Are the later Mohists preference-satisfaction consequentialists? A discussion of Daniel Stephens’ “Later Mohist ethics and philosophical progress in ancient China”
Are the later Mohists preference-satisfaction consequentialists? A discussion of Daniel Stephens’ “Later Mohist ethics and philosophical progress in ancient China”
The Mohists may have been the first consequentialists on earth. Their most important principles are that right action is what benefits the world and that the underlying outlook for benefiting the world is inclusive care, whereby each person receives equal consideration. The early Mohists are clearly objective-list consequentialists, whereby benefiting the world amounts to promoting the most basic goods. Stephens argues that the later Mohists shift to a preference-satisfaction consequentialism whereby benefiting the world amounts to promoting what happens to please individual people. Stephens argues that while the direct texts are ambiguous between an objective-list interpretation and a preference-satisfaction interpretation, the latter better explains later Mohist engagement with opponents. I argue that the direct texts actually preclude Stephens’ preference-satisfaction interpretation, which moreover has the later Mohists concede an implausible amount to their opponents.
Consequentialism, Later Mohist, preference-satisfaction, utilitarian
218-230
Kim, Bradford Jean-Hyuk
70cbecb5-ac2b-4a4a-946e-1ef9bf68c81c
2 January 2024
Kim, Bradford Jean-Hyuk
70cbecb5-ac2b-4a4a-946e-1ef9bf68c81c
Kim, Bradford Jean-Hyuk
(2024)
Are the later Mohists preference-satisfaction consequentialists? A discussion of Daniel Stephens’ “Later Mohist ethics and philosophical progress in ancient China”.
British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 32 (1), .
(doi:10.1080/09608788.2023.2272767).
Abstract
The Mohists may have been the first consequentialists on earth. Their most important principles are that right action is what benefits the world and that the underlying outlook for benefiting the world is inclusive care, whereby each person receives equal consideration. The early Mohists are clearly objective-list consequentialists, whereby benefiting the world amounts to promoting the most basic goods. Stephens argues that the later Mohists shift to a preference-satisfaction consequentialism whereby benefiting the world amounts to promoting what happens to please individual people. Stephens argues that while the direct texts are ambiguous between an objective-list interpretation and a preference-satisfaction interpretation, the latter better explains later Mohist engagement with opponents. I argue that the direct texts actually preclude Stephens’ preference-satisfaction interpretation, which moreover has the later Mohists concede an implausible amount to their opponents.
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Accepted/In Press date: 15 October 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 November 2023
Published date: 2 January 2024
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© 2023 BSHP.
Keywords:
Consequentialism, Later Mohist, preference-satisfaction, utilitarian
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Local EPrints ID: 489179
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/489179
ISSN: 0960-8788
PURE UUID: 2f1326a7-e7e1-4deb-a5b2-76db618e0dca
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Date deposited: 16 Apr 2024 16:47
Last modified: 11 Jul 2024 02:18
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Bradford Jean-Hyuk Kim
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