WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.240 Welcome back to The Deep Dive, the place dedicated 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:04.799 to making you well -informed quickly by taking 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:07.339 vast libraries of information and distilling 00:00:07.339 --> 00:00:09.199 them down into the nuggets you need to know. 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:12.140 Today, we are traveling deep into the foundations 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:15.019 of East Asian thought. All the way back to, well, 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:17.579 probably the most dangerous era of ancient China, 00:00:17.699 --> 00:00:19.960 the Warring States period, we're going to explore 00:00:19.960 --> 00:00:23.140 a man whose philosophical blueprint was so revolutionary, 00:00:23.300 --> 00:00:26.420 it essentially codified the right to overthrow 00:00:26.420 --> 00:00:29.420 a tyrannical government. We're talking centuries 00:00:29.420 --> 00:00:32.000 before the Western Enlightenment. We are. We're 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:36.000 focusing on Mencius, or Mengke. He's the philosopher 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.640 whose shadow looms almost as large as Confucius 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:40.780 himself, which is why he earned the title of 00:00:40.780 --> 00:00:43.390 the second sage. And the dates are roughly, what, 00:00:43.530 --> 00:00:47.289 371 to 289 B .C.? That's about right, yeah. And 00:00:47.289 --> 00:00:48.770 you really have to get the context here. I mean, 00:00:48.789 --> 00:00:50.969 this was not a time of peaceful contemplation. 00:00:50.969 --> 00:00:54.109 This was a period of just existential chaos. 00:00:54.829 --> 00:00:57.530 Philosophical ideas were literally military and 00:00:57.530 --> 00:00:59.250 political weapons. Wrong advice could get you 00:00:59.250 --> 00:01:01.840 killed. Absolutely. Life or death stakes. Okay, 00:01:01.899 --> 00:01:04.780 so let's unpack this. Our sources document this 00:01:04.780 --> 00:01:07.959 remarkable 40 -year quest he went on. He moved 00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:09.760 from state to state, and it sounds like it was 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:12.819 often frustrating trying to convince these ruthless 00:01:12.819 --> 00:01:16.280 regional kings to adopt policies based on, well, 00:01:16.340 --> 00:01:18.620 benevolence rather than just brute force. And 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:21.739 he mostly failed. He failed to achieve the political 00:01:21.739 --> 00:01:24.939 reform he wanted in his lifetime, but his arguments, 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:28.739 his arguments survived. Yeah. And they are incredibly 00:01:28.739 --> 00:01:30.900 potent. So that's our mission for this deep dive. 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:33.180 We want to give you a really comprehensive understanding 00:01:33.180 --> 00:01:36.019 of Menzies' legacy. And we're going to zero in 00:01:36.019 --> 00:01:40.040 on three central concepts. First, his profoundly 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:42.540 optimistic doctrine that human nature is fundamentally 00:01:42.540 --> 00:01:45.060 good, that it just needs cultivation. Right. 00:01:45.140 --> 00:01:48.239 And second, this astonishing political philosophy, 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:50.920 the idea that a populace has the moral, heaven 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:53.439 -sanctioned right to execute a harsh ruler. Which 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:55.739 is just a radical idea for the time. And third, 00:01:55.819 --> 00:01:57.400 we'll get into the the legendary stories about 00:01:57.400 --> 00:01:59.400 his mother because they illustrate so perfectly 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:01.859 how essential environment and diligence are to 00:02:01.859 --> 00:02:04.519 forming your character. We've got material spanning 00:02:04.519 --> 00:02:07.400 his life, the nuanced details of his ethics. 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:10.599 I'm really interested in the famous four beginnings 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:14.060 and his surprisingly detailed, I mean, almost 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:17.900 modern principles for economics and fair taxation. 00:02:18.340 --> 00:02:20.000 And we have to keep that historical backdrop 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.319 in mind. The warring states period was really 00:02:23.319 --> 00:02:26.240 dominated by this idea of legalism. Which is 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:28.620 all about strict law, punishment, centralized, 00:02:28.740 --> 00:02:31.900 unquestioning power. Exactly. And Mencius stood 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:34.740 diametrically opposed to that. He offered a blueprint 00:02:34.740 --> 00:02:38.259 for a society based on Ren. or benevolence, built 00:02:38.259 --> 00:02:41.120 from the bottom up, not the top down. His idealism, 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:43.240 I mean, it seems almost foolish considering the 00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:45.819 era he was in. You'd think so, right? Yeah. But 00:02:45.819 --> 00:02:48.199 his commitment to the moral core of humanity 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:50.620 is precisely what makes his work so enduring. 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:53.419 He argued that if a ruler governs with genuine 00:02:53.419 --> 00:02:55.800 humanity and righteousness, they gain a moral 00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:58.259 strength that military might can never replicate. 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:01.259 And that, he claimed, would make the state basically 00:03:01.259 --> 00:03:03.550 invincible. That was the argument. Fascinating. 