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Mencius, Mozi and Peter Singer

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Mencius, Mozi and Peter Singer ARE DOUBLE STANDARDS REQUIRED? A case study in evaluating ethics East and West: Mencius, Mozi and Peter Singer José C. van Mechelen Studentno. 0477001 Defence: 30th of August 2018 Universiteit van Amsterdam Faculteit Wijsbegeerte First examiner: Dr. M.M. Leezenberg Second examiner: Dr. E.C. Brouwer Mencius Mozi Peter Singer 2 The Master said: “From fifteen, my heart and mind (xin) was set upon learning; from thirty I took my stance; from forty I was no longer doubtful; from fifty I realised the propensities of tian (tian ming); from sixty my ear was attuned; from seventy I could give my heart-and-mind free rein without overstepping the boundaries. Lunyu 2.4 (The Analects of Confucius, translated by Ames and Rosemont 1998) For Paula, in loving memory 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7 INTRODUCTION 9 Translations used 14 Chapter 1 Chinese ‘Philosophy’ and some of its key concepts 15 1.1 In which sense is Chinese ‘Philosophy’ philosophy? 15 1.1.1. History 15 1.1.2. Opinions 16 1.1.3. My opinion 18 1.1.4. ‘Zhongdaology’, a Chinese view on the ‘Masters of Wisdom’ 18 1.2. The concept of ‘Dao’ 22 1.3 The Period of the Warring States (475– 221BCE), the quest for a uniting political philosophy 25 1.3.1 Philosophers in the period of the Warring States 27 1.3.1.1. The hundred schools of thought 28 1.3.1.2. The Jixia academy 28 1.3.1.3. The six schools of thought ‘jia’ 29 1.4 The ‘Ru’ (Confucian)’ mandate of heaven’ ‘tian ming’ and Mozi’s ‘tian zhi’, ‘heaven’s intention’ 31 1.5 The concept of filial piety ‘xiao’ 34 1.6 The concept of ‘xin’: both ‘heart-organ’ and ‘heart-mind’ 35 Chapter 2 Mencius 36 2.1 Introduction 36 2.2 Virtues and emotions in the Mencius 37 2.3 Mencius among his philosophical rivals Yang Tzu and Mozi 39 4 Chapter 3 Mozi and the Mohists 41 3.1 Introduction 41 3.2 Mozi against spending too much on ritual and on war 44 3.2.1. funerals 45 3.2.2 music 46 3.2.3 war 47 3.3 On jian’ai in the Mozi, ‘Love for all’/‘Inclusive love’/‘impartial love’ 48 Chapter 4 Discussion of Benefit (li) in the Mencius and the Mozi 54 Chapter 5 Peter Singer and his movement of Effective Altruism 58 5.1 Introduction 58 5.2 ‘The point of view of the universe’ 63 5.3 ‘The principle of equal consideration of interests’ 64 5.4 ‘Effective Altruism’ 65 Chapter 6 Singer, Mencius and Mozi compared 69 6.1 Discussion 69 6.2 Philosophical guiding standards 71 6.3 The role of the government 72 CONCLUSION 75 BIBLIOGRAPHY 79 5 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When it appeared in 2004 that I would be made redundant from my job as a teacher any time in the future, I took up academic studies again. My partner Paula, suggested Philosophy, which turned out to have been an excellent choice. At the onset, my aim was learning from as many philosophical disciplines as I could. However, a year later, Chinese philosophy got me into its grip. My teacher, Karel L. van der Leeuw, a true master himself, used to warn his students at the first lecture that the subject is a ‘mer à boire’ and could take over your whole life. I discovered that it is an ocean in which you can easily drown indeed, but that it is possible to learn how to ride the waves. For that I am very grateful to master Karel and his lectures which I attended for a great number of years. He passed away in 2015 -not having found the means to reach immortality- but his books are still here and his wisdom will be passed on. It took more than eight years longer than expected to finish my studies, due to ill- health of my partner and myself. I promised Paula, who died in 2012, that one day I would end up with a degree. Now this day is here to enjoy with my family and friends who are such a great support. I would like to thank Michiel Leezenberg for his guidance in writing this thesis; he kept me going into the right direction. Special thanks to Elsbeth Brouwer, who has known me as a student for many years, for agreeing to be the second examiner. Amsterdam, 26th of August 2018 7 8 INTRODUCTION This case study is about Philosophy East and West. It is rather common nowadays to use this phrasing when indicating a comparison made between philosophical works of Eastern (Chinese in this thesis) authors and those with a formal Western education in philosophy. It is also the name of an influential magazine in the field, published by the University of Hawaii.1 This thesis has as its aim to compare the ‘leitmotiv’ of ‘Effective