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Mozi

Thinker of the Warring States Period, Founder of the Mohist School

The First to Ask the Right Question · Founders

MohismUniversal Love and Non-AggressionLogic and Scientific Thinking

Who they are

Mozi (c. 470–391 BC) was a thinker of the early Warring States period and founder of the Mohist school, who advocated "universal love" (loving all people equally, without distinction of near and far or kin and stranger) and "non-aggression" (opposition to unjust wars of invasion) — a stance in sharp contrast to the Confucian ethic that stressed "love with distinctions," the two waging a long and fierce intellectual debate through the Warring States period, "Confucians and Mohists" being the two great camps of pre-Qin prominent learning. The Mohist school at the same time set great store by logical reasoning and natural science, leaving in the Mo Jing early systematic discussions of optics, mechanics, and geometry (among the earliest records of the principle of the pinhole camera). Tightly organized and strictly disciplined, its members often went in person to help weak states defend their cities against strong aggressors — a rare school among the pre-Qin thinkers combining rigorous logical reflection with strong practical drive. Regrettably it declined thereafter, all but lost by the Han dynasty, and was only systematically re-edited and studied again in modern times.

Primary sourcesThe Mozi

Key stories

"Stopping Chu from Attacking Song"

Hearing that the state of Chu was preparing to attack Song with siege engines built by the artisan Gongshu Ban (Lu Ban), Mozi hurried day and night on foot for ten days and nights to Chu, personally rehearsed the arts of attack and defense against Gongshu Ban, foiled his siege plans nine times in a row, and revealed that he had already sent three hundred disciples with defensive equipment ahead to Song to prepare its defenses; seeing this, the king of Chu gave up the idea of attacking Song — this diplomatic feat of "stopping Chu from attacking Song" is a classic case of the Mohist doctrine of "non-aggression" put into personal practice.

The Mohist Tradition of Logic and Science

The Mo Jing records a great body of systematic discussion of geometric definitions, the mechanical principle of the lever, and the optical phenomenon of the pinhole camera, its rigorous mode of logical reasoning standing out among the pre-Qin thinkers; modern scholars such as Liang Qichao and Hu Shi specially edited and studied the Mo Jing, holding that the systematic quality of its logic and natural-science thought was in no way inferior to the contemporary ancient Greek tradition of natural philosophy.

Relationships

Nemesis

📖Confucius　The Mohist "universal love" and the Confucian "love with distinctions" formed one of the most important intellectual debates of pre-Qin prominent learning

Echoes today

Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.

The "Mozi" quantum science experiment satelliteThe world’s first quantum science experiment satellite, launched by China in 2016, was named "Mozi" in commemoration of his early scientific contributions in logic and optics.

Appears in

The Hundred Schools of ThoughtMozi "Stops Chu from Attacking Song," Han Feizi Synthesizes Legalism

⏳ Who lived at the same time as Mozi? →🛠️ Mohism →🔗 Who taught whom →

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