00:03:03.689 --> 00:03:05.449 All right, let's jump in. Let's start with the 00:03:05.449 --> 00:03:07.909 life story of Mengke and the incredible influence 00:03:07.909 --> 00:03:10.110 of his formative years. Let's do it. Okay, so 00:03:10.110 --> 00:03:12.469 let's start with the basics. Mencius was born 00:03:12.469 --> 00:03:15.389 Mengke in the state of Zhu. That's now modern 00:03:15.389 --> 00:03:19.009 Zhu Chang in Shandong province. And what's really 00:03:19.009 --> 00:03:21.129 critical here is that he wasn't a direct student 00:03:21.129 --> 00:03:24.770 of Confucius. No, he wasn't. The historical accounts 00:03:24.770 --> 00:03:27.689 place him as a fourth generation disciple. So 00:03:27.689 --> 00:03:29.990 what does that actually mean in practice? Well, 00:03:30.050 --> 00:03:32.189 it means he didn't just inherit the Confucian 00:03:32.189 --> 00:03:35.889 framework as a set of received wisdom. He was 00:03:35.889 --> 00:03:38.960 tasked with developing it. defending it and defending 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:41.400 it against some pretty serious ideological attacks 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:43.759 that were mounting at the time. His career path 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:46.719 seems to really reflect that intellectual dynamism 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:49.099 of the era. I mean, he wasn't some hermit philosopher 00:03:49.099 --> 00:03:51.419 writing scrolls in a cave. Not at all. He was 00:03:51.419 --> 00:03:53.659 a professional academic. He served as a high 00:03:53.659 --> 00:03:55.360 ranking scholar and official at the renowned 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:58.060 Jixi Academy in the state of Qi. That was from 00:03:58.060 --> 00:04:01.680 roughly 319 to 312 B .C. And that period was 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:03.639 absolutely essential for his intellectual growth. 00:04:04.169 --> 00:04:06.689 We can't just gloss over the Jixi Academy. This 00:04:06.689 --> 00:04:09.090 wasn't just some quiet university campus, was 00:04:09.090 --> 00:04:10.969 it? What made it so important in the intellectual 00:04:10.969 --> 00:04:14.729 landscape? Think of it as maybe the world's first 00:04:14.729 --> 00:04:18.110 state -sponsored high -stakes think tank. Okay. 00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:20.930 The rulers of Qi gathered the brightest minds 00:04:20.930 --> 00:04:23.430 from all across the fragmented states. You had 00:04:23.430 --> 00:04:26.970 Confucians, Taoists, legalists, Mohists, all 00:04:26.970 --> 00:04:29.829 of them. And the state gave them stipends to 00:04:29.829 --> 00:04:32.509 debate and formulate governing policies. So Mencius 00:04:32.509 --> 00:04:34.870 wasn't just teaching there. He was actively defending 00:04:34.870 --> 00:04:38.170 his worldview. Every single day. He was defending 00:04:38.170 --> 00:04:40.730 this optimistic Confucian worldview against these 00:04:40.730 --> 00:04:43.649 harsh, pragmatic critics, especially the rising 00:04:43.649 --> 00:04:46.230 legalists who believed only strict law and punishment 00:04:46.230 --> 00:04:49.310 could actually govern men. So his very argumentative 00:04:49.310 --> 00:04:50.850 style, which we'll get to when we talk about 00:04:50.850 --> 00:04:54.350 his book, that was forged in this crucible of 00:04:54.350 --> 00:04:56.959 intense critical debate. Precisely. His experience 00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:58.660 there gave him a huge amount of confidence and 00:04:58.660 --> 00:05:01.740 skill in protracted argument. But, you know, 00:05:01.740 --> 00:05:03.319 despite his eloquence and decades of travel, 00:05:03.420 --> 00:05:04.959 offering counsel to all these different states, 00:05:05.060 --> 00:05:07.399 the political reality of the Warring States period 00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:10.000 was just too entrenched in violent, immediate 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.839 ambition. And the records show he ultimately 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:16.139 retired from public life. He was disappointed, 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:18.600 right? Disappointed at his failure to actually 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:21.100 bring about the profound political changes he 00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:23.100 was pushing for. It was a failure of his political 00:05:23.100 --> 00:05:26.620 career, yes. But it was a huge win for philosophy. 00:05:26.860 --> 00:05:29.720 How so? Because that disappointment and his subsequent 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:32.439 retirement, that's what led him to consolidate 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:35.540 his decades of dialogues and debates into the 00:05:35.540 --> 00:05:37.839 definitive text we have today. Which brings us 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:41.680 to the book itself, also titled Dementius. We 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:43.920 mentioned it was canonized as a Confucian classic, 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:46.680 but structurally it's really different from the 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:48.720 other foundational texts. Oh, it's a crucial 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:51.759 distinction. If you read Confucius' Analects, 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:53.879 they're essentially collections of short, sometimes 00:05:53.879 --> 00:05:57.040 cryptic, often self -contained sayings, aphorisms 00:05:57.040 --> 00:05:59.199 collected by his students. Right. The Mencius 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:01.279 is fundamentally different. It's made up of long, 00:06:01.399 --> 00:06:03.720 detailed and highly reasoned dialogues. You can 00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:06.620 actually see him systematically engaging in dialectic, 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:10.000 responding to criticisms and building these complex, 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.860 tiered arguments with rulers and rivals who are 00:06:12.860 --> 00:06:14.959 challenging his core principles. So it gives 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:17.420 you a much clearer window into the mechanics 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:19.620 of his thinking. A much clearer window, yes. 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:23.250 And now for the character who is, well... arguably 00:06:23.250 --> 00:06:26.230 as central to his legacy as his philosophy, his 00:06:26.230 --> 00:06:29.230 mother, Meng Mu. Meng Mu is not just a footnote. 