies should be examined to see whether it served the interest of the state and the people).

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Mozi maintained that people should make efforts to change their own fate. He said, "Strive hard, and you will become noble, otherwise, you will be humble forever; strive hard, and you will be rich, otherwise, you will be poor; strive hard, and you will have enough to eat, otherwise, you will suffer starvation." In this way, he stressed the role of subjective will.

Mozi also pointed out that the will of heaven was the criteria to judge the conduct of people. People were requested to act in accordance with the law of heaven. He thought that if a king did good deeds, heaven would reward him, otherwise, he would be punished. So people were requested to pay respect to heaven and to ghosts and deities.

Most of the 53 chapters of Mozi still available today were recorded or the disciples of his disciples. It was pointed out that some papers in Mozi were written by others later and did not reflect the thought of Mozi. 1155815.com

Mohism had significant influence on the ideology and was placed on the same par with Confucianism. 1155815.cn