State consequentialism

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State consequentialism, also known as Mohist consequentialism, [1] is a consequentialist ethical theory which evaluates the moral worth of an action based on how it contributes to the basic goods of a state, [1] through social order, material wealth, and population growth. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , Mohist consequentialism, dating back to the 5th century BC, is the "world's earliest form of consequentialism, a remarkably sophisticated version based on a plurality of intrinsic goods taken as constitutive of human welfare". [2] The term state consequentialism has also been applied to the political philosophy of the Confucian philosopher Xunzi. [3]

Contents

Although the scholars cited above have suggested that Mohist consequentialism is a type of state consequentialism, a 2016 study of Mohism argues that this interpretation is mistaken, since the Mohists hold that right and wrong are determined by what benefits all the people of the world, not by what benefits the state. The Mohists' concern is to benefit all people, considered as an aggregate or a community, not to benefit a particular political entity, such as the state. [4]

Consequentialism

It is the business of the benevolent man to seek to promote what is beneficial to the world and to eliminate what is harmful, and to provide a model for the world. What benefits he will carry out; what does not benefit men he will leave alone. [5]

— Mozi, Mozi (5th century BC) Part I

Unlike utilitarianism, which views pleasure as a moral good, "the basic goods in Mohist consequentialist thinking are... order, material wealth, and increase in population". [6] During Mozi's era, war and famines were common, and population growth was seen as a moral necessity for a harmonious society. The "material wealth" of Mohist consequentialism refers to basic needs like shelter and clothing, and the "order" of Mohist consequentialism refers to Mozi's stance against warfare and violence, which he viewed as pointless and a threat to social stability. [7]

Stanford Sinologist David Shepherd Nivison, in The Cambridge History of Ancient China , writes that the moral goods of Mohism "are interrelated: more basic wealth, then more reproduction; more people, then more production and wealth... if people have plenty, they would be good, filial, kind, and so on unproblematically". [6] The Mohists believed that morality is based on "promoting the benefit of all under heaven and eliminating harm to all under heaven". In contrast to Bentham's views, state consequentialism is not utilitarian because it is not hedonistic or individualistic. The importance of outcomes that are good for the community outweigh the importance of individual pleasure and pain. [8]

The Fajia and the Mohist interpretive lineage

Although Mohist paramilitaries would never have thrived under the Qin, Ivanhoe notes "with irony" that the "ideology of the Qin finds clear precedents in Mozi’s philosophy", representing "several prominent ideas" held by the Fajia “Legalists”. As the dominant interpretation for the Fajia modernly, Mohist interpretation dates back to Sinologist Chad Hansen's (1992) work, who took the work of A.C. Graham (1989) as a theory, while vacillating against meaning change of the Mohist's Fa towards law, hence reification of western Legal positivist interpretation for the Fajia.

Benjamin Schwarz (1985) Schwarz had prior studied the Fa or measurement standards of the Mohists, as per their logic discussions and engineering. Ivanoe (2001) could still be taken as a early work in this regard, at least in the sense of having been released almost a decade before the first editions of the Routledge (2009) or Oxford (2011) present Mohist interpretive for the Fajia more broadly.

Ivanhoe's bibliography indicates interaction with Hansen along the lines of the Zhuangzi, as per Hansen's interests; hence the title of the latter's work, the Daoist Theory of Interpretation. Taking the position of a Daoist, Hansen doesn't espouse especially high regard for the ruler-centric Fajia, even if he presents them against Legalist interpretation as circumscribing punishment in ruler's interests. He was more concerned in this regard with negating Legal positivist interpretation of the Fajia, as had been in vogue more or less since 1956. The Routledge contains his work as one of four in it's relevant chapter's bibliography, relegating Fajia (Legalism) as a philosophy to it's appendix as not constituting an independent movement.

Founded in 2002, Mohism Stanford's bibliography contains all four figures, instead using the term Mohist consequentialism, only directly discussing and vacilitating against Hansen in a discussion on Semantics.

More modernly, Tao Jiang compares Han Fei's "Fajia project" against state consequentialism, taking it as a theory. He terms Han Fei's project the "operationalization" of state consequentialism, essentially carrying out the Mohist project of impartial universal justice within an "exclusively statist framework." As not unreasonble in the very least for a derth of work on the subject, Tao Jiang's work is considered particularly noteable by Sinologist Yuri Pines for the uncommon extent to which it deals in the Fa tradition's subject. [9]

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References

  1. 1 2 Ivanhoe, P.J.; Van Norden, Bryan William (2005). Readings in classical Chinese philosophy. Hackett Publishing. p. 60. ISBN   978-0-87220-780-6. "he advocated a form of state consequentialism, which sought to maximize three basic goods: the wealth, order, and population of the state
  2. ↑ Fraser, Chris, "Mohism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , Edward N. Zalta.
  3. ↑ Deen K. Chatterjee (6 October 2011). Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer. p. 1170. ISBN   978-1-4020-9159-9. in this sense, one can interpret Xunzi's political philosophy as a form of state utilitarianism or state consequentialism
  4. ↑ Fraser, Chris (2016). The Philosophy of the Mozi: The First Consequentialists. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 17, 249.
  5. ↑ Di Mo; Xunzi; Di Mo Xunzi Fei Han; Professor Burton Watson (1967). Basic Writings of Mo Tzu, Hsün Tzu, and Han Fei Tzu. Columbia University Press. p. 110. ISBN   978-0-231-02515-7.
  6. 1 2 Loewe, Michael; Shaughnessy, Edward L. (2011). The Cambridge History of Ancient China . Cambridge University Press. p. 761. ISBN   978-0-521-47030-8.
  7. ↑ Van Norden, Bryan W. (2011). Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy. Hackett Publishing. p. 52. ISBN   978-1-60384-468-0.
  8. ↑ Jay L. Garfield; William Edelglass (9 June 2011). The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy. Oxford University Press. p. 62. ISBN   978-0-19-532899-8. The goods that serve as criteria of morality are collective or public, in contrast, for instance, to individual happiness or well-being
  9. ↑ Oxford presented as indicative of Mohist interpretive dominance, but it's categorical commentaries are more particular to it's era
    • Hansen, Chad 1992/2000. A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought: A Philosophical Interpretation.
    345. Hansen references Graham's discussion as a theory that Confucians and Mohists may have been the only school
    346-347. Meaning change rejection. Explicitly argues against Legal positivist interpretation and Fa as law
    351. Daoist position
    346,350. targets the ministers instead of the people. Contrast accessible measurement standards and elitist li (ritual) rather than penal law and morality.
    400. Chapter 7
    • Chad Hansen's (1994) Fa (Standards: Laws) and Meaning Changes in Chinese Philosophy
    • Joseph Needham 1956.206. Science and Civilization in China Volume 2
    • Bo Mou 2009. p208. Routledge History of Chinese Philosophy. Only derivatively includes penal codes
    The Routledge's bibliography regards Legalism as a category of interpretation as having ended in Hansen.
    • Tao Jiang (2021). 401-402
    • Yuri Pines 2023, Tao Jiang on the Fa Tradition (法家)
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