On The Origin Of Mohism And Its Historical Influence

There are four divisions in this doctoral dissertation: a survey of Mohism, the origin of Mohism, the influence of Mohism on ancient Chinese culture; the waning of Mohism and its waxing in modern times.In Division I the main content of Mohism is elucidated.First of all, in accordance with the present Mohism studies, Mo Zi and some issues concerning his works have been testified. Mo Zi's life span may be dated basically from 490BC to 380BC and the saying that Mo Zi was the native citizen of Lu Kingdom seems reasonable, but we can not confine this fact of his native place in a narrow localism for it will be no help to the further development of the entire study of Mohism. In fact, The Books of Mo Zi is the anthology of the works from the Mohism produced by his disciples and followers. Like Analects, all the 53 chapters in Mo Zi have reflected the doctrines of Mohism, with several ones disseminated by the doctrines of other schools.Then, some personal opinions on the main content of Mohism have been proposed. The core of the ideological system of Mohism is"universal love", which is just the very thing that composed the social ethical basis of Mohism. Started from"universal love", many aspects derived from the Mohism such as Elevating the Worthy and Conforming to Superiors in politics, Moderation in Expenditures, Moderation in Funerals and Condemnation of Music in economics, Condemnation of Aggression in military and The Will of Heaven , Explaining the Spirits and Condemnation of Fate in religion, which have constructed a cubic ethic system from gods to populace. Although some historical limitations and illusionary components, it still can be said as a progressive thought which concerns the masses, longs for advancement,...