EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E
Chinese Thought: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science
Edward Slingerland, University of British Columbia
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C O U R S E L E C T U R E Mozi's Religious Fundamentalism and Organized Activism Notes taken on January 15, 2019 by Edward Tanguay |
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Mozi (470-391 BCE) as a fundamentalist and activist
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two chapters: "On Ghosts" and "Heaven's Will"
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understand these chapters on the background of two trends of the growing elite as the Warring States period moves on
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agnosticism
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becoming unclear if ghosts and spirits exist
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Mozi wants to revive this
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that ghosts and spirits are alive and active agents on the Earth
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he wants it to be a kind of invisible police force
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Confucius says: sacrifice as if they spirits are present
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one way to read this is that Confucius believes that the spirits are not there but you have to pretend they are there
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Mozi thinks that's a terrible idea
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in his chapter "On Ghosts" he presents his position that he wants to make sure that the people literally believe in ghosts
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his key argument why people should do this is that it is advantageous
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it increases order in the state
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an increasingly depersonalized view of tian, or heaven
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or the Shang and the Zhou dynasties
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tien is an anthropomorphic being
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an active being who sends down mandates
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becomes more of a generic force
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it's doing something
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but doesn't have intentions
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not acting like a person
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Mozi is upset with this trend
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for Mozi, tian is up there and watching you
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tian practices impartial caring itself and wants us to do the same
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ghosts and spirits were like a police force
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makes people behave
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people behave better when they think they are being watched by invisible agents
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supernatural surveillance in human behavior
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research: Haley, Kevin, Fessler
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when they replaced random patterns with eyes, you are much more generous, i.e. cues of being watched
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research:Bateson
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offices, if you take coffee, put in some money
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when you manipulate the image, i.e. have human eyes, contributions went up
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research: Piazza
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children in situations where they could be cheating
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princess Alice lived in the lab
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watched people are good people
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research: porn consumption
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where there is high levels of Christianity, people watch less porn on Sundays
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Mozi argued its a crucial tool you need in your toolbox if you are going to get people to act in accordance with impartial caring
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Mozi and his followers were activists
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"killing one person is condemned, but killing a thousand people in war is encouraged"
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if you kill people on a large scale you get a medal, if you kill one person, you get thrown in jail
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stealing some peaches and plus from an orchard is condemned, but not stealing an entire state
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Mozi is against offensive warfare
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it doesn't increase the wealth, population, and order of the state
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wants to stop the warfare of the warring states
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argumentation
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action: going to the defense of attacked states
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became experts in defensive warfare
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Mozi saved a weaker state in the Warring States
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Chu was a large, aggressive state
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Chu developed a scaling ladder to scale city walls
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convinced another king not to attack
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Mozi was an activist, unlike typical Confucian followers
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believed you had to get out in the world and act
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made his followers do the same
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took as the sage king Yu
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a vigorous and tireless worker who rescued China from the raging waters of the flooding Yellow River
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made it inhabitable for humans
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created civilization
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he was so dedicated to his task that he passed his house three times
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so dedicated to the public good that he didn't even stop to say hello
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this, of course, appealed to the Mohists, who believed one should not be concerned about one's private life but only the public life and others
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Mohists described
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from the last book of the Zhuangzi, Book 33, "Under Heaven", a description of the Mohists
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"Many of the Mohists of later ages wear furs and rough clothing, clogs and grass slippers, never resting day or night, taking self-sacrifice as the highest. They say one who cannot do this is not following the way of Yu and doesn't deserve to be called a Mohist. Thtey press each other forward in self-sacrifice until there's no flesh left on their calves or hair on their shins.
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so they are described as kind of crazy, fanatic activists
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but they have an inspiring ideal
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concerned only by objective concerns for other people
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we are concerned only impartially with what is good for everyone
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we think things through logically
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it's hard to argue against the Mohists
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people make fun of them because they are uncomfortable
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there is something about self-sacrifice in an extreme way
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it's hard to argue against people who say you should help all children equally, not just your own children
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criticism against Mozi
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he doesn't take into account human nature
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Mencius (372-289 BC)
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argued against Mozi
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not logically or intellectually
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human beings are just not built in a way that they can follow this idea
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yet there are some people who do self-sacrifice
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but they seem to always be a minority of human beings