Chapter VI – Applying Phenomenology of Will to the Philosophy of Mozi
6. Moral Agency and Autonomy of the Mind
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
It should be noted that in Mozi’s moral thought “right” or “righteous” (Chinese 義) is equivalent to “benefit” (Chinese 利), meaning benefit in general. This “benefit” is close in meaning to the concept of the “good” (Greek “το αγαθόν”) in European philosophy, which denotes some value by itself, it is something which is beneficial by itself, not necessarily for some particular person. Mozi’s “benefit” is a benefit to the people of the world in general. He equates this “benefit” with the moral virtue. For this reason his moral thought is often considered utilitarian in nature. However, researching this aspect is not of much importance for our research purposes,
What is of more importance is the fact that according to Mozi every person is able to use his mental capabilities to determine what is right and what is wrong, what is beneficial and what is harmful. Thus, Mozi implies that human mind is autonomous and is potentially free, it is necessary to be willing to utilize one’s mind, and it will then be possible to comprehend the “Will of Heaven” and to act accordingly.
From the last two quotations it is also evident that Mozi sees that in the actual reality many people do not understand the Will of Heaven, and advocate their subjective principles of moral judgment and behaviour. However, despite this reality, Mozi insists that it is nevertheless possible for anyone to understand the Will of Heaven and to follow it in his actions.
6. Moral Agency and Autonomy of the Mind
In the previous section we saw that according to Mozi human mind is autonomous, it is able to attain truth on its own. This may be related to the autonomy of the thinking ego, which was advocated by Arendt and was discussed in the previous Chapters. Moreover, according to Mozi, a person is able to act according to the Will of Heaven, which he has comprehended. This brings us to a question whether there is any notion of freedom of willing and action in Mozi’s thought, or action is conditioned by something. The main “danger” is a possible discovery that for Mozi action is
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
conditioned by understanding (i.e. by the thinking Ego). Let us attempt to determine whether this is indeed so or not.
For Mozi morality is directly related to thinking ability of a person. According to him, the ideal moral person is the “achieved man” (Chinese 賢者), who is thoughtful enough to bring affairs in order. Mozi says the following:
How do we know that elevating the achieved is the foundation of government?
Because when the noble and wise rule over the humble and stupid, then there will be order [in the affairs of the world, which are ordered and done primarily by the rulers, K.C.]. 196
From this we can infer that the “noble and wise rulers,” who are “achieved men”
are able to bring “order to the world.” This certainly means that they are thoughtful about the affairs of the world. However, it is unclear, whether Mozi implies an ability which has qualities similar to the thinking faculty (discussed by Arendt) or a practical mind (which would be directly related to the willing ego).
It is important that the ability of the “achieved men” to interfere with the state of the world and to bring the order to it indicates that these men are able of exercising a free will. Scott Lowe expresses the following observation regarding this ability of the
“achieved men” and relating it to “Heaven”:
The Mohists give great credit to the power of the human will and believe that anyone should be able to follow the “right” course once it has been pointed out to him or her. Human nature, however, is malleable; without the proper influences, ordinary people can be led astray. Mo tzu believes that he has found
196 Sun Yirang 孫詒讓. Mozi jian gu 墨子閒詁 (“Shang Xian, B”). P. 45.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
the ultimate moral compass and source of true values in the will of Heaven;
with this as a guide, humans are capable of great disciplined action.197
This explicit connection between will and action in Mozi’s thought is especially relevant for our research purposes. According to Mozi, humans possess an ability to
“follow the right course,” which requires understanding of the laws of “Heaven.” Mr.
Lowe is only incorrect in claiming that Mozi implies that ignorance is the main reason for not following “the Will of Heaven.” In Mozi’s thought, ignorance may be only one of the reasons for not following “the Will of Heaven,” another possible cause is not willing to follow it. This will be discussed in more detail later in this Chapter.
It should be also noted that according to Mozi, the characteristics of the
“achieved men” are “noble and wise,” and these characteristics Mozi also attributes to the Heaven. This may help us answer the question about the freedom of various mental abilities. Regarding the “noble and wise men” and their relationship to “justice” Mozi says the following:
Mozi said: “Justice does not emerge from the stupid and base; it must emerge from the noble and wise. How do I know that justice does not emerge from the stupid and base and that it must emerge from the noble and wise? I say: Justice is necessary for good governing…”198
Here Mozi clearly relates “nobility and wisdom” to “justice.” From the previous discussion we already know that Mozi hold that Heaven and the “Will of Heaven” are the ultimate sources of justice and its standards.