00:06:29.290 --> 00:06:32.550 She is truly an essential figure in Chinese cultural 00:06:32.550 --> 00:06:34.850 history. I mean, she is held up as the gold standard 00:06:34.850 --> 00:06:39.439 of motherhood. pedagogical excellence. The records 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:42.579 show four specific stories about her were preserved 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:45.379 in Liu Jiang's biographies of exemplary women, 00:06:45.540 --> 00:06:47.879 which just cemented her status. And in a way, 00:06:47.899 --> 00:06:50.579 she's the living proof of Mencius' later philosophical 00:06:50.579 --> 00:06:52.839 assertion that your environment dictates your 00:06:52.839 --> 00:06:55.040 moral character. She is the walking embodiment 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:56.439 of that principle. All right, let's start with 00:06:56.439 --> 00:06:58.879 the most famous story, the idiom, the chanyu, 00:06:58.980 --> 00:07:01.120 that's still used constantly today, the three 00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:04.209 moves, or ming ming sang quen. This really gets 00:07:04.209 --> 00:07:06.750 at that connection between environment and character. 00:07:06.910 --> 00:07:09.129 It's a pedagogical masterpiece. So the story 00:07:09.129 --> 00:07:11.250 goes, the family first lived near a cemetery. 00:07:11.410 --> 00:07:13.709 And as a young boy, Mencius naturally started 00:07:13.709 --> 00:07:16.170 imitating what he saw every day. So he was mimicking 00:07:16.170 --> 00:07:18.649 the rituals of burial, the formal solemnity, 00:07:18.769 --> 00:07:21.779 the mourning. Exactly. And while, you know, observing 00:07:21.779 --> 00:07:24.399 rights is a very Confucian thing to do, she judged 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:26.660 that this environment was too focused on death 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:29.860 and formal ritual rather than on proactive learning 00:07:29.860 --> 00:07:32.920 and contribution to society. So move number one, 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:35.639 they relocate. Where does she try next? She moved 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:38.019 them near a market. And again, Mencius absorbed 00:07:38.019 --> 00:07:41.040 his environment. He started imitating the loud, 00:07:41.079 --> 00:07:43.259 transactional, sometimes aggressive behavior 00:07:43.259 --> 00:07:45.879 of the merchants. He was focused on profit and 00:07:45.879 --> 00:07:48.319 calculation. And Meng Mu saw this and realized 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:50.620 this environment was just emphasizing material 00:07:50.620 --> 00:07:53.879 gain and competition, which was also unsuitable 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:56.120 for cultivating the humane qualities she wanted 00:07:56.120 --> 00:07:58.620 in her son. Precisely. Which leads to the definitive 00:07:58.620 --> 00:08:01.279 third and final move. They move next to a school. 00:08:01.459 --> 00:08:03.980 They move next to a school. And here, the boy 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:06.860 began imitating the students, studying, practicing 00:08:06.860 --> 00:08:09.790 proper conduct, and engaging with books. And 00:08:09.790 --> 00:08:11.910 only then did Meng Mu declare the environment 00:08:11.910 --> 00:08:14.629 suitable and decide to stay put. The story is 00:08:14.629 --> 00:08:16.589 so impactful because it just drives home the 00:08:16.589 --> 00:08:19.050 point that character isn't fixed. It's shaped 00:08:19.050 --> 00:08:22.410 by what surrounds you. And it requires this extraordinary 00:08:22.410 --> 00:08:25.250 parental effort to curate that environment. It 00:08:25.250 --> 00:08:28.370 does. And Meng Menkankun is now the universal 00:08:28.370 --> 00:08:31.170 cultural shorthand in Chinese for emphasizing 00:08:31.170 --> 00:08:33.629 the importance of a child's environment. Okay, 00:08:33.669 --> 00:08:35.710 so that addresses environment. But the second 00:08:35.710 --> 00:08:37.909 great story highlights the need for diligence, 00:08:38.009 --> 00:08:40.350 which would become just as central to Mencius' 00:08:40.470 --> 00:08:43.610 doctrine of cultivation. That's cutting the weaving, 00:08:43.769 --> 00:08:47.649 or mengmu duan zi. Yes. So this anecdote happened 00:08:47.649 --> 00:08:50.250 when Mencius was a bit older, a student perhaps, 00:08:50.570 --> 00:08:53.629 and he showed a lapse in his commitment. Maybe 00:08:53.629 --> 00:08:56.070 he was truant or just wasn't dedicating himself 00:08:56.070 --> 00:08:58.690 fully to his studies. And instead of just lecturing 00:08:58.690 --> 00:09:00.610 him. Instead of lecturing him, she performed 00:09:00.610 --> 00:09:03.590 this stunning symbolic act. She was diligently 00:09:03.590 --> 00:09:05.870 weaving a piece of cloth, which was a crucial 00:09:05.870 --> 00:09:08.129 source of income for the family. And she took 00:09:08.129 --> 00:09:10.009 her scissors and just cut the finished material 00:09:10.009 --> 00:09:13.059 right in front of him. Wow. That is a very dramatic, 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:16.100 nonverbal lesson. What was the exact message 00:09:16.100 --> 00:09:18.259 she was trying to get across by destroying her 00:09:18.259 --> 00:09:20.960 own work? The intention was to viscerally demonstrate 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.440 the value of unceasing effort and commitment. 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:26.299 She equated stopping the pursuit of knowledge 00:09:26.299 --> 00:09:29.120 midway to cutting the cloth. So in both cases, 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:32.440 the entire effort is ruined. You're left with 00:09:32.440 --> 00:09:35.559 nothing but wasted time and potential. Exactly. 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:38.179 She showed him that intermittent effort yields 00:09:38.179 --> 00:09:41.289 no lasting fruit. This visual shock apparently 00:09:41.289 --> 00:09:44.269 spurred Mencius toward the intense, diligent 00:09:44.269 --> 00:09:47.710 study that was required of a sage. He internalized 00:09:47.710 --> 00:09:50.149 the message that true moral or intellectual cultivation 00:09:50.149 --> 00:09:53.470 is a continuous process that you just, you can't 00:09:53.470 --> 00:09:55.309 abandon. And these lessons weren't just for him 00:09:55.309 --> 00:09:57.570 as a child. The third anecdote, the divorce interrupted 00:09:57.570 --> 00:10:00.149 story, is fantastic because it shows that even 00:10:00.149 --> 00:10:03.070 as an adult, the future second sage was still 00:10:03.070 --> 00:10:05.289 getting these sharp ethical instructions from 00:10:05.289 --> 00:10:07.629 his mother. And this one is wonderfully ironic. 