Mohism - Sources, Mozi, Later Mohists, Bibliography
Mohism is a school of thought named after its founder, Mozi (or Mo Di; c. 460–390 B.C.E.). Mozi was the first known thinker to challenge systematically the ideas of Confucius (Kong Fuzi; 551–479 B.C.E.) and his followers and to provide an alternative vision of the ideal society and state. One of the most prominent intellectual currents of the Zhanguo (Warring States; 453–221 B.C.E.) period, Mohism declined rapidly soon after the imperial unification of 221 B.C.E., to be rediscovered by modern scholars in the first decades of the twentieth century.
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Few reliable details are known of the life of Mozi. Most scholars agree that he was a person of relatively humble origin from one of the eastern Chinese states (either Song, Qi, or Lu). Like Confucius, he traveled through neighboring states in search of better appointments, but apparently to no avail. Even more than Confucius, he succeeded as an educator and organizer, turning his followers into a…
See also Chinese Thought; Confucianism; Legalism, Ancient China. Graham, A. C. Divisions in Early Mohism Reflected in the Core Chapters of Mo-tzu. Singapore: Institute of East Asian Philosophies, 1985. ——. Later Mohist Logic, Ethics, and Science. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1978. Maeder, Erik W. "Some Observances on the Composition of the 'Core Chapters'…
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