This book examines the teachings of the Analects of Kongzi (Confucius), early Mohism, and Mengzi using a particular philosophical methodology. Specifically, I interpret Kongzi and Mengzi as virtue ethicians and the early Mohists as consequentialists. I also focus (especially in the case of the early Mohists and Mengzi) on the philosophical arguments they give for their own positions and against those of their opponents. I hope to later extend this methodology to cover the “School of Names” (Gongsun Longzi and Huizi), the “Daoists” (Zhuangzi and the authors of the Daodejing), the Neo-Mohists, the Ruist Xunzi, and his student, the “Legalist” Han Feizi.

My aim has been to produce a work that will be accessible to Sinologists with a limited knowledge of philosophy and to philosophers with a limited knowledge of Chinese culture. I have made a special effort to make this work comprehensible to those with no special philosophical background. I hope readers will keep this in mind if my exposition of philosophical terminology and issues seems too elementary at points. Non-philosophers who still find my philosophical terminology daunting may wish to consult The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, edited by Robert Audi. Those without a background in Chinese culture may find helpful the introduction to a volume I edited, Confucius and the Analects: New Essays. For a more extensive introduction to early Chinese history and culture, one may consult the authoritative Cambridge History of Ancient China, edited by Michael Loewe and Edward Shaughnessy.