00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:10.559 So Mencius returns home one day and finds his 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:13.759 wife, in his estimation, not sitting properly. 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:15.679 What does that even mean? She was just too relaxed 00:10:15.679 --> 00:10:18.000 or something. It could be anything. Maybe she 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.460 wasn't adhering to his specific formal posture. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:23.720 But Mencius, being so deeply invested in propriety, 00:10:23.779 --> 00:10:26.720 was so offended by this perceived breach of ritual 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:29.179 etiquette that he intended to divorce her immediately. 00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:32.179 On the spot. And his mother, the expert in rites, 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:35.039 steps in. She does. And she completely turns 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:38.500 the tables on him. Meng Mu intervened, and she 00:10:38.500 --> 00:10:41.620 cited the Book of Rights, which specifies that 00:10:41.620 --> 00:10:43.940 a person must loudly announce their presence 00:10:43.940 --> 00:10:47.179 before entering a private room. This rule isn't 00:10:47.179 --> 00:10:50.019 just some petty formality. It ensures the person 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:52.559 inside has time to compose themselves, to make 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:55.399 preparations. It guarantees mutual respect. So 00:10:55.399 --> 00:10:57.740 because Mencius failed to announce himself, he 00:10:57.740 --> 00:10:59.700 was the one who actually violated the fundamental 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:02.720 right of respect and propriety. Exactly. And 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:05.269 this is the core philosophical insight. Meng 00:11:05.269 --> 00:11:07.789 Mu taught him that rights aren't about catching 00:11:07.789 --> 00:11:10.769 others in minor missteps or enforcing rigid external 00:11:10.769 --> 00:11:13.370 conformity. They're fundamentally about self 00:11:13.370 --> 00:11:15.649 -awareness. They're about ensuring your own actions 00:11:15.649 --> 00:11:17.950 facilitate respect for other people. He failed 00:11:17.950 --> 00:11:20.429 to examine his own conduct before passing this 00:11:20.429 --> 00:11:23.289 really harsh judgment on his wife. And the records 00:11:23.289 --> 00:11:26.179 note he immediately admitted his fault. which, 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:28.679 you know, it showcases his capacity for humility 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:31.740 and crucially his philosophical alignment with 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:34.360 this idea that education is about lifelong self 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:36.980 -correction. Section one gives us that foundation, 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:41.299 environment and rigorous self -discipline. And 00:11:41.299 --> 00:11:44.299 this leads us perfectly into Mencius' core philosophical 00:11:44.299 --> 00:11:47.399 principle, which was controversial in his own 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:50.320 time and I think remains so today, his doctrine 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:53.460 of innate goodness. This is his primary principle. 00:11:54.009 --> 00:11:56.409 That human nature is naturally righteous and 00:11:56.409 --> 00:11:59.350 humane. Or rim. This is the defining feature 00:11:59.350 --> 00:12:01.350 of mentioned Confucianism, right? Yeah. And the 00:12:01.350 --> 00:12:03.629 implications are just tectonic. If human nature 00:12:03.629 --> 00:12:05.990 is intrinsically good, then the failure of society, 00:12:06.110 --> 00:12:08.789 all the chaos of the warring states, you can't 00:12:08.789 --> 00:12:11.070 blame that on the inherent evil of the populace. 00:12:11.070 --> 00:12:14.529 We can't. So, if we are born good... Where does 00:12:14.529 --> 00:12:16.970 evil come from? Mencius explicitly concluded 00:12:16.970 --> 00:12:19.649 that bad moral character and social failure arise 00:12:19.649 --> 00:12:22.450 from the influence of society, from the failure 00:12:22.450 --> 00:12:25.190 of rulers to provide a humane environment, and 00:12:25.190 --> 00:12:27.649 from the neglect of our own innate moral impulses. 00:12:28.169 --> 00:12:31.009 It's an incredibly optimistic, but also a very 00:12:31.009 --> 00:12:33.309 demanding perspective. And this position put 00:12:33.309 --> 00:12:35.450 him in direct intellectual combat with the other 00:12:35.450 --> 00:12:38.470 great Confucian mind of his era, Sun Tzu. Let's 00:12:38.470 --> 00:12:40.370 just clarify that contrast because it's really 00:12:40.370 --> 00:12:43.029 essential context. Sun Tzu held the mirror opposite 00:12:43.029 --> 00:12:46.149 view. He believed that human nature is innately 00:12:46.149 --> 00:12:49.070 evil, that it's driven by selfish desires and 00:12:49.070 --> 00:12:52.029 required strict external social controls laws, 00:12:52.289 --> 00:12:55.429 rituals, training, all enforced by a powerful 00:12:55.429 --> 00:12:58.690 state to prevent chaos. Whereas Mencius offered 00:12:58.690 --> 00:13:00.889 a fundamentally different prescription. He argued 00:13:00.889 --> 00:13:03.250 that if you are born good, you don't need control. 00:13:03.330 --> 00:13:06.070 You need cultivation. You need favorable conditions. 