Mozi
I am Modi, although you probably know me better as Mozi, or Master Mo. The exact dates of my life are not known but I was an active philosopher in the late 5th and early 4th century BC. Yes, I was a contemporary of another philosopher you may have heard of, Confucius.
I did not agree with the views of my more famous counterpart. Confucius believed that rituals were important for the stability of the realm. I believed that they were a waste of time and resources. He believed that music was edifying for the true gentleman. I believed that it was a waste of time and resources.
I taught my followers to hold 10 main ideals:
Elevate the Worthy- appoint men to position based on their abilities, not their connections or status. Even a commoner, if a man of superior ability, should be promoted before a noble of lesser ability.
Exalt Unity- The leader is always right and all those of us beneath him should have the same views as he does. This should be enforced by the leader.
Impartial Concern- We should be concerned for all people regardless of their status of relationship to us.
Against Military Aggression- territorial gain is not worth the loss of life.
Frugality in Expenditures- As I stated before, elaborate rituals are expensive and disruptive. They waste resources and should be avoided. You have a phrase "Keep it simple". That sums up my views on this matter admirably.
Frugality in Funerals- Review my remarks about rituals. Funerals should also be simple.
Heaven's Will- The leader knows it- follow him.
Elucidating the Spirits- Spirits exist and it is good to believe in them.
Against Music- One should favor function over beauty. Music is a waste of time and leads one to extravagance.
Against Fatalism- Who says that the future is already written and cannot be changed? We make our own future.
I established a community where these precepts were followed by my followers. It was a philosophical, social, religious and quasi-military community. My followers were known to come to the aid of small states that were being attacked.
The Shi Ji (written in the Han Dynasty) states that I was born in Lu, the same state as Confucius, and that I was an official in the Song state for awhile. I will not argue this. There is not much known for fact about my life because I was probably a commoner, an artisan- a carpenter in fact. I was believed to be knowledgeable about weapons of both offensive war and defensive. My surname is unusual; it is the standard Chinese word for "ink". Some say I was given this name because I was a slave, with my face branded in ink, others that I was given the name because my skin was dark. Why it is my name...I leave that to you to consider.
I did not write the text which bears my name -Mozi- but those who did write it held to my lack of concern with the flowery ornamentation of my contemporaries. You will find no record of fancy court rituals in my teachings! The writing is plain and straightforward- reasoned, if you will, in a style similar to your great western philosophers of Greece, although I did not share quite the same views of logic that they did. My followers later wrote some of Chin's first texts on logic, geometry and optics.
I am Mozi. What more need be said?
Works Cited
Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China.New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://www.iep.utm.edu/mozi); accessed January 25, 2012.
Fraser, Chris "Mohism" Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://www.plato.stanford.edu/entries/mohism/#mozi); accessed January 25, 2012.
--Licia 04:05, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
Classroom presentations
- Powerpoint by Grant A. (still to upload)