| Mozi hailed from the state of Song and lived in the century between Confucius and Mencius. His work, entitled the Mozi, is extremely logical, systematic, and utilitarian. He supported maximizing whatever helped the people, made their lives better, and increased the peace. Everything that worked against this he deemed jibberish. He believed that an authoritarian social organization with obedience to superiors was absolutely necessary, and rulers were to be obedient to heaven in almost a religious sense. He vilified the human relationships prized so highly by the Confucians, because they only separated people. Instead, he called for “universal love” (jian'ai) in which all respected all without reference to family. He despised war so much that he trained his followers in defensive strategies and put them at the service of beleaguered states. | 1 |
