Critique of Mohist Utilitarianism

Wang, Keping

doi:10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_5

Keping Wang²

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Abstract

Mozi turns down some of the Confucian values and beliefs. Judging from the process of music making, performance and listening altogether, he goes up to embrace a kind of negative utilitarianism that appears anti-aesthetic in principle. In his opinion, music activities are useless and wasteful, thus depriving social production of time and energy. All these negative functions can do nothing to resolve the problems of satisfying the basic needs of the people. Confronted with Mozi’s backlash against music, Xunzi steps out to defend music as a performing art in light of his positive utilitarianism that is explicitly pro-aesthetic. To his mind, music can be employed to facilitate personal cultivation, harmonize human relations, and enhance communal cohesion for national defense. His philosophy of music further develops the ethos of joy-consciousness and sublimates it up to the optimistic spirit and the will to self-reliance.

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Notes

1.
Mozi, “Gong Meng” [Gong Meng Zi], in Wang Huanbiao (ed.), Mozi ji gu [Collected Annotations to The Book of Mozi] (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Press, 2005), Ch. 48, pp. 1101–1102; also see Sun Yirang (ed.), Mozi xiangu [The Book of Mozi with Annotations] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2001), Vol. 2, 459; Fung Yu-lan, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy in his Selected Philosophical Writings (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1991), pp. 248–249.
2.
Mozi, “Lu wen” [The Lord of State Lu], in Wang Huanbiao (ed.), Mozi jigu [Collected Annotations to The Book of Mozi], Ch. 49, pp. 1125–1176; also see Sun Yirang (ed.), Mozi xiangu [The Book of Mozi with Annotations], Vol. 2, pp. 475–476.
3.
Mo Tzu, “Universal Love,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson, New York: Columbia University Press, 1966), 39–41.
4.
Mozi, “Fei yue” [Against Music], in Wang Huanbiao (ed.), Mozi jigu [Collected Annotations to The Book of Mozi], Chs. 33–34. His essay “Against Music” is said to have three parts. What is left in The Book of Mozi are two incomplete parts from which we see the key arguments relevant to his whole system of thought in this domain. Cf. Sun Yirang (ed.), Mozi xiangu [The Book of Mozi with Annotations], Vol. 1, pp. 251–263.
5.
Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson, New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1966), p. 111.
6.
Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), pp. 111–112.
7.
Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), p. 112.
8.
Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), pp. 112–113.
9.
Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), pp. 114–115.
10.
Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), p. 110.
11.
Mozi, “Against Music,” in Mo Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), pp. 110–111.
12.
Mozi, “Yi wen” [Fragments in the Appendix], in Mozi xiangu [The Book of Mozi with Annotations] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2001), pp. 653–659.
13.
Ibid., p. 656.
14.
Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2016), Vol. 2, pp. 648–649. Also see “Hsün Tzu, A Discussion of Music,” in Hsün Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson, New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1963), p. 112. The three notions in Chinese are he jing (和敬), he qin (和亲), and he shun (和顺).
15.
Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 652–653.
16.
Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 662–663.
17.
Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 658–661. Also see Hsün Tzu, Basic Writings (trans. Burton Watson), pp. 116–117.
18.
Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 656–657. The Chinese expression is fu min you hao wu zhi qing, er wu xi nu zhi ying, ze luan (夫民有好恶之情, 而无喜怒之应, 则乱).
19.
Xunzi, “Discourse on Music,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 660–661. Also see Burton Watson’s version in Hsün Tzu, Basic Writings. p. 117.
20.
Ibid.
21.
Fung Yu-lan, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, in Selected Philosophical Writings of Fung Yu-lan (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1991), pp. 246–249. Also see Ren Jiyu, Zhongguo zhexueshi [A History of Chinese Philosophy] (Beijing: Renmin Chubanshe, 1990), Vol. 1, pp. 103–104, p. 218; Feng Qi, Zhongguo gudai zhexue de luoji fazhan [A Logical Development of Ancient Chinese Philosophy] (Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe, 1983), Vol. 1, pp. 96–102; Li Zehou and Liu Gangji (ed.), Zhongguo meixueshi [A History of Chinese Aesthetics] (Beijing: Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Chubanshe, 1984), Vol. 1, pp. 168–170; Zheng Jiewen, Zhongguo Moxue tongshi [A History of Mohist Studies in China] (Beijing: Renmin Chubanshe, 2006), pp. 7–8.
22.
Xunzi, “Jie bi” [Dispelling Blindness], in Xunzi quan yi [The Book of Xunzi Annotated and Paraphrased], eds. Jiang Nanhua et al., Guiyang: Guizhou Renmin Chubanshe, 1995), pp. 442–446. Also see Xunzi, “Dispelling Blindness,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 676–677. The English translation in this version follows: “Mo Di [Mozi] was blinded by utility and was insensible to the value of good form (蔽于用而不知文).”
23.
Xunzi, “On Enriching the State,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 266–267.
24.
Xunzi, “On Enriching the State,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 272–273.
25.
Xunzi, “On Enriching the State,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 288–289.
26.
Xunzi, “On Enriching the State,” in The Xunzi (trans. John Knoblock), pp. 282–285.
27.
The original heading of the myth is Hou Yi she ri (后羿射日). Cf. Hai wai nan jing [Legends of Overseas South, Vol. 6], and Hai nei jing [Legends of Domestic Seas, Vol. 18], in Fang Tao (ed.), Shan hai jing [Legends of Mountains and Seas] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2009), pp. 182, 280. A part of the legendary story is lost, but it is recollected in other Chinese classics. Also see Ben jing xun [Comments on the Fundamental and Constant Rules], in Chen Guangzhong (ed.), Huainanzi [The Book of Huannanzi] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2013), Vol. 1, p. 393.
28.
The original heading of the myth is Kua Fu zhui ri (夸父追日). Cf. Hai wai bei jing [Legends of Overseas North, Vol. 8], in Fang Tao (ed.), Shan hai jing [Legends of Mountains and Seas], pp. 194–195.
29.
The original heading of the myth is Jingwei tian hai (精卫填海). Cf. Bei Shan jing [Legends of Mount Bei Shan, Vol. 3], in Fang Tao (ed.), Shan hai jing [Legends of Mountains and Seas], p. 79.
30.
Lü Buwei, “Relying on Oneself,” in Lü’s Commentary of History, pp. 156–158.

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Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
Keping Wang

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Wang, K. (2021). Critique of Mohist Utilitarianism. In: Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_5

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1714-0_5
Published: 27 May 2021
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-16-1713-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-16-1714-0
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