Good Confucianism book (pdf) - Department of Physics

70 Terms, and Mozihe walked from one end of the China of the time to the other, arriving withhis feet bloody and swollen.Modern scholarship rejects these traditions and says that he was bornabout 480 BCE, just after the death of Confucius, which would make Mozia contemporary of the Greek philosopher Socrates (469 – 399 BCE). LikeConfucius, Mozi was probably also a minor noble and clearly identifiedhimself with the scholar - bureaucrats of the upper classes. There is a booknamed after him, the Mozi , and, even though most of it was written after histime, it still accurately describes Mozi ’ s thought, because we find it repeatedboth by his enemies and in the later works of his followers. 22Mozi is a fine example of the passion that the problems of the era produced,and he conveys a real sense of urgency in his thought. To provide thebasics of life for everyone, everyone ’ s energies must immediately be put towork simply to provide food, shelter, clothing, and peace. There is no timeto waste, especially if it is being wasted in frivolous, useless things. Mozi ’ sthinking is straightforward: we must do useful things that will profit us; weshould practice self - interest; we should obey our superiors completely; and,if we do this, Heaven and the gods will bless us. Mozi is important too forhis contributions to argumentation in the Warring States era. He beginsthe discussion of how logic and rational argument work, the necessity ofestablishing definitions, and how to argue properly.Mozi uses two main terms: profit and usefulness. 23 He argues that ifsomething is useful then it is profitable or benefits us. In its simplest terms:what is profitable is useful; what is useful is profitable. So how do wedefine “ profit ” for the people? If something helps to build up the wealth ofthe state or increase the population of the state, it is profitable. So usefuland profitable things include food, clothing, shelter, enriching the state,increasing the population, ending conflict among people, preventing war,and getting blessings from the gods.Unprofitable and useless things include anything that wastes money,that wastes time, that does not benefit most people, that does not increasethe population, and that may lead to war. Elaborate funerals, for example,keep people from doing their jobs, waste time, and waste money. Musicis useless, transitory, wastes time, and wastes money. War is unprofitableand useless. Money is wasted on armaments; people ’ s lives are wasted inbattles. If the state wins, it has destroyed the territory it invaded; if it loses,it loses everything. However, Mozi allowed for defensive wars because thestate needs to be able to defend itself. His followers ’ texts include chapterson military technology, focusing on defensive engineering and tactics.Mozi sees the world in black and white. Useful, profitable things aregood things; useless, wasteful things are bad things. Most of the things thatMozi classifies as useful are either basic necessities, like food and shelter,or quantifiable in terms of money, like enriching the state.