Choosing the greater and choosing the lesser: A translation and analysis of the Daqu and Xiaoqu chapters of the Mozi

Journal of Chinese Philosophy

Volumn 27, Issue 4, 2000, Pages 375-407

  Johnston, Ian ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 61049224374     PISSN: 03018121     EISSN: 15406253     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/0301-8121.00023     Document Type: Article

References (78)

1. Bi Yuan's edition of the Mozi is included in the Ssu-pu pei-yao (Shanghai: Chung-hua Shu-chü, 1927-1936)
2. and vols. 7 and 8 of Mo Tzu Chi-ch'eng, 46 vols. (hereafter cited as MTCC) (Taipei: Cheng Wen Publishing Co., 1977)
3. Tan Jiefu, Mobian Fawei (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1964)
4. Zhang Qihuang, Mobian Tongjie, MTCC, vol. 29
5. A. C. Graham's works on these chapters extend from his initial articles, "The Logic of the Mohist Hsiao-ch'u," T'oung Pao 51 (1964): 1-54
6. and "Later Mohist Treatises on Ethics and Logic Reconstructed from the Ta-ch'u Chapter of Mo-tzu," Asia Major 17 (1964): 137-189, through his major treatise, Later Mohist Logic, Ethics and Science (hereafter cited as LMLES) (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1978) to Disputers of the Tao (hereafter cited as DT) (La Salle, IL: Open Court, 1989)
7. Chad Hansen, A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), chapter 8
8. J. Knoblock, Xunzi. A Translation and Study of the Complete Works, vol. 3 (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994), p. 118
9. Hu Shi, The Development of Logical Method in Ancient China (New York: Paragon, 1963, reprint), p. 61
10. Cheng Chung-ying, "Philosophical Significance of Gongsun Long: A New Interpretation of Theory of Zhi as Meaning and Reference," Journal of Chinese Philosophy 24 (1997): 139-177
11. See Mozi 14, Wu Yujiang, 1:154-155 and Y. P. Mei, pp. 79-80
12. All textual references to the Mozi are to the edition of Wu Yujiang, Mozi Jiaozhu (Peking: Zhonghua Shuju, 1993)
13. See also MTCC, vols. 43 and 44 and, in translation, to that of Mei, The Ethical and Political Works of Motse (London: A Probsthain, 1929), unless otherwise stated
14. Fung Yu-lan expresses his view in his History of Chinese Philosophy, vol. 1 (hereafter cited as HCP), trans. D. Bodde (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1952), pp. 84-87
15. The recent articles are those of D. M. Ahern, "Is Mo Tzu a Utilitarian?," Journal of Chinese Philosophy 3 (1976): 185-193
16. and D. E. Soles, "Mo Tzu and the Foundations of Morality," Journal of Chinese Philosophy 26 (1999): 37-48
17. both contra and that of D. Vorenkamp, "Another Look at Utilitarianism in Mo Tzu's Thought," Journal of Chinese Philosophy 19 (1992): 423-443, which is pro
18. See Hu Shi, p. 83 et seq
19. W. Kneale and M. Kneale, The Development of Logic (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962), p. 7 et seq
20. Mozi Baihua Jinyi (hereafter cited as MBJ), edited by Wu Longhui (Peking: Zhongsuo Shudian, 1995) and Mozi Quanyi (hereafter cited as MZQY), edited by Zhou Caizhu and Qi Ruiduan (Guizhou: Guizhou People's Publishing Co., 1992)
21. Yen Ling-feng, (editor), Mo Tzu Chi-Ch'eng (MTCC)
22. Sun Yirang, Mozi Jiangu (Peking, 1896 and 1954 reprint), in MTCC, vols. 12-15
23. Hu Shi, Xiaoqu Pian Xingu, in MTCC vol. 21
24. Zhou Yunzhi, Mingbian Xuelun (Liaoning: Liaoning Jiaoyu Publishing Co., 1995)
25. A. Forke, Me Ti des Sozialethikers und seiner Schuler Philosophische Werke (Berlin: Kommissionsverlag der Vereinigung Wissenschaftlicher Verleger, 1922)
26. H. Maspero, "Notes sur la logique de Mo-tseu et de son école," T'oung Pao 25 (1928): 1-64
27. E. R. Hughes, Chinese Philosophy in Classical Times (New York: Everyman's Library, 1942), pp. 137-143
28. D. C. Lau, "Some Logical Problems in Ancient China," Proc Aristot Soc 53 (1952/53): 189-204
29. There is some uncertainty about this. Some interpreters take it to mean that there is no choice in that death is shunned and life is chosen. Wu, for example, sees it as a statement of the "spirit of sacrifice" of the Mohists and refers to Mencius 7A:26(2) and Zhuangzi 2 (Guo Qingfan, Zhuangzi Jishi, vol. 1 [Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1961], p. 96)
