Mo Zi
Mo Zi (Popular name
zh 墨子,
pinyin Mo4 Zi5,
wg Mo-Tze, also known as
Mocius or
Motse in the west. His real name was
zh 墨翟,
pinyin Mo4 Di2.) (
470 BC -
391 BC) lived in
China during the
Hundred Schools of Thought of the
Spring and Autumn Period and the
Warring States Period. He founded the school of
Mohism, and advocated
universal love.
Mo Zi idealised the Xia Dynasty, and advocated judging ideas and objects through the human senses, by their utility and their antiquity. Mo Zi denounced offensive warfare, extravagant funerals and music. He favoured frugality, and advocated increasing the power of the state through early marriage and a system of rewards and punishments. Mo Zi held a belief in the power of ghosts and spirits.
Mo Zi is also the name of the philosophical text compiled by mohists from Mo Zi's thought.