An Study Of Mohist Ethics Of "Universal Love And Mutual Benefit"

Mohist School was established on the basis of criticizing Confucian School.Its criticism of Confucian School was mainly manifested in replacing "Benevolent Love" by Confucianism with "Universal Love" by Mohist and replacing " Morality over Benefit "by Confucianism with "Morality equals Benefit" by Mohist.Mohist School was a very unique school.Its constituent were basically lower-level people such as craftsmen and small producers.This also determined a series of characteristics of Mohist School,such as emphasizing the law?paying attention to material interests?emphasizing experience and emphasizing logical reasoning,etc.Some of these characteristics were deeply engraved in the thought of Mohist School,creating the unique theoretical characteristics of Mohist School.Mohist advocacy of " Universal Love " embodied Mohist thoughts on the era in which it was living,and also expressed an "alternative" ethical view different from Confucian "Benevolence Love".Mohist analysed the cause of the chaos at that time was the "not in love" between people.On the basis of "No love for each other",everyone did things that harm others.Mohist thought "No love for each other" was rooted in selfish human nature and it was difficult to completely change this human nature,only a reasonable guide to this human nature was the possible way out.Mohist "Universal Love"seemed to be contrary to the nature of human nature,but in fact represented a kind of human psychological expectation and rational exploration of constructing morality.Although in the end Mohist had to resort to the mysterious "God willing" to promote the idea of "Universal Love" and fell into religious superstition,it was worth affirming that Mohist pushed "Universal Love" to the height of low."Universal Love" and"Benevolence Love" represented two different ethical directions."Universal Love"emphasized other laws,while "Benevolence Love"emphasized self-discipline.One represented from outside to inside and another one represented from inside to outside.Both of these ethical directions were worthy of recognition.If the "Benevolence Love”of Confucianism represented a classical spirit,then the "Universal Love" of Mohist represented a modern spirit.Because of this,the "Universal Love" of Mohist would be more important in today's society.In addition,Mohist moral concept of "Morality equals Benefit" was more like ancient utilitarianism,taking the principle of utilitarianism as its own moral criterion.The composition of Mohist School determined the characteristics of Mohist paid attention to material interests and emphasized experience.These two characteristics determined the general ethical principles of Mohist "prosperity of the world" and the reasonable evaluation of moral behavior of Mohist "Consider Motivation and Results together".Mohist School opposed the concept of "righteousness" of Confucian School.They believed that this "righteousness" only safeguarded the interests of the ruling class and did not represent the interests of the whole society.Mohist wanted to replace the justice of Confucianism with the interests of the world in the view of Mohist,the benefit of the people in the world was the true righteousness.In the end,Mohist ethics of "Universal Love and Mutual Benefit" is also of great value in modern times,in particular,the series of reasonable ideas contained in it still conform to the contemporary spirit in a sense and we should continue to use the rational ideas to create value in the contemporary era.