Modern scholars generally believe that Mozi was born around 476 BC and died around 390 BC. Mozi's birthplace is also controversial. Biography of Mencius and Xunzi in Historical Records said that he was a "doctor of Song Dynasty", while Lu Chunqiu of course thought that he was a native of Lu, and some said that he was originally a native of Song and lived in Lu for a long time. Mozi claimed that "there is nothing in the throne today, and there is no agricultural difficulty under it", which seems to belong to the "scholar" class at that time. However, he also admitted that he was a "bitch". He may have been a craftsman or a small owner of handicraft industry, and he has quite rich production skills. Mozi "worked hard day and night, taking self-suffering as the extreme", and wandered among vassal States for a long time to publicize his political views. According to legend, he prevented Chu from attacking the Song Dynasty and advocated universal love without attack. He "guards the south" and advocates "storing scholars" to guard. He also visited Chu many times and presented books to King Hui of Chu. He refused the land given by the king of Chu and defected to Qi in his later years in an attempt to stop Xiangzi from cutting Lu, but without success. The king of Yue asked Mozi to be an official and promised to fief 500 Li. He took "listen to my words, use my way" as the condition to stay or stay, regardless of fiefs and titles, in order to realize his political ambitions and opinions.
The main contribution of Mozi's philosophy is epistemology. He regards the direct feeling experience of "the truth of eyes and ears" as the only source of understanding. He believes that judging the existence of things should be based on what everyone sees and hears, not personal imagination. Based on this simple materialist empiricism, Mozi put forward the criteria for testing the truth and falsehood of knowledge, namely, three tables: "The origin of knowledge lies in the matter of ancient sages", "The truth of people's eyes and ears is observed below", and "Abandoning criminal politics and observing the interests of the people in the country". Mozi integrated "matter", "reality" and "benefit" and tried to eliminate personal subjective prejudice by taking indirect experience, direct experience and social effect as the criterion. On the relationship between name and substance, he put forward the proposition of "not taking it by name, taking it by name" and advocated naming it by substance. Mozi's epistemology also has great limitations, ignoring the role of rational knowledge and unilaterally emphasizing the authenticity of sensory experience. He once concluded that there were ghosts and gods on the grounds that someone "tasted the things of ghosts and gods and smelled their voices". There are profound internal contradictions in Mozi's world outlook. On the one hand, he emphasizes "non-fate" and "respect for power", and thinks that it is not "fate" but "power" that determines people's different experiences. He pointed out that "being born by strength, being unable to be born" fully affirmed the role of "manpower" in social life and the process of transforming nature. On the other hand, it also affirmed the role of "ambition" and "ghost". He described "Heaven" as a personality god with will, and preached that "those who obey the will of God will be rewarded". "Those who go against God's will" will be punished. He believes that "loving each other and benefiting each other" means "obeying God's will" and "opposing evil and stealing from each other" means "violating God's will". He also believes that ghosts and gods can "reward the good and punish the evil". He said that the will of the heavenly ghosts and the interests of the people are the same thing. The heavenly ghosts are committed to "promoting the benefits and eliminating the evils" for everyone, and have actually become a tool for Mozi's management. In politics, Mozi put forward the ideas of "universal love", "non-aggression", "Shang Xian", "Shang Tong", "frugality", "frugality in burial" and "unhappiness". The core of his social and political thought is "being different", and "breaking without breaking" is his concrete action program. He believes that as long as everyone "loves each other and benefits each other", there will be no bullying, arrogance, ignorance and mutual attacks between countries in society. He sharply exposed and criticized the evils brought by the rulers' waging war and the luxury and enjoyment in ordinary customs and habits. In the principle of employing people, Mozi advocated meritocracy, opposed cronyism, and advocated that "officials are impermanent and expensive, and the people are not cheap." He also advocated that from the emperor, governors to chiefs at all levels, we should "choose the best people in the world and use them" to act as; The people should obey the monarch and realize "universal justice".
Mozi is also one of the important pioneers of China's ancient logic thought. In Mozi, he consciously and extensively used the method of logical reasoning to establish or demonstrate his own political and ethical thoughts. Mozi first put forward the idea that name and reality must match. He also put forward logical concepts such as argument, category and reason for the first time in the history of China's logic. In Geng Xu Pian, it is required to "be able to discuss" and learn "discussion" as a kind of specialized knowledge. When refuting other people's views, he often said that "my son didn't judge me, and he didn't understand the truth", and he took "following the truth for no reason", that is, following the truth for no reason, as the principle of debate. Although Mozi's "argument" refers to the debating technique, it is based on the knowledge of categories (things and the like) and reasoning (grounds and reasons), so it belongs to the category of logical analogy or argumentation. Mozi's "three forms" are not only the ideological standard of speech, but also the factors of reasoning and argumentation. Mozi is also good at revealing the enemy's contradictions by analogy. Due to Mozi's advocacy and enlightenment, Mohism developed the tradition of attaching importance to logic, and later Mohism established the first system of ancient logic in China. Mozi's philosophical thought reflects the duality of the small working class liberated from patriarchal slavery. The reasonable factors in his thought were inherited and developed by later materialist thinkers, and the dross of his mysticism was absorbed and utilized by theologians after Qin and Han Dynasties. Mozi, as the founder of mohists in pre-Qin Dynasty, had a great influence in the history of China philosophy. Mozi did a lot of teaching by example, but he didn't write anything himself. Shang Xian, Shang Tong, fraternity, non-attack, salvation, funeral, celestial record, Ming ghost, Le Fei and Fei Ming are all records of his disciples' thoughts and speeches. This is an important basis for studying Mozi's thought.