00:13:06.269 --> 00:13:09.679 Exactly. And the path to moral growth. for him, 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:12.460 is defined not by external instruction but by 00:13:12.460 --> 00:13:15.259 internal discovery. He called it finding the 00:13:15.259 --> 00:13:17.940 lost mind. He says he who exerts his mind to 00:13:17.940 --> 00:13:20.549 the utmost knows his nature. That sounds like 00:13:20.549 --> 00:13:22.850 some pretty intensive self -effort. It requires 00:13:22.850 --> 00:13:25.610 deep internal focused effort to cut through all 00:13:25.610 --> 00:13:28.090 the societal grime that has obscured that original 00:13:28.090 --> 00:13:30.509 innate goodness. And this is why a lot of scholars 00:13:30.509 --> 00:13:33.210 argue that Mencius successfully synthesized elements 00:13:33.210 --> 00:13:36.190 of Taoist thought into Confucianism. Okay, how 00:13:36.190 --> 00:13:38.929 does that fusion work exactly? Well, Taoism celebrates 00:13:38.929 --> 00:13:41.210 this kind of effortless natural flowing existence. 00:13:41.590 --> 00:13:43.950 Mencius validates the natural. Your nature is 00:13:43.950 --> 00:13:46.570 good. It's like flowing water. But then he imposes 00:13:46.570 --> 00:13:49.059 the Confucian requirement for effort. The lesson 00:13:49.059 --> 00:13:50.720 from his mother. The lesson from his mother. 00:13:50.899 --> 00:13:54.039 You must actively and diligently work to maintain 00:13:54.039 --> 00:13:57.399 the environment and the path. Otherwise, that 00:13:57.399 --> 00:13:59.360 natural goodness will be corrupted by social 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:02.639 influence. It's not enough to be good. You have 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:05.600 to work at being good. And to prove this innate 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:07.899 goodness wasn't just some theoretical speculation, 00:14:08.259 --> 00:14:11.240 he introduced a thought experiment. It's designed 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:14.519 to resonate immediately with anyone. The powerful 00:14:14.519 --> 00:14:17.399 example of a witness seeing a child falling down 00:14:17.399 --> 00:14:20.500 a well. It's a perfect scenario to isolate pure 00:14:20.500 --> 00:14:23.860 moral instinct. Imagine you're walking by and 00:14:23.860 --> 00:14:25.679 you see an infant crawling toward the edge of 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:28.799 an abandoned well. Mencius argues that your reaction 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:31.419 would be immediate. It would be alarm and distress. 00:14:31.700 --> 00:14:34.019 You'd move to save the child without any rational 00:14:34.019 --> 00:14:36.340 calculation. And the power of the argument comes 00:14:36.340 --> 00:14:38.860 from him systematically eliminating every possible 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:40.799 self -interested reason for you to intervene. 00:14:41.950 --> 00:14:44.090 He stresses that you wouldn't feel alarm because 00:14:44.090 --> 00:14:45.750 you want to gain friendship with the child's 00:14:45.750 --> 00:14:48.190 parents or because you're seeking praise from 00:14:48.190 --> 00:14:50.549 your neighbors and community or even because 00:14:50.549 --> 00:14:52.909 you fear a bad reputation if you didn't act. 00:14:53.129 --> 00:14:55.450 So it's none of those things. It's just a purely 00:14:55.450 --> 00:14:59.070 selfless, instinctual, moral alarm. That immediate 00:14:59.070 --> 00:15:01.889 distress, he says, is the seed or the sprout 00:15:01.889 --> 00:15:05.370 of all human morality. And he formalizes these 00:15:05.370 --> 00:15:08.190 moral seeds into what he calls the four beginnings, 00:15:08.490 --> 00:15:11.389 drawing this analogy to the four limbs every 00:15:11.389 --> 00:15:14.190 healthy human is born with. They are innate capacities 00:15:14.190 --> 00:15:16.769 that just have to be nurtured. Right. Okay, so 00:15:16.769 --> 00:15:19.169 let's walk through the transformation from the 00:15:19.169 --> 00:15:22.049 seed to the virtue. First, you have that core 00:15:22.049 --> 00:15:25.049 reaction we just discussed, the feeling of commiseration, 00:15:25.230 --> 00:15:27.990 that spontaneous empathy you feel when you witness 00:15:27.990 --> 00:15:30.769 suffering. That, he says, is the beginning, the 00:15:30.769 --> 00:15:33.779 sprout of humanity, Ren. And Wren isn't just 00:15:33.779 --> 00:15:36.539 kindness, it's a really comprehensive, compassionate 00:15:36.539 --> 00:15:39.440 humaneness. So that instinctive alarm is the 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:41.799 raw material, and then cultivation turns that 00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:44.179 raw material into the stable virtue of Wren. 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:46.919 Exactly. You start with the instinct, but daily 00:15:46.919 --> 00:15:49.059 effort, self -reflection, and a good environment 00:15:49.059 --> 00:15:52.539 transform it into a robust, consistent, and rational 00:15:52.539 --> 00:15:54.600 virtue. Okay, what's the second sprout? This 00:15:54.600 --> 00:15:56.779 one centers on accountability, doesn't it? Yes. 00:15:57.309 --> 00:16:00.230 The feeling of shame and dislike. So shame over 00:16:00.230 --> 00:16:03.210 your own faults and a natural aversion or dislike 00:16:03.210 --> 00:16:06.070 of what is unrighteous in others. This feeling 00:16:06.070 --> 00:16:08.919 is the beginning of righteousness. This is our 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:11.240 capacity for self -correction and for standing 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:13.240 up for moral principles. And the third sprout 00:16:13.240 --> 00:16:15.399 links directly back to those practical lessons 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:17.519 he learned from his mother about proper conduct. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:19.620 That's the feeling of difference and compliance. 00:16:20.299 --> 00:16:23.039 Knowing your place in a social structure, understanding 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:25.779 mutual respect, and adhering to appropriate behavior. 