30. [With reference to the "perfect" man] "Even life and death have no effect on him, much less the rules of profit and loss" (trans. after Watson, p. 46 in The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu [New York: Columbia University Press, 1968])
31. See also Mozi 16 which has: "The weighing of life and death cannot be known" (Wu, 1:177)
32. This version follows Zhang and is seen as a rebuttal of the Confucian statement in the Doctrine of the Mean 20:5: "Benevolence is humanity" (trans. after James Legge in The Chinese Classics [Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1960, reprint], 1:405)
33. The position of this sentence in the list of "samenesses" varies. Both Tan and Zhang place it here, invalidating Graham's division of the list into two groups, that is, "sameness with the same name" and "sameness with the same root" (see LMLES, pp. 475-478)
34. c2 as "words" with reference, for example, to Mencius 2A:2(17) and Changes, Great Treatise, Shisan Jing Zhushu, vol. 1 (Taipei: Yi Wen Yin Shuguan, 1982), p. 177
35. c4 to refer to litigation (see, e.g., MZQY, p. 519 et seq.)
36. and Zhao 1, where Legge translates it as "economical" and "sparingly," respectively (Legge, Chinese Classics, 5:180, 577)
37. c5 here translated as "protect and nourish," see Xunzi 4 (Knoblock, 1:193)
38. s12 seen also in section 9 above. It is simple and consistent to take both finger and head as bodily parts (however circumlocutory one might be in translation - see, e.g., Graham, LMLES, p. 475)
39. f8 or be added to the end of this section. Fung Yu-lan, who translates these characters as follows: "There are three things which must be complete before it may be adequately produced . ..," places them here (HCP, p. 262)
40. z15 based on the Lun Yu 18:5. Zhang has "... tracing what has gone astray," referring to Zhuangzi 14 (Guo, 2:523)
41. s13 (snake), see the Yi Li, Shisan Jing Zhushu, 4:149
42. z16 is zealous in public affairs. The one who is zealous in public affairs looks on these in the same light as family affairs" (Tan, p. 486)
43. Lun Yu 2:3 and 12:18, 19
44. s19 as do other commentators (see Tan, p. 402 and Graham, p. 491)
45. w10 (to say), following Bi Yuan. See Tan, p. 408
46. Virtually identical arguments are given in the Zhuangzi 33 (Guo,4:1111) and the Huai Nanzi (Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an [hereafter cited as SPTK] Commercial Press, [Shanghai: 1919-1936], 22:125)
47. D. Zong, "Studies of Intensional Contexts in Mohist Writings," Philosophy East and West 50 (2000): 208-228 (see p. 210)
48. Mozi 16, Wu, 1:177
49. Hansen, p. 248. The reference to Mencius is 3B:9(9)
50. B. Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), p. 146
51. See Zong, pp. 210-212
52. See Zhang Qihuang, p. 262
53. For the respective references see SPTK, 14:29 and SPTK, 18:89
54. Mencius 6B:6(1)
55. Liang Qichao, "Notes on the Mozi," reprinted in MTCC, vol. 18, p. 53
56. Cao Yaoxiang, Mozi Jian, MTCC, 17:202
57. The reference to Xunzi is 22.3f, Knoblock, 3:123-124
58. See Tan's detailed discussion on pp. 480ff
59. C. Chong, "The Neo-Mohist Conception of Bian [Disputation]," Journal of Chinese Philosophy 26 (1999): 1-19
60. See also Hansen, pp. 238-239
61. and Zhou Yunzhi, p. 79ff
62. See Aristotle, "Prior Analytics" I, I and Fung Yu-lan, HCP, pp. 257-262
63. See Sun Zhongyuan, Moxue yu Xiandai Wenhua (Beijing: Zhongguo Guangbo Dianshi Publishing Co., 1998), pp. 202ff and Zhou Yunzhi, pp. 79ff
64. Zhuangzi 2 (Guo, 1:63, 66)
65. Fung Yu-lan, HCP, 1:259
66. Wu Feibai, p. 445 et seq
67. A translation of this story is given by Hu Shi, Logical Method, pp. 99-100
68. Hansen, pp. 250-251
69. Wu Feibai, p. 447. The reference to Mozi 17 is the example of distinguishing colors and tastes (Wu Yujiang, 1:199 and Mei, pp. 99-100)
70. Tan Jiefu, pp. 433-434
71. Zhou Yunzhi, pp. 84-85
72. Xunzi 22:3a
73. See, for example, Hu Shi's analysis (Xiaoqu Pian Xingu, pp. 23-24) where he refers to Mozi 48 (Wu, 2:704)
74. The translation of the story is given by Mei, p. 234
75. See Graham, LMLES, pp. 490-491
76. Aristotle, "De Interpretatione" IX, 19a and Kneale and Kneale, pp. 17-18
77. Hansen, p. 251
78. Zhou Yunzhi, p. 89