Mohism facts for kids

This map shows where famous Chinese thinkers from the Hundred Schools of Thought lived during the Zhou dynasty. Mohist philosophers are shown with blue triangles.

Mohism (Chinese: 墨家; pinyin: Mòjiā; literally "School of Mo") was an ancient Chinese philosophy that focused on ethics, logic, and science. It was developed by students of the philosopher Mozi (around 470 BC – 391 BC). Their ideas are found in a book called the Mozi.

A main idea of Mohism was altruism, which means caring for others. They believed in showing universal, unbiased respect and concern for everyone, no matter who they were or how they were related. This philosophy also valued living simply and doing what was most useful for the most people.

Mohism grew at the same time as other famous Chinese philosophies like Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism. It was one of the four main philosophical schools from about 770 BC to 221 BC, during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. During this time, Mohism was a big rival to Confucianism. Even though its ideas lasted, Mohism almost disappeared as its own school after the Qin dynasty in the 200s BC.

What Was Mohism All About?

Mohism is most famous for a concept often called "universal love." A better way to think about it is "impartial care." This means caring for everyone equally, without showing favoritism. Mozi was more interested in how people should act fairly than just following rules based on fear.

The Mohists were a very organized group. They tried to live by the ideas Mozi taught. Like the Confucians, they offered their skills to rulers, not just for money, but to put their ethical ideas into practice. They had local groups in all the major kingdoms of China. These groups included both scholars and workers.

Each local group was led by a juzi, which means "chisel." This name came from crafting. Each juzi chose their own replacement. Mohists were skilled in building fortifications and managing states. They wrote books on government, covering everything from farming efficiently to laws about inheritance. They were often hired by warring kingdoms to be advisors. In this way, they were like other traveling thinkers and knights of that time.

Caring for Everyone Equally

Mohism teaches that you should care for all people equally, no matter your relationship to them. Showing this equal care makes a person righteous in Mohist thinking. Other Chinese philosophies, especially Confucianism, disagreed with this. Confucians believed that while love should be strong, it should not be the same for everyone. For example, children should love their parents more than strangers.

Mozi insisted that everyone deserves to have their basic needs met and to be safe from harm. In Mohism, what is right is not based on old traditions or rituals. Instead, it's based on a moral guide similar to utilitarianism. This means doing what creates the most good for the most people in society. Traditions can change from culture to culture. So, people need a guide beyond tradition to know what is truly right. This guide should encourage actions that help everyone in society.

The idea of Ai (愛), or "love," was developed by Mozi in the 4th century BC. He created it as a response to Confucianism's focus on family love. Mozi wanted to replace the strong Chinese attachment to family with "universal love" (jiān'ài, 兼愛). He argued directly against Confucians who thought it was natural to care about different people to different degrees. Mozi believed that people should care for everyone equally. Mohism stressed that love should be unconditional and given to everyone, not just friends, family, or other Confucian connections.

Making Good Things Happen

Mohism focuses on the good results of actions. Unlike some ideas that say pleasure is the main good, Mohist thinking sees order, wealth, and a growing population as the most important good things. During Mozi's time, wars and hunger were common. So, a growing population was seen as necessary for a peaceful society. "Material wealth" in Mohism means basic needs like shelter and clothes.

Historian David Shepherd Nivison explained that these good things are connected. For example, more basic wealth leads to more people. More people lead to more production and wealth. If people have enough, they will be good, kind, and respectful. Mohism believes that what is good for the state (the country) is more important than individual pleasure or pain.

How Society Should Work

Mozi thought that when society works like an organized body, waste and problems are reduced. He believed that conflicts happen because people don't agree on what is right (是 shì) and what is wrong (非 fēi). So, Mozi said we must choose leaders who surround themselves with good followers. These followers would then create a system that helps everyone agree on right and wrong.

In this way, the government becomes a strong and automatic tool. If leaders follow the ruler perfectly, and the ruler follows Heaven perfectly, then everyone is expected to speak and act the same way. There isn't "freedom of speech" in this model. However, to balance this, people are required to tell their leaders everything, good or bad. Mohism was against any kind of fighting, especially wars between states. But it was okay for a state to use force to defend itself.

Fair Government Based on Skill

Mozi was against nepotism, which was common then. Nepotism means giving important jobs to relatives, even if they aren't the best person for the job. This stopped skilled people from moving up in society. Mozi taught that if someone was good at a task, they should keep their job, no matter their family ties. If an officer was not good enough, they should be removed, even if they were a close relative of the ruler.

A ruler should be close to talented people, value their skills, and ask for their advice often. If a country doesn't find and use its talented people, it will be destroyed. Sadly, history shows many people were harmed not because they were weak, but because they were strong. A good bow is hard to pull, but it shoots far. A good horse is hard to ride, but it can carry a lot and travel long distances. Talented people can be hard to manage, but they bring respect to their rulers.

Law and order were very important to Mozi. He compared a carpenter, who uses standard tools, to a ruler, who might not have any standards at all. A carpenter always does better using tools than just relying on feelings. Since a ruler's decisions affect a whole nation, it's even more important for them to have standards. Mozi believed these standards couldn't come from people, because no person is perfect. The only perfect standards must come from Heaven. That law of Heaven is Love.

