W&M ScholarWorks Undergraduate Honors Theses Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2013 Mozi: the Man, the Consequentialist, and the Utilitarian Grace H. Mendenhall College of William and Mary Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Mendenhall, Grace H., "Mozi: the Man, the Consequentialist, and the Utilitarian" (2013). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 772. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/772 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Mozi: the Man, the Consequentialist, and the Utilitarian A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from The College of William and Mary by Grace Helen Mendenhall Accepted for ______________________________ (Honors, High Honors, Highest Honors) ______________________________ Christopher Freiman, Director ______________________________ Maria Costa ______________________________ Timothy Costelloe ______________________________ Kevin Vose Introduction While little scholarship has been done on Master Mozi and his theory of ethics, those who study his work have contributed much to the discipline of philosophy as a whole. Originally, as he never achieved the fame of Confucius, Mencius, or Lao Tzu, Mozi’s work was often ignored. Unlike his fellows, until recently, Mozi’s writings were not translated and lacked explanatory companion texts. Unfortunately, much of his original works were also destroyed, leaving little for even those interested scholars to interpret.1 What philosophical scholarship has been done on Mozi’s ethics, in particular, is fairly controversial.