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Mozi (book)

Mozi
A page from the 7th volume
Author(trad.) Mo Di
Original title墨子
TranslatorBurton Watson
A. C. Graham
Mei Yi-pao
Ian Johnston
LanguageClassical Chinese
GenrePhilosophy
Publication date
5th–3rd centuries BC
Publication placeChina
Published in English
1929
Media typemanuscript
181.115
LC ClassB128 .M6
TranslationMozi at Wikisource
Mozi
"Mozi" in seal script (top) and regular (bottom) Chinese characters
Chinese墨子
Literal meaning"[The Writings of] Master Mo"
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinMòzǐ
Gwoyeu RomatzyhMohtzy
Wade–GilesMo4-tzŭ3
IPA[mwô.tsɨ̀]
Wu
RomanizationMeʔ tzy
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationMahk-jí
JyutpingMak6-zi2
IPA[mɐk̚˨.tsi˧˥]
Southern Min
Tâi-lôBa̍k-tzú
Middle Chinese
Middle ChineseMok-tsí
Old Chinese
Baxter–Sagart (2014)*C.mˤək tsəʔ

The Mozi (Chinese: 墨子), also called the Mojing (Chinese: 墨經) or the Mohist canon,[1][2] is an ancient Chinese text from the Warring States period (476–221 BC) that expounds the philosophy of Mohism. It propounds such Mohist ideals as impartiality, meritocratic governance, economic growth and aversion to ostentation, and is known for its plain and simple language.

The book's chapters can be divided into several categories: a core of 31 chapters, containing the basics of Mohist philosophy; several traditionally known as the "Dialectical Chapters", among the most important in early Chinese texts on logic; five sections containing stories and information about Mozi, his disciples, and his followers; and eleven chapters on technology and defensive warfare, on which the Mohists were expert and which are valuable sources of information on ancient Chinese military technology.[3] There two other minor sections: an initial group of seven chapters that are clearly of a much later date, and two anti-Confucian chapters, of which one has survived.

Benjamin I. Schwartz took the Mozi's early chapters, deriving more directly from Mozi, as including concepts like "Rejecting Fatalism," "Heaven's Will," and "Universal Love". Although Mozi clearly values the intellect, it's works on logic are "patently" a later development of the third century BC, though "illuminating" it's original doctrine.[4] The Mohist philosophical school went into decline in the 3rd century BC, and copies of the Mozi were not well-preserved. The modern text has been described as "notoriously corrupt". Of the Mozi's 71 original chapters, 18 have been lost, and several others are badly fragmented.[5][6]

  1. ^ Fraser, Chris (2018), "Mohist Canons", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2018 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2020-01-18
  2. ^ Jun (2014), p. 23.
  3. ^ Knechtges 2010, p. 677; Schwartz 1985, p. 137.
  4. ^ Schwartz (1985), p. 137,144,146.
  5. ^ Graham (1993), p. 339.
  6. ^ Nivison (1999), p. 762.

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Mozi (libro) Spanish موزی (کتاب) FA 묵자 (책) Korean Mozi (bok) Swedish 墨子 (书) Chinese 墨子 (書) ZH-CLASSICAL

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