Mozi · Philosophy

The Arithmetic of Aggression: Against Offensive War

Mozi’s argument that a war of conquest is mass theft and mass murder scaled up - so the same reasoning that condemns stealing a pig or killing one man condemns aggression a thousandfold; to praise it as glorious is to be unable to tell black from white.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Mozi condemned offensive war by scaling up ordinary morality (one murder is a crime, so mass killing is a mass crime), showed that aggression fails even by the aggressor’s own selfish ledger, distinguished predatory attack from just punishment, and had his followers defend besieged cities. Expla…

Leads to Jesus of Nazareth.

Begin this lesson →
← All lessons on Mozi

epoché — a humanities education that remembers you.