Between Confucianism And Mohism In The Early 20th Century

Mohism was revived during the period of Qian Jia in the Qing dynasty.When it came to the 20th century,the study of Mohism was further developed by the urgence of the western culture.The Chinese intellectuals in that time were focused on the relationship between Mohism and western culture,Mohism and Confucianism and Confucianism and western culture.They hoped to find an ideal way for the future development of Chinese culture by the comparisons among Mohism,Confucianism and western culture.The comparison between Confucianism and Mohism was in fact the Chinese intellectuals' reflections on the constituents of the traditional Chinese culture.They realised deeply that the future development of Chinese culture depended on the mixture of Chinese and western cultures.However,this process must be based on the premise that the intrinsic value of the traditional Chinese culture was fully appreciated.That is to say,though the theories about the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism showed different features in the early period of the 20th century they were finally treated as the question about the relationship between Chinese and the western cultures.This is an unavoidable question for Chinese intellectuals living in that social background.Liang Qichao,the New Culture Camp and the Critical Review School all performed actively in Chinese ideological circle during the early period of the 20th century,whose fundamental task was to explore a practical way in which the modern culture could develop rapidly in the background of the collision and communication between Chinese and western cultures.As an important tool by which to reflect the value of Chinese traditional culture,the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism was respectively taken seriously by them.This dissertation firstly emphasized the features of their thoughts about the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism in the early period of the 20th century,and then moved from the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism to that between Chinese and western cultures.Through the above analysis we can master the basic characteristics of the development of Chinese thoughts and cultures during this period.Chapter One retrospects the thoughts about the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism in Chinese history before the 20th century and aims to pave the way for the study of the thoughts about the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism in the early period of the 20th century.The antagonistic relationship between Confucianism and Mohism established when Mencius and Xun zi criticized Mo zi and the Mohists in turn attacked Confucianism and Confucius in the Warring States period.In the following two thousand years,the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism generally went through three different stages with the changes of dynasties.The pre-Qin academic factions such as Ru,Mo,Dao,Fa and Za all made comments on the relationship between Confucianism and Mohism according to their own standpoints.The comparisons between Confucianism and Mohism in that period were the full performance of free competition among the various schools.Mohism has gradually declined since Confucianism was raised to the dominant position in the ideological world in the early Western Han dynasty.Mohism was increasingly depressed especially through the Neo-Confucians' defence of the Confucian orthodoxy in the Song dynasty.During this period,though there were scholars standing up and fighting for Mohism they never shaked the authority of the Confucian orthodoxy.Mohism was revived from Qian Jia to the early 20th century.Han Yu's theory of Kong Mo Xiang Yong(Confucius and Mo zi Take Advantages of Each Other)again got attention of scholars in that time and scholars who approved of Xi Xue Mo Yuan(Western Cultures Originated from Mohism)also focused on the study of Mohism.However,all of these studies failed to escape from the shackles of traditional Confucianism.Chapter Two mainly explores Liang Qichao's thought about the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism around a pair of words-change and unchange.Liang's Mohism study can be divided into two stages,the gap between the early and late stages was nearly twenty years.Liang's opinions in the two periods were obviously distinguished due to the changes of social background and his life experience.Both Liang's manner to deal with Mojing and his comments on the doctrines of jian ai(Universal Love),tian zhi(Will of Heaven)and ming gui(Existence of Ghosts)changed.This is the aspect of change in Liang's thought.Though Liang Qichao criticised the Confucians' obsession with fatalism when he compared Confucianism and Mohism and attacked the autocracy of Confucianism in the process of absorbing the advanced theory of western bourgeoisie he still kept the Confucian stance.This is the aspect of unchange in Liang's thought.Liang was entangled with Confucianism all his life;however,he had different understandings 'of Confucianism in different stages of his life.He took an active part in the movement of Bao Jiao(Conservation of Confucianism)in his early ages and then gradually went back to Confucian philosophy of life.This is also the aspect of change in Liang's thought.Chapter Three analyses the New Culture Camp's thoughts about the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism and tries to review two general comments on them-Yang Mo Yi Ru(Praising Mohism and Criticising Confucianism)and anti-traditional.The urgent question for the New Culture Camp was how to introduce western culture more reasonably and effectively.In their opinion,the autocracy of Confucianism became the serious obstacle for absorbing western cultures on one hand;but on the other hand,the similarity between Mohism and western cultures made it possible to develop a new type of culture.The members of the New Culture Camp were therefore consistently biased toward Mohism while comparing Confucianism and Mohism.They thought that the argument foundations of Confucians and Mohists were opposite-the former represented autocracy and the latter stood for equality;respectively,Ren ai(Humane Love)and Jian ai became the symbols of autocracy and equality.About the philosophical method and the relationship with the western cultures the Mohists did better than the Confucians.These aspects of comparisons between Confucianism and Mohism led to the comment Yang Mo Yi Ru.In fact,the New Culture Camp dealt with Confucianism by dividing it into two different layers.What they criticised was only the feudal Confucianism which was regarded as a tool to restore monarchy,but not the original Confucianism.The New Culture Camp never denied Confucianism completely but appreciated Mohism which was an constituent of the traditional cultures.Therefore,the comment of anti-traditional on the New Culture Camp lost foundation.Chapter Four explores the Critical Review School's thoughts about the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism and traces their opinions on Chinese and western cultures.The Critical Review School firmly defended the traditional Chinese culture whose core was Confucius and refuted the popular view of You Mo er Zuo Kong(Praising Mohism and Criticising Confucianism)at the same time.The members' opinions on the relationship between Confucianism and Mohism could be classified into two kinds-one was extreme and the other one was moderate.The extremists emphasized the differences between Confucianism and Mohism and appreciated Confucianism and depreciated Mohism.Though the moderatists stood on the Confucian stance they still admitted the value of Mohism.About the comments on the doctrine of Jian ai,the extremists inherited Mencius' attack on Jian ai and denied it completely.The moderatists limited the objects of Mencius' attack to the later generations after Mo zi and approved of the original meaning of Jian ai which was expounded by Mo zi himself.In fact,the aim of the Critical Review School was not to overthrow Mohism or reject foreign cultures but to criticise the unreasonable way in which the New Culture Camp dealt with the relationship between Confucianism and Mohism,Chinese and western cultures.The purpose Chang ming guo cui and rong hua xin zhi(Propagating Traditions and Melting New Knowledge)of the Critical Review also shows that the Critical Review School were engaged in the development of new cultures.According to this point,the thought of the Critical Review School was similar to that of the New Culture Camp.Chapter Five aims to make a deep reflection on the thoughts about the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism in the early period of the 20th century.Firstly,it is the question about Confucianism and Mohism.Though Liang Qichao,the New Culture Camp and the Critical Review School behaved differently in the process of treating Confucianism,they reached an agreement on the point of admitting the value of the Confucian philosophy of life.It can be said to reach the same goal by different routes.Different attitudes toward Confucianism caused them to use Mohism out of different considerations.Liang Qichao returned to the Confucian philosophy of life in the process of comparing Confucianism and Mohism;the New Culture Camp made use of Mohism to criticise the Confucian autocracy;the Critical Review School defended the Confucian stance by criticising Mohism.Secondly,it is the question about cultures.For Liang Qichao,the New Culture Camp and the Critical Review School the comparison between Confucianism and Mohism was only a starting point.The terminal point was the relationship between Chinese and western cultures.All of them worked hard to construct a new type of modern culture based on the fusion of Chinese and western cultures.This was an important mission for them in the early 20th century.