Since ancient times, all schools, if they want to survive and develop, must have their own ideas, which can be ideals, can also be goals, they practice their own ideas, through the propaganda of their own ideas to achieve the purpose of influencing the world, especially in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the hundred schools of thought are very prosperous, and each university has its own mainstream academics.
There is nothing wrong with these doctrines themselves, and many of them are built on the basis of beautiful ideals; if they are attained, the society will be stable and harmonious, the lives of the masses of the people will be rich and colorful, and the development of the country will be smooth sailing. However, their ideas are not so simple on the road to realization, and even some of them cannot build a better society, but can only make social development worse and worse, such as the Mohist school that we will focus on analyzing today.
Confucianism, Mo, Taoism, and law are the four schools that have the most far-reaching influence on China's history and society, after the unification of the Qin Dynasty, the view of Legalism is the most profound influence on policies and systems, and it is also the formulator of many policies and systems, although during the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deposed a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism, but this exclusive respect for Confucianism is based on the "outer Confucianism and internal law", that is to say, the implementation of the inland is still governed by law.
Of course, this is not to say that Confucianism has no effect, Confucianism at that time was more inclined to educate people, that is, to use its own "benevolence" and "morality" to educate a person, generally speaking, Confucianism is morality, Legalism is the bottom line;Taoism advocates the rule of inaction, and many prosperous times in ancient history, such as the rule of Wenjing, etc., are built on the basis of Taoist thought.
The Mo family is somewhat unknown compared to these three families, and we rarely see the figure of the Mo family in the process of historical development, so why did the once flourishing Mo family doctrine gradually disappear in the development of history?This article focuses on analyzing this question and looking at why Confucianism has not followed the development of history
First of all, there is a problem with the Mohists' proposition on the choice of rulersMozi's thought is a class ideology, advocating that the subjects of the world should be divided into levels, from the common people to the leaders at all levels, to the monarch, to the Son of Heaven, and then to the division of power. At the same time, all the subjects of the world must obey the command of the Son of Heaven, so this requires the Son of Heaven to be a person with both ability and integrity.
Mozi also stated in his own proposition that the Son of Heaven should be deaf and clear-sighted, powerful, discerning, and insightful, no matter what kind of thing a person has done, the Son of Heaven needs to know, and he must make the most basic judgment on this matter, make a plan for the person's behavior, whether it is a reward, a punishment, and an attitude.
In this way, with the guidance of the powerful Son of Heaven, people of all classes dare not do evil, but how the Son of Heaven is going to be produced, Mozi did not give a corresponding answer. In Mozi's definition of the Son of Heaven, we can see that the Son of Heaven is a class above everyone, and his ability is outstanding, and such people themselves are very few in the real society, and most of the people in the world are ordinary people.
And even if the choice is made, how can the Son of Heaven satisfy everyone's wishes? Therefore, under Mozi's assertion, the Son of Heaven can only be the chosen one, that is, the order of heaven, but who can know the order of the world? From the current materialist point of view, this proposition itself is absurd, and the Son of Heaven is also a human being, and he is also elected, so it is impossible to meet Mozi's requirements, so in terms of the proposition of the choice of rulers, Mozi has already deviated from the course, because the leading class in Mozi's proposition cannot exist.
Secondly, there is a problem with Mozi's definition of obedience to the Son of Heaven. As we mentioned above, the Son of Heaven in Mozi's claims cannot exist in real life, but the starting point of all Mozi's claims is based on a powerful Son of Heaven, and if this Son of Heaven does not exist, then all claims may be overturned.
In order to advocate for the development, or in Mozi's ideological framework, the Son of Heaven needs to exist, and even if it does not exist, it is necessary to use some behaviors to make the Son of Heaven truly exist, so it is necessary to design some abnormal means, such as the Son of Heaven cannot really perceive the behavior of everyone, but the Son of Heaven himself cannot perceive, it does not mean that he really cannot know, he can achieve the purpose of knowing through the information of others, but once such a situation develops, it will inevitably lead to internal chaos.
First, the Son of Heaven learned that another person's behavior was set up by eyes and ears through the information of others, and he could not determine whether the information was correct or whether someone had made a false accusation, so there was no way to make a clear indication of the behavior of the defendant. Second, when this kind of reporting behavior becomes a habit, it is likely to become a means for people to settle their grievances.
Everyone takes it as their responsibility to inform other people about their private behavior, and everyone takes it as an honor to make small reports, how can such a society be called a harmonious society? In Mozi's assertions, such views abound in contradictions; Therefore, Mozi's proposition is actually impossible to use, it does not create a good social environment, but only makes the social environment worse.
Thirdly, there is a problem with the Mohist definition of behavior to realize the claim. As we all know, Mozi is a man of action, he advocates the spirit of practice, for example, Mozi opposed the war, when he knew that the state of Chu was ready to set off to attack the state of Song, he walked for ten days and ten nights to the capital of the state of Chu, and prevented the war with practical actions, this is the school of action, and this spirit of practice is also one of the cultural heritages that we need to inherit now.
There is nothing wrong with the spirit itself, but if this kind of action is used in the wrong direction, it is very terrifying, because when a goal itself cannot be achieved but it is insisted on being achieved, people have already gone to extremes, and it is easy to have problems when they go to extremes. And the most terrifying thing is that Mozi's ability to act is not owned by himself, but by the entire Mojia organization.