Altruism’ in the philosophy of Peter Singer, a contemporary utilitarian philosopher, born and bred in Australia, who currently holds positions as a professor of philosophy in Melbourne, Australia and as a professor of bioethics at Princeton, U.S.A., with the most striking ‘philosophical’ thoughts of two masters of the Period of the Warring States (471-221 BCE) in what we now call China: Mencius and Mozi. They travelled from court to court to advise the rulers and in Mozi’s case spoke to the common people as well. All three thinkers give suggestions how to make society a better place to live for all people. Peter Singer tries to make the world one, advocating his utilitarian impartial philosophy and lifestyle and uses as many channels as possible to do so. He is often in the news and on television with his ideas. He employs the ‘principle of marginal utility’, derived from economic theory, that says that when you have already enough money to live a good life, you could spare anything extra to donate to others in need. Mencius advocates a traditional Ru (Confucian) ideal of how a society should be organised, namely through xiao, filial piety, as the building block, with the ruler as connection between tian, heaven and di, earth, at the top of civilisation. Mozi proposes a new radical theory: ‘love for all/inclusive love/impartial love’, an impartial egalitarian view that challenges the traditional values of the Ru (Confucians). In Mozi’s view tian, heaven, is there for all and communicates directly with ruler and common people alike. 1 Philosophy East and West: a quarterly journal of oriental and comparative thought. University of Hawaii, Honolulu 9 When I got acquainted with Singer’s theory I could not escape the thought that it was very similar to Mozi’s and in Singer’s way of getting his ideas across, the examples given by Mencius resonated. That is why I decided on a comparison of these three thinkers for the subject of this thesis. First I will shed some light on a few ‘key’ concepts in Chinese ‘Philosophy’, starting with the concept of ancient Chinese ‘Philosophy’ itself in chapter 1. To understand the view of the world as unfolded to us in the Mencius and the Mozi (the books have got the names of the masters that provided the inspiration for them) some acquaintance with the following concepts is necessary in my view. They are: Dao ,道. mostly translated into English as the Way (spelled in capital W), tian ming, 天命, the ‘mandate of heaven’ as used in Ru, 儒2 (Confucian) worldview and tian zhi, 天志, heaven’s intention/will’ as used in the Mozi. Furthermore the concepts of xiao(孝), filial piety and xin (心), the ‘heart-mind’, which have the same meaning today as they had 2500 years ago. I will give some background information on the period in which Mencius and Mozi lived and worked as far as is necessary to understand their thoughts on how to make the world of the Middle Kingdom, zhong guo,中國 a better place to live. In Chapter 2, I will give a very brief introduction on the Mencius, 孟子, and will then discuss his view on emotions and the heart (心) - or rather the various hearts-, in particular. I will use one special example from Mencius 2A6 to illustrate what compassion is and through that, what makes a person humane/benevolent. It is the famous: ‘Child due to fall into a well’ example. Anybody would be touched and would rescue the child as a matter of course and 2 Whom we in the West know as Confucian scholars, used (and still use) the name of Ru 儒 for themselves. See: Dr Bin Song (Ruist scholar) on Confucianism: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dr-bin-song-on-the-meaning-of-ru-%E5%84%92-for- confucianism_us_59793cf7e4b09982b7376212 10 this emotional state leads us to the reason behind such behaviour: we simply cannot bear to see another person suffer. The question is raised whether Mencius’ ‘exposé ’would be ‘philosophy’ seen through the eyes of Peter Singer or not. Chapter 3 is on Mozi 墨子 and the Mohists. I discuss the Mozi in more detail than I do with the Mencius. The reason is that there is a most striking resemblance between the philosophy and philosophical movement of two of the philosophers compared in this thesis: Peter Singer and Mozi. Mozi is often depicted by his fellow masters (Mengzi (Mencius) 孟, Xunzi荀子and Zhuangzi 莊子) as the Chinese master that was against everything. Mohism is a radical movement that would like to change its contemporary society by doing away with the overspending on luxury that went with how Ru (Confucian) scholars executed ritual.
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