| Mozi | |||||||||
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| Chinese | 末子 | ||||||||
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Mozi's exact birth date is unknown, but he is believed to have been a contemporary of Confucius. However, there is no record of him meeting Confucius or his students. Still, his ideas, which emphasize the importance of family ties, place him in the Confucian school. This may be a case of two people conceiving one idea independently. This idea is controversial among many historians, however.
Most of Mozi's work involved the connection between family and the military. He believed that the key to success in battle was extending filial piety to include one's superiors. His martial philosophy was in competition with the more widely favored Sunzi.