00:16:26.200 --> 00:16:29.059 This feeling is the beginning of propriety. And 00:16:29.059 --> 00:16:32.259 just as Meng Mu taught him, Li is about ensuring 00:16:32.259 --> 00:16:34.399 your actions promote social harmony and respect, 00:16:34.620 --> 00:16:37.399 not just following some arbitrary rules. And 00:16:37.399 --> 00:16:39.240 the fourth, which is what allows us to discern 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:41.779 and apply the other three. That is the feeling 00:16:41.779 --> 00:16:44.759 of right or wrong. The innate ability to judge 00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:46.940 moral situations and distinguish between good 00:16:46.940 --> 00:16:49.220 and bad. This is the beginning of wisdom, Azi. 00:16:49.860 --> 00:16:51.820 Mencius posits that you are born with the ability 00:16:51.820 --> 00:16:54.360 to discern morality. You just need to train that 00:16:54.360 --> 00:16:56.860 instinct. But the sprouts can be choked, just 00:16:56.860 --> 00:16:59.200 like any plant. What happens if this innate goodness 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:02.360 is neglected? Mencius delivers a very powerful 00:17:02.360 --> 00:17:05.309 warning about self -destruction here. He states 00:17:05.309 --> 00:17:09.009 that men possess these four beginnings and saying 00:17:09.009 --> 00:17:11.250 that they cannot develop them is to destroy themselves. 00:17:11.670 --> 00:17:14.349 So by failing to cultivate this innate capacity 00:17:14.349 --> 00:17:17.029 for goodness, we aren't just becoming passively 00:17:17.029 --> 00:17:20.509 neutral. We're actively contributing to our own 00:17:20.509 --> 00:17:23.470 moral ruin. It's a willful rejection of our true 00:17:23.470 --> 00:17:25.390 nature. That's how he sees it. Which brings us 00:17:25.390 --> 00:17:27.609 back to the environment. I mean, if moral rightness 00:17:27.609 --> 00:17:30.750 is internal, why did his mother's three moves 00:17:30.750 --> 00:17:33.500 matter so much? Because cultivation is the bridge 00:17:33.500 --> 00:17:36.900 between instinct and virtue. If you plant a seed 00:17:36.900 --> 00:17:39.500 in concrete, it won't grow. It's the same idea. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:42.119 If the environment, the society, the ruler, the 00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:45.279 community is corrupt or predatory or focused 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:47.779 purely on profit, it just overwhelms the individual 00:17:47.779 --> 00:17:50.140 will. It becomes so much harder to find the lost 00:17:50.140 --> 00:17:52.380 mind when society is actively pushing you toward 00:17:52.380 --> 00:17:55.180 material self -interest. So menses requires active 00:17:55.180 --> 00:17:57.740 daily effort to nurture that innate goodness, 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:00.359 and the environment has to support that effort. 00:18:00.539 --> 00:18:03.000 They work hand in hand. On a related note, Mencius 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:05.140 was also really concerned with forces beyond 00:18:05.140 --> 00:18:07.920 our individual control, which led him to distinguish 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:11.460 very sharply between destiny and fate. In classical 00:18:11.460 --> 00:18:13.940 Chinese philosophy, these terms often get blurred. 00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:17.920 But Mencius drew a vital line. He accepted the 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:20.680 concept of destiny, believing it defined a person's 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:23.740 role or path in life. But he insisted it was 00:18:23.740 --> 00:18:26.099 a path that was both unforeseen and constructive. 00:18:26.660 --> 00:18:29.680 And how did he define fate, which he rejected? 00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:32.779 Fate, or at least the common interpretation of 00:18:32.779 --> 00:18:35.359 divine protection, suggests a passive attitude. 00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:38.299 The idea that heaven will protect a person regardless 00:18:38.299 --> 00:18:40.880 of their conduct or their effort, and Mencius 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:43.940 absolutely rejected this, destiny requires active 00:18:43.940 --> 00:18:47.099 participation and wisdom. You can't just expect 00:18:47.099 --> 00:18:49.279 divine intervention if you behave foolishly. 00:18:49.579 --> 00:18:51.920 That makes his famous warning a piece of intensely 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:55.220 practical moral advice. One who understands destiny 00:18:55.220 --> 00:18:57.960 will not stand beneath a tottering wall. That's 00:18:57.960 --> 00:18:59.680 the perfect analogy for the difference, isn't 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.539 it? If you believe in fate, you stand beneath 00:19:01.539 --> 00:19:03.539 the wall and just assume heaven will prevent 00:19:03.539 --> 00:19:05.500 it from collapsing on you, regardless of the 00:19:05.500 --> 00:19:07.700 obvious physical danger. But if you understand 00:19:07.700 --> 00:19:10.900 destiny, you recognize that constructive paths 00:19:10.900 --> 00:19:14.019 require self -preservation guided by wisdom, 00:19:14.099 --> 00:19:18.029 not passive hope. destiny is the path that opens 00:19:18.029 --> 00:19:20.769 up when you act righteously and wisely and that 00:19:20.769 --> 00:19:24.450 path needs maintenance he warned unused pathways 00:19:24.450 --> 00:19:28.089 are covered with weeds effort is mandatory. Always. 00:19:28.430 --> 00:19:31.210 This emphasis on active maintenance, on exertion, 00:19:31.230 --> 00:19:33.690 it extends directly into his philosophy of learning. 00:19:33.930 --> 00:19:36.930 He was deeply critical of passive rote education. 00:19:37.210 --> 00:19:39.930 Oh, absolutely. For Mencius, true education had 00:19:39.930 --> 00:19:42.650 to awaken those innate abilities, the four beginnings, 00:19:42.869 --> 00:19:45.250 and strengthen the mind's ability to discern 00:19:45.250 --> 00:19:48.170 right from wrong. He demanded active interrogation 00:19:48.170 --> 00:19:50.450 of the material. Students had to debate facts 00:19:50.450 --> 00:19:52.970 against their own experience and check for internal 00:19:52.970 --> 00:19:55.230 consistency within the historical records they 00:19:55.230 --> 00:19:57.109 were studying. And this all culminates in his 00:19:57.109 --> 00:19:59.690 powerful and still so relevant warning against 00:19:59.690 --> 00:20:02.369 dogma, a quote that really speaks directly to 00:20:02.369 --> 00:20:04.769 any of us navigating information overload today. 00:20:04.930 --> 00:20:07.589 The quote is iconic. One who believes all in 00:20:07.589 --> 00:20:09.589 the book of documents would be better off without 00:20:09.589 --> 00:20:12.369 the book. That is an astounding claim coming 00:20:12.369 --> 00:20:15.690 from a foundational Confucian scholar. It's incredible. 