In a perfect government where the ruler loves everyone fairly, and officials are chosen for their skills, people should agree in their beliefs and words. Mozi's goal was to unite people and avoid divisions. However, if there was corruption or a harsh ruler, this teaching could be used to control people.

If a ruler was not righteous, seven disasters would happen to the nation:

• Ignoring the country's defense while spending too much on the palace.
• Neighboring countries not helping when foreigners pressure the nation.
• People doing useless work while lazy people are rewarded.
• Laws becoming too harsh, causing fear, and people only looking out for themselves.
• The ruler mistakenly thinking they are strong and their country is powerful.
• Trusted people not being loyal, and loyal people not being trusted.
• Not enough food. Ministers unable to do their jobs. Punishment not causing fear, and rewards not bringing happiness.

A country facing these seven disasters would be easily destroyed by enemies.

Mohism measured a country's wealth by having enough food and a large population. Being thrifty (saving money) was key to this. If people were happy with what they had, they would be free from too much work, long wars, and poverty. This would help the birth rate go up. Mozi also encouraged people to marry early.

Against Believing in Fate

Mozi disagreed with people who believed in fatalism, which means thinking that everything is decided by fate. He said this belief caused poverty and suffering. To argue against it, Mozi used three ways to check if an idea was correct:

• Checking it against history.
• Checking it against the experiences of everyday people.
• Checking if it was useful when applied in laws or politics.

Mozi believed that fatalism was an irresponsible idea. He said people used it to avoid admitting that their own lack of effort caused their problems. He thought that being rich or poor was directly linked to being good or bad, not to fate. Mozi called fatalism a "social problem" that needed to be stopped.

Against Showing Off

By Mozi's time, Chinese rulers and rich people often had very expensive burial ceremonies. A lot of wealth was buried with the dead. Mourning rituals could be extreme, like walking bent over with a stick for three years. During such long funerals, people couldn't farm or care for their families, which led to poverty. Mozi spoke against these long and fancy funerals. He also argued that they would make living people feel angry.

Mozi thought that art and music were almost useless. Unlike Confucius, he strongly disliked the development of music and fine arts. Mozi even wrote whole chapters called "Against Music." He admitted he enjoyed pleasant things, but he didn't see them as useful for governing or helping common people. He argued that making music took away manpower from producing food. Also, enjoying music meant less time for important government work. This focus on art, he believed, would lead to food shortages and chaos. This is because workers would be pulled away from farming and other basic jobs to create fancy things. Ordinary people would then copy the ruler's bad habits, making things worse. Mozi probably said this because during the Warring States period, the king and rich people spent endless time on fancy music, while common farmers barely had enough to eat. For Mozi, only basic needs were enough; resources should be used to benefit everyone.

Mohist Engineers and Defense

Because Mohists understood mathematics and science, and because they were against war and skilled artisans, they became the best engineers for defending cities. This was especially true before China was united under the Qin dynasty. They believed in helping smaller Chinese states defend themselves against bigger, attacking states.

Mohists worked together to invent and improve ways to defend cities, including defensive weapons and strategies. Many of these ideas were actually used and remained important in military history. The Mozi book is highly respected by modern scholars. It's considered a classic on military matters, just like Sunzi's Art of War. The Mozi focuses on defense, while Art of War focuses on attack.

Mohist ideas were popular for a while in China. Mohist followers were hired for their skills as negotiators and defense engineers. A famous story in the Mohist book tells about Gongshu Pan. Mozi traveled for 10 days and nights when he heard that Gongshu Pan had built war machines for the king of Chu to invade the smaller state of Song. When Mozi arrived in Chu, he used his belt to make a wall and sticks to represent machines. He showed Gongshu Pan that he could defend Song against any attack Chu might use. Then, Mozi announced that 300 of his students were already on the walls of Song, ready to defend it. The king canceled the invasion.

Why Mohism Declined

When China was united under the Qin dynasty, it was no longer divided into many states constantly fighting. Before, Mohists were valuable for defending cities. But without wars, especially siege wars, their skills were no longer needed.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy suggests that besides the decline of siege warfare, Mohism also slowly became less important as a social and philosophical movement. By the middle of the Han dynasty, the good parts of Mohist thought were already shared by other rival schools.

Their main ethical ideas were mostly taken into Confucianism, though in a changed way. Key parts of their political ideas were probably shared by most other political thinkers. And their strong opposition to war became unnecessary once China was united. The later Mohist writings on language, knowledge, and science were difficult to understand and quickly became confusing. What remained as uniquely Mohist were harsh, unpopular economic and cultural views, like their focus on saving money and their rejection of music and rituals. Compared to the classical learning of the Confucians, the deep ideas of the Yin-Yang thinkers, and the artistic nature ideas of the Daoists, Mohism offered little to attract followers, especially powerful ones.

See also

• Asceticism
• Brahmavihara
• Buddhist ethics
• Consequentialism
• Effective altruism
• Logic in China
• Wu wei