The ghost of Tian Zhiming. It is a major feature of Mohism to preach the superstition of destiny and ghosts. Mozi believes that heaven has the will, which not only determines the movements and changes of the stars, seasons, cold and heat in nature, but also dominates the politics of the world. Because "God loves people deeply", the monarch will be punished by heaven if he goes against God's will, and vice versa. For ghosts and gods, Mozi not only believes in their existence, but also believes that they will reward the monarchs or nobles on earth and punish them.
③ Shangxian County, Shang Tong. Shang Tong demanded that the people be equal to the son of heaven. Mozi believes that the monarch is the sage of the country, and the people should take the right and wrong of the monarch as right and wrong. He also thinks it is important to know the above situation, because only in this way can we reward good and punish evil. Shang Xian asked the monarch to use the Shang Xian, that is, to appoint sages and get rid of corruption. Mozi attached great importance to Shang Xian and thought that Shang Xian was the foundation of politics. He especially opposed the monarch's use of flesh and blood relatives, but ignored the origin of saints, and put forward the view that "officials are impermanent and expensive, and the people have no end."
4 save money. Thrift is a point that Mohist school emphasizes very much. They criticized the extravagance and waste of monarchs and nobles, especially against the custom of long funeral and heavy burial valued by Confucianism. It is believed that monarchs and nobles should live a very simple life like Dayu in ancient times, and Mohism should also practice in this respect.
Philosophy and political thought
The main contribution of Mozi's philosophy is epistemology. He regards the direct feeling experience of "the truth of eyes and ears" as the only source of understanding. He believes that judging the existence of things should be based on what everyone sees and hears, not personal imagination. Based on this simple materialist empiricism, Mozi put forward the criteria for testing the truth and falsehood of knowledge, namely, three tables: "The origin of knowledge lies in the matter of ancient sages", "The truth of people's eyes and ears is observed below", and "Abandoning criminal politics and observing the interests of the people in the country". Mozi integrated "matter", "reality" and "benefit" and tried to eliminate personal subjective prejudice by taking indirect experience, direct experience and social effect as the criterion. On the relationship between name and substance, he put forward the proposition of "not taking it by name, taking it by name" and advocated naming it by substance. Mozi's epistemology also has great limitations. He ignored the role of rational knowledge and unilaterally emphasized the authenticity of sensory experience. He once concluded that there were ghosts and gods on the grounds that someone "tasted the things of ghosts and gods and smelled their voices".
There are profound internal contradictions in Mozi's world outlook. On the one hand, he emphasized "non-fate" and "respect for power" and thought that it was not "fate" but "power" that determined people's different experiences. On the other hand, Mozi affirmed the role of "Heaven" and "Ghost". He described "Heaven" as a personality god with will, and preached that "those who obey the will of God will be rewarded". "Those who go against God's will" will be punished. He believes that "loving each other and benefiting each other" means "obeying God's will" and "opposing evil and stealing from each other" means "violating God's will".
Politically, Mozi put forward the ideas of "universal love", "mutual non-aggression", "Shang Xian", "Shang Tong", "frugal use", "frugal burial" and "unhappy". The core of his social and political thought is "being different", and "breaking without breaking" is his concrete action program. He believes that as long as everyone "loves each other and benefits each other", there will be no bullying, arrogance, ignorance and mutual attacks between countries in society. He sharply exposed and criticized the disasters caused by the wars launched by the rulers and the luxury and enjoyment in ordinary customs. In the principle of employing people, Mozi advocated meritocracy, opposed cronyism, and advocated that "officials are impermanent and expensive, and the people are not cheap." He also advocated that from the emperor, governors to chiefs at all levels, we should "choose the best people in the world and use them" to act as; And the people should obey your majesty, so as to share the righteousness of the world.
logical thinking
Mozi is also one of the important pioneers of China's ancient logic thought. He consciously and extensively used logical reasoning to establish or demonstrate his political and ethical thoughts. He also put forward logical concepts such as argument, category and reason for the first time in the history of China's logic. And it is required to study debate as a kind of specialized knowledge. Although Mozi's "argument" refers to the debating technique, it is based on the knowledge of categories (things and the like) and reasoning (grounds and reasons), so it belongs to the category of logical analogy or argumentation. Mozi's "three forms" are not only the ideological standard of speech, but also the factors of reasoning and argumentation. Mozi is also good at revealing the enemy's contradictions by analogy. Due to Mozi's advocacy and enlightenment, Mohism developed the tradition of attaching importance to logic, and later Mohism established the first system of ancient logic in China.