Early Chinese Philosophy: Confucianism, Mencius, Xunzi, and Mohism

Vocabulary flashcards covering early Chinese philosophical traditions including Classical Confucianism, Mencius, Xunzi, and Mohism, along with their core ethical, cosmological, and political concepts.

Mandate of Heaven

The contract between humans (the ruler) and the divine, claiming Heaven will bless and support a ruler as long as he enacts the natural order of balance and harmony.

Sage Kings

Ideal ancient rulers who governed in harmony with Heaven's natural patterns, serving as models whose knowledge and customs are to be preserved and transmitted.

Ritual Propriety

The proper behavior, social customs, and sacred rituals in human interactions; a daily exercise of empathy focusing on small daily actions like posture, greetings, and eating.

Five Constants

The Confucian virtues—including humaneness, integrity/trust, knowledge, and ritual propriety—embodied by the ideal noble person.

Noble Person

The ideal individual who embodies the five constants, adapts harmoniously to situations, and engages in lifelong moral self-cultivation without a rigid, fixed identity.

Golden Rule

The embodied virtue in Confucianism of treating others the way you want to be treated, grounded in empathy and a relational concern for society.

Five Bonds

Foundational relational hierarchies reflecting Heaven's will: ruler and subject, father and child, husband and wife, older sibling and younger sibling, and friend and friend.

Four Sprouts

Mencius's concept of innate predispositions of human goodness: empathy leading to humaneness, shame leading to righteousness/justice, deference/respect leading to ritual propriety, and right/wrong leading to wisdom.

Qi

The vital energy or breaths described by Mencius that connects humans with the natural world and is felt when doing good deeds.

Mencius's View of Human Nature

The belief that genuine goodness is innate to all humans, and that people are denatured or corrupted by the artificial structures of society.

Xing

Human nature or the natural endowment obtained at birth, which Xunzi argues is fundamentally bad and prone to disorder without external intervention.

Artifice (wei)

The external force for change in Xunzi's thought, consisting of rituals and culture created by the Sage Kings, which reshapes raw human nature.

Music (Xunzi)

A complement to ritual that mimics Heaven's natural processes through sympathetic resonance, allowing the orderly expression and channeling of human emotions.

Heart-Mind (Xunzi)

The cognitive center that controls the body, urges, and emotions to allow rational thought and critical thinking, functioning through emptiness, unity, and tranquility.

Emptiness (Heart-Mind)

The core faculty of Xunzi's heart-mind providing unlimited storage for new thoughts, experiences, and information without allowing prior knowledge to corrupt new input.

Unity (Heart-Mind)

The core faculty of Xunzi's heart-mind responsible for synthesizing diverse pieces of information into meaningful paradigms.

Tranquility (Heart-Mind)

The core faculty of Xunzi's heart-mind characterized by constant activity and the power to discern reality and rational thought from fantasy and fiction.

Impartiality (Impartial Love)

Mozi's principle of loving all people equally and without emotion, removing nepotism and familial favoritism to achieve an egalitarian society.

Utilitarianism (Mohism)

Mozi's practical moral equation holding that actions producing general profit and happiness for the majority are good, while those benefiting only a few or causing harm are bad.

Three Standards

Mozi's test for government policies and theories: Root (did the Sage Kings do it?), Origin (do the ordinary people do it?), and Utility (does it benefit everyone in practice?).

Ghosts and Spirits (Mozi)

Supernatural entities that Mozi believed actively police society by enforcing rewards for the good and punishments for the bad.

Axial Age

The era from 500 BCE to 0 CE transitioning out of the Bronze Age, characterized by individual thinkers critiquing static moral systems and posing existential questions.

100 Schools of Thought

The golden age of diverse philosophies during the Warring States period, arising when rulers hired competing scholars to manage societal disorder after the Zhou dynasty collapsed.

The Analects

The foundational Confucian text compiled by the students of Confucius, recording his teachings, dialogues, and core ethical philosophy.

Filial Piety

The foundational Confucian virtue of respect, obedience, and care for one's family, serving as the fundamental blueprint for order throughout society.

Ren

The core Confucian value of humaneness, empathy, and benevolence manifested by practicing the Golden Rule and considering the perspective of others.

Meritocracy

A social and governing system championed by Mozi where individuals gain wealth, status, and administrative power through talent and merit rather than noble birth.