1001Philosophers

Confucius vs Mozi

Confucius and Mozi are the two great rival philosophical voices of the early Warring States period in China. Mozi's school, Mohism, was at one point as influential as Confucianism before being eclipsed in later Chinese intellectual history.

At a glance

ConfuciusMozi
Dates551 BC – 479 BCc. 470 BC – c. 391 BC
NationalityChineseChinese
EraAncientAncient
Movements Confucianism Mohism
Profile Confucius → Mozi →

Where they agree

Both held that political and ethical disorder is the central problem of their age, both treated the moral cultivation of human beings as a real possibility, and both taught that government should aim at the welfare of the people rather than the enrichment of rulers.

Where they disagree

Confucius held that proper love and concern is graded — most for parents, then for kin, then for community, then for strangers — and that ritual propriety stabilizes these graded relations. Mozi taught the opposite: jian-ai, usually translated as universal or impartial love, in which one is to care for the welfare of all alike. Mozi also rejected elaborate Confucian ritual and music as wasteful, and developed an early form of consequentialist reasoning according to which practices are to be evaluated by their effects on the welfare of the people. Confucianism preserved the social fabric of family and ritual; Mohism subordinated it to impartial concern.

Representative quotes

Confucius

  • “Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself.”

    己所不欲，勿施於人

  • “Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.”

    學而不思則罔，思而不學則殆。

  • “The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”

    君子欲訥於言而敏於行。

Mozi

  • “If everyone in the world will love universally, states not attacking one another and houses not disturbing one another, would this be a calamity?”

    Book 4; Universal Love I

  • “If one does not preserve the learned in a state he will be injuring the state ; if one is not zealous (to recommend) the virtuous upon seeing one, he will be neglecting the ruler. Enthusiasm is to be shown only to the virtuous, and plans for the country are only to be shared with the learned. Few are those, who, neglecting the virtuous and slighting the learned, could still maintain the existence of their countries.”

    Book 1; Befriending the Learned | Variant translation: To enter upon rulership of a country but not preserve its scholars will result in the downfall of the country. To see the worthy but not hasten to them will make the country's ruler less able to perform his duties. To the unworthy is due no attention. The ignorant should remain without inclusion in the state's affairs. To impede the virtuous a

  • “Book 1; Befriending the Learned”

    If one does not preserve the learned in a state he will be injuring the state ; if one is not zealous (to recommend) the virtuous upon seeing one, he will be neglecting the ruler. Enthusiasm is to be shown only to the virtuous, and plans for the country are only to be shared with the learned. Few are those, who, neglecting the virtuous and slighting the learned, could still maintain the existence

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