00:20:15.869 --> 00:20:18.390 He's saying that if you treat a venerable text 00:20:18.390 --> 00:20:21.829 as an unquestionable dogma, accepting it blindly 00:20:21.829 --> 00:20:24.349 without critical thought, without comparing it 00:20:24.349 --> 00:20:27.230 to your moral experience or checking its internal 00:20:27.230 --> 00:20:29.890 logic, then the text itself becomes a hindrance 00:20:29.890 --> 00:20:32.190 to wisdom. True knowledge isn't just accumulation. 00:20:32.430 --> 00:20:35.529 It's deep critical engagement. That's the core 00:20:35.529 --> 00:20:37.750 of his educational philosophy. Okay, so if the 00:20:37.750 --> 00:20:40.410 cultivation of our inner good nature is Mencius' 00:20:40.470 --> 00:20:43.630 moral achievement. His political theory is his 00:20:43.630 --> 00:20:46.529 revolutionary achievement. We need to transition 00:20:46.529 --> 00:20:48.589 now to the most radical part of his thought, 00:20:48.750 --> 00:20:51.970 the justification for overthrowing a ruler. This 00:20:51.970 --> 00:20:54.690 political philosophy really hinges on his idea 00:20:54.690 --> 00:20:57.410 of the primacy of the citizen. Unlike so many 00:20:57.410 --> 00:20:59.609 thinkers before him who treated the ruler as 00:20:59.609 --> 00:21:03.009 quasi -divine, Mencius fundamentally redefined 00:21:03.009 --> 00:21:05.490 the proper hierarchy of the state, and he placed 00:21:05.490 --> 00:21:08.349 the common people the citizens at the very top 00:21:08.349 --> 00:21:10.910 in terms of moral legitimacy. So the ruler is 00:21:10.910 --> 00:21:12.970 functionally demoted from this divine figure 00:21:12.970 --> 00:21:16.170 to what? A steward, an employee of the state's 00:21:16.170 --> 00:21:19.869 resources and people. Precisely. A steward. The 00:21:19.869 --> 00:21:22.410 ruler is subordinate to the masses and to the 00:21:22.410 --> 00:21:25.950 resources of society. A ruler has to continually 00:21:25.950 --> 00:21:29.509 justify their position by acting benevolently, 00:21:29.509 --> 00:21:33.490 wren, and righteously, ye. And if the ruler ignores 00:21:33.490 --> 00:21:36.730 the people's welfare, rules harshly, or fails 00:21:36.730 --> 00:21:39.089 to provide that stable, nourishing environment 00:21:39.089 --> 00:21:42.029 required for moral cultivation, then that ruler 00:21:42.029 --> 00:21:44.769 forfeits his status. He does. And this is the 00:21:44.769 --> 00:21:47.569 intellectual leap, the justification for regicide. 00:21:48.190 --> 00:21:50.369 Mencius established the philosophical grounds 00:21:50.369 --> 00:21:52.690 for subjects to overthrow or even kill a tyrant. 00:21:52.869 --> 00:21:54.730 Which would have been truly inflammatory in the 00:21:54.730 --> 00:21:56.589 Warring States period, where rulers demanded 00:21:56.589 --> 00:21:59.170 absolute obedience. It was an ideological stick 00:21:59.170 --> 00:22:01.880 of dynamite. He made this astonishing justification 00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:04.140 clearest when he was discussing the historical 00:22:04.140 --> 00:22:07.200 overthrow of the deeply wicked King Zhu of Shang. 00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:10.200 This was an act that had traditionally been difficult 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:12.819 to justify for subsequent dynastic legitimacy. 00:22:13.299 --> 00:22:15.259 Let's focus on the wording here, because it's 00:22:15.259 --> 00:22:16.839 a brilliant linguistic maneuver that provides 00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:19.980 cover for revolution. Mencius said, I have merely 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:22.299 heard of killing a villain Zhu, but I have not 00:22:22.299 --> 00:22:24.440 heard of murdering him as the ruler. This is 00:22:24.440 --> 00:22:26.799 philosophical surgery on the concept of kingship. 00:22:26.900 --> 00:22:29.660 It really is. What Mencius is arguing is that 00:22:29.660 --> 00:22:32.680 by becoming cruel, greedy, and unrighteous, King 00:22:32.680 --> 00:22:35.559 Zhu had already morally and legitimately ceased 00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:37.720 to be a true ruler in the eyes of heaven and 00:22:37.720 --> 00:22:40.319 the people. He was a functionally deposed leader 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:43.759 long before the actual overthrow. So eliminating 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:46.839 him wasn't an act of sacrilege or murder against 00:22:46.839 --> 00:22:48.880 an anointed king. It was just an act of justice 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:51.839 against a common criminal, a villain. That's 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:54.680 the argument. The implication for us is profound. 00:22:55.319 --> 00:22:57.740 The ruler's authority, the mandate of heaven, 00:22:57.900 --> 00:23:00.920 is entirely conditional. It is instantaneously 00:23:00.920 --> 00:23:04.160 withdrawn the moment the ruler ceases to be humane 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:06.259 and righteous toward the people. The people's 00:23:06.259 --> 00:23:08.200 welfare is the ultimate measure of the ruler's 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:10.400 legitimacy. It is the ultimate blueprint for 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:12.420 political accountability, placing the needs of 00:23:12.420 --> 00:23:14.200 the governed above the inherent power of the 00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:16.759 governor. And this system dictates who Mencius 00:23:16.759 --> 00:23:19.460 thought was worthy of leadership. The superior 00:23:19.460 --> 00:23:22.119 men. Right, the superior men who distinguish 00:23:22.119 --> 00:23:25.599 themselves from the common or inferior men by 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:29.160 their focus. The superior men focus only on righteousness, 00:23:29.460 --> 00:23:32.859 not personal gain. But, and this is a crucial 00:23:32.859 --> 00:23:35.619 linkage, our sources note that upholding this 00:23:35.619 --> 00:23:38.539 high morality requires an economic precondition, 00:23:38.579 --> 00:23:40.960 permanent property. Okay, what does that mean? 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.359 Mencius understood that if the people are constantly 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:46.509 struggling for bare survival, If they lack permanent 00:23:46.509 --> 00:23:50.069 property or economic stability, it becomes impossibly 00:23:50.069 --> 00:23:52.289 difficult for them to cultivate the four beginnings. 