There is also another notion regarding the “achieved men,” which is worth mentioning. Such men are essentially the “virtuous” and “able,” that is, they possess
197 Lowe, Scott. Mo Tzu’s Religious Blueprint for a Chinese Utopia: The Will and the Way. P.
154.
198 Sun Yirang 孫詒讓. Mozi jian gu 墨子閒詁 (“Shang Xian, B”). P. 180.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
“abilities.” This means, that they have also some mental capacities, which may be due to education, or due to some kind of strength of the will, which makes them capable of initiating and completing some projects for bettering the world. Such “abilities” may also be associated with the “Heaven’s” abilities of ordering the world, for rewarding and punishing people (however, there is an essential difference between the two kinds of
“abilities,” since Heaven’s ability to influence human deeds is indirect, while humans are free agents capable of producing direct changes to the state of the world.
Erica Brindley mentions this characteristic of humans, which is advocated by Mohists, in the following way:
The three parallel chapters on “Elevating the Achieved” provide a strong claim that men of any social class might be considered achieved (xian 賢) and able (neng 能)… Ability, as either acquired or innate (the text does not directly distinguish between the two), is not the sole possession of any particular class of people… These quotes …show how the early Mohists promoted equal access to the ideal of bettering the self in accordance with Heaven’s will.199
It may be inferred that “ability” may be possessed by any human being, moreover this “ability” is directly related to being able to act according to “the Will of Heaven.”
This “ability” is related to the “power,” which is possessed by a human being, and which makes him capable of acting freely. This is only an intuition, which is likely to be correct, but it will require additional supportive research to be done.
With respect to Heaven and Heaven’s “abilities” Mozi says the following:
Now the stupid and base cannot rule the noble and wise. There must first be the noble and wise in order that they may then rule the stupid and base… Then who
199 Brindley, Erica Fox. Individualism in early China: human agency and the self in thought and politics. P. 13.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
is noble and who is wise? Heaven is noble ad wise. Therefore justice in fact emerges from Heaven. 200
Here Mozi explicitly indicates that the Heaven is the ultimate source of justice and Heaven provides the measuring standards, which can be used to determine whether some proposition or deed is just or unjust. It should be noted that the characteristics of
“nobility and wisdom” are attributed directly to Heaven. This means that with respect to the “achieved men” – they are considered noble and wise to the extent that they understand the universal principles of morality (wisdom) and behave accordingly (nobility). This means that their behaviour (i.e. action) is necessarily just, since their thinking is wise. Thus, it seems that according to Mozi, when people know the Will of the Heaven they also act accordingly. There is thus a subjectivization of willing to thinking.
In other words one may tend to conclude that for Mozi, willing is not a mental faculty, which is autonomous of thinking. Rather, for Mozi, there is a tendency to unite thinking and willing into one faculty, when understanding the truth implies also acting accordingly, and acting justly implies being wise (i.e. knowing the “Will of Heaven”).
However, this conclusion does not account for the possibility of conformity to a higher authority without knowing the “Will of Heaven.” If people of the lower social levels freely choose to conform to the people, who have a higher authority, and these people in turn know the “Will of Heaven” and act accordingly, then there will be order in the world, and the people on the lower social level will also do justice. This also implies that the people, who have the highest authority in this society, may also choose either to conform or not to conform to the supreme authority of Heaven. Thus, their choice is also not fully determined by their knowledge of the Will of Heaven.
It should be noted, that Mozi advocates a very active political involvement of individuals, he believes that every person is able to make a contribution to bringing order or disorder to the whole of society. Moreover, people are able to act “collectively”
200 Sun Yirang 孫詒讓. Mozi jian gu 墨子閒詁 (“Shang Xian, B”). P. 180.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
in their political action. This is important for relating Mozi’s thought to the theoretical framework of “collective will” and “collective action,” which were studied in the previous Chapter. Scott Lowe also notices this characteristic of Mozi’s philosophy: “For the Mohists, it is essential that men and women believe in their ability to ameliorate their conditions through individual and collective effort.”201
The above discussion may be summarized as follows: according to Mozi a person may be freely choose whether to conform or not to conform to a higher authority.
This choice is not determined by his knowledge or thinking, it is a free choice. This person may also realize that the ultimate source of justice is Heaven and then his will will be directed towards understanding the “Will of Heaven” and he may also freely comprehend the universal principles of morality. He may then in turn choose to conform to the Will of Heaven or not to conform to it, and the freedom of his will will thus be manifested.