Mo Zi

Mo Zi (Popular name zh. 墨子, pinyin Mo4 Zi5, wg. Mo-Tze, also known as Mocius or Motse in the west. His real name was zh. 墨翟, pinyin Mo4 Di2.) (470 BC - 391 BC) lived in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. He founded the school of Mohism, and advocated universal love.

Mo Zi idealised the Xia Dynasty, and advocated judging ideas and objects through the human senses, by their utility and their antiquity. Mo Zi denounced offensive warfare, extravagent funerals and music. He favoured frugality, and advocated increasing the power of the state through early marriage and a system of rewards and punishments. Mo Zi held a belief in the power of ghosts and spirits.

Mo Zi is also the name of the philosophical text compiled by mohists from Mo Di's thought.

See also: Mohism, Mohist.