“If everyone in the world would love others impartially — states not attacking one another, houses not disturbing one another — then the world would be well ordered.”
Mozi · Mohism
lovejusticesociety
Paraphrase or translation
Philosopher
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Mozi
c. 470–c. 391 BCE · Mohism · Ancient
Mozi, or Mo Di, was a fifth- and fourth-century BCE teacher. The book Mozi is a school compilation, with some chapters existing in three versions that do not match, plus later logical and military sections by the Mohist movement. The ethical centre is jian ai, impartial care: the claim that partial love, the graded affection Confucians defend, is the root of theft, feud, and war.
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If people and states cared inclusively, the chapters argue, the world would be in order. The standard is often benefit, the profit of the world, argued with a bluntness Confucians found vulgar. Mozi also attacked elaborate funerals, music, and offensive war as waste, and he offered a heaven that wants righteousness and watches. The school was eventually overshadowed.
Its questions did not go away: how impartial should care be, and is benefit a respectable word in ethics? A condensed English sentence of the impartial-care chapters is a fair door and a poor substitute for noticing that the book argues, repeats itself, and was written by a movement. It is not a personal memoir, and it is not a Chinese copy of utilitarianism, though the comparison is the usual modern starting point.
Four sourced passages are included, from the chapters on standards, the worthy, impartial care, and offensive war. Further familiar lines are omitted where the wording or locus is not secure. The Mohist canons are technical definitions, not a further stock of short sentences.
Start here
Mozi, the chapters on impartial care (14–16 in the usual numbering).
You see the argument Confucius's heirs had to answer, including its appeal to consequences.
Quotations
“Now if a man kills one person, he is judged unrighteous and must pay with his own life. If he kills ten people, he is ten times as unrighteous. Yet when it comes to the great unrighteousness of attacking a state, the gentlemen of the world do not condemn it but praise it, calling it righteous.”
Mozi · Mohism
ethicsjusticepower
Paraphrase or translation
“To accomplish anything, one must have standards. No one has ever accomplished anything without them.”
Mozi · Mohism
knowledgeethics
Paraphrase or translation
“The sage-kings of antiquity, in governing, honoured the worthy and employed the capable.”
Mozi · Mohism
justicesocietyvirtue
Paraphrase or translation
Key ideas
Impartial care
Caring only for one's own is treated as the root of disorder, and inclusive care as the policy that removes it.
Benefit
Right standards are tested partly by whether they profit the world, not only by whether they fit inherited ritual.
Against wasteful war
Offensive war, lavish funerals, and empty display are attacked as costs that a decent order would refuse.
Major works
Mozi (c. 5th–3rd century BCE)
A school compilation, including three versions of the impartial-care chapters and later Mohist essays on argument.
Influences
Influenced
- Later Mohist logicians
Common misreadings
- Impartial care is an argument against Confucian graded love, not a mood of liking everyone equally.
- The book is a movement's text, so wording shifts between the three versions of the same essay.
Famous lines Mozi never said
None of the lines this library files for Mozi is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
Mozi, the chapters on impartial care (14–16 in the usual numbering). You see the argument Confucius's heirs had to answer, including its appeal to consequences.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Mozi that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “If everyone in the world would love others impartially — states not attacking one another, houses not disturbing one another — then the world would be well ordered.” (Mozi, chapter 16, 'Impartial Caring', Paraphrase or translation).
What is the most misquoted line?
None of the lines this library files for Mozi is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
Impartial care: Caring only for one's own is treated as the root of disorder, and inclusive care as the policy that removes it.