26. Culture Wars: Mohist and Confucian Debates

Disagreements between the Mohists and the Confucians: is seeking benefits the right way to approach life? What motivates us to act morally, care for our loved ones or a doctrine of impartiality?

• C. Fraser (trans.), The Essential Mòzǐ: Ethical, Political, and Dialectical Writings (Oxford: 2020).

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• W.W. Chiu, “Assessment of Li 利 in the Mencius and the Mozi,” Dao 13 (2014) 199-214.

• C. Defoort, “Are the Three ‘Jian Ai’ Chapters about Universal Love?,” in C. Defoort and N. Standaert (eds), The Mozi as an Evolving Text: Different Voices in Early Chinese Thought (Leiden: 2013), 35–67.

• Y.L. Fung (Feng), A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, ed. D. Bodde (New York: 1948).

• D. Nivison, “Two Roots or One?” Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 53 (1980), 739–61.

• K.L Shun, “Mencius’ Criticism of Mohism: An Analysis of Meng Tzu 3A:5,” Philosophy East and West 41 (1991), 203–14.

• K.L. Shun, Mencius and Early Chinese Thought (Stanford: 1993).