Ethical and Political Philosophy of Mohists

Abstract

We present a review of the ethical and political philosophy of Mohism one of the key schools of the ancient Chinese philosophy of the Warring States period (V–III centuries BC), which is important for studying the ancient Chinese rational argumentation. The review is specially prepared for the Electronic Philosophical Encyclopedia project of the Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences. The article discusses the ten classic Mohist doctrines, the Mohist criticism of alternative doctrines of competing schools, and the criteria that Mohists used in polemics.