The leader of the Mo family, Juzi, is both a mentor and a leader of action
The Mohist school can be seen as a school with militarized rule, which can be regarded as a paramilitary organization, and the school forms a group centered on Mozi, and this group has a supreme leader called Juzi. The giant has two identities:First of all, he is a mentor, to carry out academic and ideological guidance for one's own **, can be regarded as a spiritual leader; Secondly, he is the chief, to judge the behavior of their own **, and at the same time to have the right to kill and seize their own **, can be regarded as a leader of action.
This is very terrible, because on this basis, the Mo family ** has ideological constraints, they still have extreme behaviors under the control of this kind of thought, and they are all loyal and well-trained.
The absolute authority of the leader is a double-edged sword
Such an organization, if placed in the present, is not a simple school; Therefore, there is a big safety hazard in this kind of performance in terms of mobility, that is, if there is a problem with the leader, then the students of the Mo family are likely to become blades in the hands of the leader. When Mozi was there, there was no problem with the Mo family itself, because Mozi was a kind-hearted and moral person, and at the same time, he advocated both love and non-offense, and had a bottom line of only defending and not attacking, that is to say, if people do not offend me, I will not offend others, and they will never kill innocents indiscriminately.
Therefore, Mozi himself is not terrible, and the Mojia organization under his guidance is not terrible, but Mozi's proposition is very terrible, because Mozi is a human being, not a god, since he is a human being, there will be a day when he will grow old, and in this case, the Mojia organization will have the day when the right will change, but who can guarantee that every generation of leaders of the Mojia family can be as benevolent as Mozi?
What happens when a leader with extreme ideas and violent behavior emerges? When such a leader encounters a Mohist organization with strong executive power, will there be chaos in this society? Therefore, Mozi's claims seem beautiful, but in fact they are not credible.
Therefore, the reason why Mozi's ideas could not be implemented for a long time has a lot to do with his own idealism. Through analysis, we know that the Mohist doctrine is based on beautiful ideals, and he hopes to build a beautiful society and a paradise on earth, but the establishment of such a paradise on earth is too difficult and almost impossible to happen in the real society.
But when the ideal is difficult to realize and must be realized, people will take corresponding measures, for Mozi is to centralize power, so this goes to the extreme of rule, in order to ensure the realization of the ideal, in order to ensure the so-called democracy, it is necessary to arrange the eyes and ears, to let the people make small reports. In this way, the development of the whole society will lose harmony, and people will lose basic trust between them, which will be more and more far from Mozi's own conception of paradise on earth.
However, because of the practical spirit of Mozi and the Mohist school itself, their obsession with the construction of an ideal society is a kind of obsession, and the more they cannot achieve it, the more they will adopt various means to achieve it, and the more means they have, the greater the impact on social balance, and they will fall into a vicious circle, resulting in the Mohist ideas becoming more and more extreme, and the Mohist school's thinking is getting worse and worse. And at this point, the Mohist ideas are no longer applicable to normal society.
The difference between the Mohists and the other three lies in the definition of ideals; The difference with Legalism isMohists practice idealism, while Legalism has ideals, but not idealism; Legalism's ideal for the real society is very simple, to restrain people's behavior through the rule of law, to determine the system of national development through the law, and to let the monarch achieve the goal of ruling his subjects through the rule of law. This is very normal, to set a bottom line for the behavior of the people, above the bottom line to speak with morality, below the bottom line to speak with hard rules, no one has a second word.
The gap with Confucianism and Taoism isConfucianism and Taoism did not enforce idealism, but Mohists wanted to impose their own obsession and the definition of an ideal society on everyone, Confucianism advocated benevolence and morality, but whether it was Confucius or Mencius, they were very objective in their exposition of their own views, and did not require anyone to accept their ideas in any form, and the implementation was relatively gentle.
The same is true of TaoismThe ideology of inaction does not force anyone to pass it on, nor does it demand it through militarized organizations, but through a subtle form to promote its own ideas.
However, the Mohists are different, the Mohists combine idealism and coercion, they have ideals for the construction of society, and they have lofty ideals, they require all subjects in the world to accept this ideal, so they also set up a paramilitary organization, through strict training and ideological control, to let the people of the school inherit and promote the ideas, for the monarchs and courtiers who do not accept the Mohist ideas to carry out qualitative education, in an attempt to instill the Mohist ideas in the hearts of all people.
Of course, Mozi's proposition is not useless, his pursuit of fairness and justice, his equality proposition, his mutual benefit and fraternity, his love and non-aggression, etc., these are always worthy of our inheritance, but Mozi or the later Mohist school has deviated from the inheritance of the proposition.
They pursue the ultimate peace and the ultimate equality, ignoring the rights and dignity of each person, believing that it is enough to give the common people rain and sunshine from above, but they do not ask the common people whether they need such rain and sunshine, which for some people are like a killing machine.
The Mohist school flourished in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, gradually disappeared, and almost disappeared after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The Taoist rule of inaction is also the basis of our current concept of sustainable development; Not to mention Confucianism, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, trustworthiness and morality are the requirements that each of us must meet.
However, the Mohists are different, and the Mohist concepts and ideas can easily cause paranoid influence on people and cause internal chaos in the development of the country, so it is understandable that the Mohist doctrine has gradually disappeared, after all, any society cannot afford to lose in the process of development, especially there can be no ideological extremism and mistakes.
Therefore, we say that people should have ideals, but they can not be anxious about the realization of ideals, ideals and goals are different, ideals are ambitious, but in the process of lofty ideals, there must be short-term goal support, otherwise it is easy for people to doubt themselves, doubt the society, so they will take improper means to help the ideal to implement. In this regard, we still have to bear in mind the lessons of the Mohists in the process of development.