Confucianism and Mohism were both known as the two major schools of thought during the Warring States Period. However, at that time, the two major schools of thought were not actually adopted by the rulers of other countries, and the governing ideals of Confucianism and Mohism were not realized during the Warring States Period. In fact, it was not just the Confucian and Mohist families who suffered such a fate?
Taking the burning of books and the entrapment of Confucians as the dividing point, before the burning of books and the entrapment of Confucians, when a hundred schools of thought contended, it was not possible to systematically say which school's ideas were more valued by the rulers. So before that, there was no obvious standard or boundary for which company's ideology declined or prospered.
Going forward, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty accepted Dong Zhongshu's ideas and "deposed hundreds of schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone." This shows that Confucianism can to a certain extent better maintain or consolidate the interests of feudal rulers.
From the Han and Tang Dynasties until the Qing Dynasty, there was almost no research on Mohism. This is in sharp contrast to the large number of books written by Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism.
Confucianism allowed people's thoughts to serve the political system of the time. Taoism allows people to obey nature and destiny, and will not disobey the orders of the emperor who was respectfully called the Son of Heaven at that time. Legalism allowed rulers to implement a relative system to rule the people. The ideas of these three schools can all be used by rulers, but what about the Mohist school?
First of all, Mohism represents the interests of the working people at the bottom, but the peasant class represented by Mohism has always been discriminated against by the old aristocrats of various countries.
Looking at the Mohist school from the perspective of an aristocratic scholar-official, Mozi made chariots and wooden kites, engaged in handicrafts, and led many of his disciples to work together. He "emphasized production" and took pride in working. Moreover, most of the Mohist disciples came from society. lower level. It is precisely because of the social class represented by the Mohists that many nobles and literati in various countries despised them. For example, in "Guiyi", "Mozi traveled south to Chu", the official Mu He of the Chu state said that Mozi's teachings were "the work of a bitch" and called Mozi a "bitch". In fact, the official Mu He here was also It represents the views of the King of Chu - he is very contemptuous of the Mohist family.
This is an issue of contradictory positions, which has touched upon the essence. So how could the Mohist ideas be adopted and serve the system of the feudal society at that time?
We have said before that in the ancient feudal dynasties, the people were only regarded as "cows and horses" by the upper-level rulers, and were never regarded as human beings at all. In that case, the Mo family stood up to safeguard the interests of the people, just like an animal protection enthusiast, jumping out to tell you that domestic animals are so cute and pitiful, why should they be eaten and should be released? But we all know that if people don’t eat meat, something will happen to their bodies sooner or later. Therefore, the Mohist idea of "universal love" is actually more like a "utopia" or a utopian dream. The Mohist political ideas were too "ideal" and lacked support and practice, leaving them in a state of utopia.
Secondly, the "non-offensive" approach advocated by the Mohists and their opposition to "unjust" annexation wars created conflicts with the emerging landlord class, which was fundamentally against the trend of "great unification."
Finally, within the Mohist school, because of the idea of "advocating for unity" and requiring unified actions and concepts, the Mohist school has become similar to the existence of a religious group. In this religious organization, there is a lack of institutional norms and support. Juzi has too much power and lacks checks and balances. Decisions and orders are all made by one person, and it is extremely easy for mistakes to occur. The mistakes in decision-making depleted the power of the Mohist family and accelerated the decline of the Mohist family.
In addition, with the passage of time, Mohism has begun to deviate from its original views in order to survive and realize its own political ideals in an era of drastic changes and turmoil. However, fundamentally speaking, it is because Mohist theory is too idealistic, or it is a kind of utopia.
Although Mohist thought has a very strict logical relationship, its most fundamental proposition is universal love, from which almost all views and propositions originate. But this view of universal love is too idealistic. To what extent is it ideal? To the extent that it has not yet been realized. Although there are no classes in today's society, there are classes, and his concept of universal love can only be implemented when there is no class differentiation. Therefore, the basis of all theoretical views, that is, universal love itself is overly idealistic. How can we expect other views derived from it to be accepted by society?
Emphasis on production, utopian fantasy, and religious autocracy constitute the three pillars of Mozi's ideological system. These three pillars penetrate each other and are difficult to separate. Although he has a brilliant view of attaching importance to labor and emphasizing mutual love that the exploiting class lacks, overall speaking objectively. Mozi's proposition was not inconsistent with the objective reality of the development of feudal society at that time.
In fact, the most critical and most important thing about the above statements is that he underestimated the "evil" nature of human nature.
As we said before, "Human nature is chaotic, and human nature is inherently evil, and it seeks advantages and avoids disadvantages." This is Ye Feng's idea.
The true way to understand and apply it is that when you consider a problem, you must not be biased towards a single good or evil, because it makes no sense. Because human beings are a chaos of good and evil intertwined with black and white. And if you think about something from the perspective of good or evil in human nature, you will get completely different or even opposite conclusions, then you must adhere to "human nature is inherently evil, and seek advantages and avoid disadvantages" as the starting point for thinking and consider choices priority.
That is to say, when you are thinking, you must not forget that people have both good and evil sides, but once it comes time to get results, you must choose between good and evil. "Human nature is inherently evil" must be put first and given priority.
Although Mohism admits that human beings have both good and evil qualities, he believes that human nature is inherently good. Otherwise, "universal love" would be a complete joke. And it’s the same as Mohism’s “saluting the virtuous”, because Mohism pursues perfection too much, so it’s too extreme.
After all, Mohism itself still has great flaws, and it ignores and despises human nature.
And these are also the reasons why Ye Feng doesn't like the Mo family.
In the end, the Mohist family failed to survive and became a wisp of dust in history.
. . .
Ye Feng could clearly feel the strong "Moist" spirit contained in the thick "Xinhua School Motto". Yes, you heard it right, it is a partial, but not complete, Mohist spirit. After all, the Mohist family does not exist in the original Immortal Realm itself.
But this also reflects from the side. The emergence of Mohist thought reflects the unremitting pursuit of fairness and justice by the people at the bottom.
Therefore, even without Mozi, Mohist thought would transcend the barriers of time and space and come to any place, even if it is only a partial shadow.
As long as people still pursue fairness and justice, Mohist thought will not disappear.
