“Benevolence-Righteousness” as Strategic Terminology: Reading Mengzi’s “Ren-Yi” through Strategic Manuals

Interstate Relational Ethics: Mengzi and Later Mohists in Dialogue

“…The popular interpretation reads these paragraphs as Mengzi lecturing the kings against "unethical" hegemony or benefit-oriented rule and hoping to promote benevolent governance instead. As I have argued elsewhere (Lee 2017(Lee , 2021), Mengzi's advice of the kingly way was that King Xuan should have learned to become a true king (wang 王), namely, Son of Heaven, rather than learning about the strategy of a regional superpower. As Mengzi rightly suggested, the era of hegemony was over.…”

“…The Zhanguo ce 戰國策 (Stratagems of the Warring States) says, "Meng Ke told King Xuan of Qi, 'Now attacking Yan is the opportunity of becoming King Wen and King Wu, you should not miss it.'" (Lee 2017). As recorded by the Mengzi, Mengzi's contemporaries also believed that Mengzi wanted to help the king of Qi become the Son of Heaven (2B21).…”

“…Mengzi would probably argue against this Mohist explanation by stating that starting wars to annex and unify other states should be completed for the sake of all people because it was the only way to put an end to constant war and the suffering of all under Heaven. As the Mengzi emphasizes, only a benevolent and righteous ruler can achieve this end (Lee 2017(Lee , 2022. The "Daqu" uses the robbery analogy to counter the Mencian argument:…”

“…In addition to seizing territories and power, such people wish to achieve a reputation for being the most benevolent and righteous. 11 This is the kind of ruler that Mengzi's "ending war with war" theory is likely to appeal to (Lee 2017). Therefore, the "Daqu" says that the existence of robbers is a shared misfortune for all under Heaven.…”

“…As to the implementation of benevolence governance, its aim was to improve people's living condition to make them willing to combat enemy soldiers. (Mengzi, 1A5) 5 I have argued and defended this interpretation of Mengzi in Lee (2017Lee ( , 2021Lee ( , 2022; thus, I will not repeat my arguments in length in the current article. My interpretation is intended to reconstruct what I believe the historical authors of Mengzi and Mozi would have thought.…”