00:23:52.829 --> 00:23:56.509 Hunger and fear breed selfish behavior. So righteous 00:23:56.509 --> 00:23:59.029 governance is required not just to prevent suffering, 00:23:59.230 --> 00:24:01.349 but to create the very environment where morality 00:24:01.349 --> 00:24:03.609 can actually flourish in the first place. Exactly. 00:24:03.980 --> 00:24:06.900 which transitions us smoothly into the economics 00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:09.380 of Mencius. He wasn't just a moralist. He had 00:24:09.380 --> 00:24:11.779 a very specific, detailed vision for running 00:24:11.779 --> 00:24:13.900 the state's finances. And it starts with a pretty 00:24:13.900 --> 00:24:16.559 radical idea for the time. It does. He provides 00:24:16.559 --> 00:24:18.559 much of the foundational Confucian perspective 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:21.640 on economics, and he advocates for a dramatically 00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:23.799 hands -off approach regarding the marketplace. 00:24:24.279 --> 00:24:26.680 His philosophy held that the state should interfere 00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:29.500 as little as possible. Why that hands -off approach, 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:32.319 especially during a time of chaos? Wouldn't that 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:34.960 leave people vulnerable to unscrupulous merchants, 00:24:35.259 --> 00:24:38.200 which seems to contradict his focus on benevolence? 00:24:38.339 --> 00:24:40.559 That's a key challenge to his system, and he 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:42.720 addressed it by defining the state's dual role. 00:24:43.180 --> 00:24:45.579 The hands -off approach was intended to prevent 00:24:45.579 --> 00:24:48.299 the state itself from creating stifling monopolies. 00:24:48.339 --> 00:24:51.140 He believed that people, being inherently good 00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:54.160 and rational, could be trusted to engage in beneficial 00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:57.819 exchange. However, he also emphasized the state's 00:24:57.819 --> 00:25:00.539 concurrent responsibility to actively protect 00:25:00.539 --> 00:25:03.279 against future monopolies or price gouging by 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:06.059 private actors. So it's an interventionist non 00:25:06.059 --> 00:25:07.680 -intervention. You could put it that way, yes. 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:09.880 And what about his specific principles for taxation? 00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:12.640 They seem highly progressive. They are. He was 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:15.980 a champion of free trade and low tax rates. And 00:25:15.980 --> 00:25:18.880 crucially, he argued emphatically against taxing 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:21.259 imports. What was his reasoning there? It was 00:25:21.259 --> 00:25:24.119 pragmatic and benevolent. The purpose of the 00:25:24.119 --> 00:25:27.759 market is to exchange for what you lack. So taxing 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:30.380 a merchant who's bringing in salt or grain only 00:25:30.380 --> 00:25:32.519 results in those goods being more expensive for 00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:35.119 the villagers who desperately need them. Taxing 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:38.500 trade ultimately taxes the poor. So if they weren't 00:25:38.500 --> 00:25:40.660 taxing trade, how did the state collect essential 00:25:40.660 --> 00:25:44.339 revenue? Mencius stipulated that taxes on property 00:25:44.339 --> 00:25:46.539 were acceptable, and they should be the only 00:25:46.539 --> 00:25:49.710 means for collection. And he stressed that these 00:25:49.710 --> 00:25:52.109 taxes should only be for supplemental funds. 00:25:52.269 --> 00:25:54.730 Which indicates he expected the core functions 00:25:54.730 --> 00:25:57.250 of government to be managed leanly, through efficient 00:25:57.250 --> 00:25:59.630 stewardship rather than just massive revenue 00:25:59.630 --> 00:26:02.589 collection. That's the idea. And the mechanism 00:26:02.589 --> 00:26:05.130 he proposed for property tax was surprisingly 00:26:05.130 --> 00:26:07.609 sophisticated for the time. It was progressive. 00:26:08.190 --> 00:26:11.170 His system ensured that families who held larger, 00:26:11.210 --> 00:26:14.130 more fertile pieces of land paid a proportionately 00:26:14.130 --> 00:26:16.529 higher amount than families with smaller, less 00:26:16.529 --> 00:26:19.410 productive uniform land allotments. This meant 00:26:19.410 --> 00:26:21.609 the wealthy contributed more to the state's maintenance, 00:26:21.869 --> 00:26:24.190 reflecting his core belief that stability for 00:26:24.190 --> 00:26:27.069 the masses was paramount. It's a very early application 00:26:27.069 --> 00:26:29.710 of progressive fiscal policy, and it's rooted 00:26:29.710 --> 00:26:32.289 in moral benevolence. It is. And finally, his 00:26:32.289 --> 00:26:34.930 principles extended to resource management, demonstrating 00:26:34.930 --> 00:26:38.509 a kind of long -term ecological thinking. He 00:26:38.509 --> 00:26:41.089 even reframed scarcity as potential abundance 00:26:41.089 --> 00:26:44.329 if you were disciplined enough. How so? He argued 00:26:44.329 --> 00:26:47.130 that natural resources, forests, fisheries, fields, 00:26:47.289 --> 00:26:49.710 must be used according to their natural cycles 00:26:49.710 --> 00:26:52.069 of growth and replenishment. You shouldn't, for 00:26:52.069 --> 00:26:54.109 instance, cut down trees when they're naturally 00:26:54.109 --> 00:26:56.809 growing or fish during spawning season. So you 00:26:56.809 --> 00:26:59.589 avoid short -term gains that would cripple future 00:26:59.589 --> 00:27:01.970 abundance. Exactly. His principle was clear. 00:27:02.690 --> 00:27:18.559 Posterity has priority over profit. So Menzies' 00:27:18.660 --> 00:27:21.339 life ended in disappointment. He never saw his 00:27:21.339 --> 00:27:24.380 benevolent political system implemented. But 00:27:24.380 --> 00:27:26.859 how did his political and moral philosophy manage 00:27:26.859 --> 00:27:29.500 to survive the centuries and become so central 00:27:29.500 --> 00:27:33.480 to Chinese thought? His survival and... ultimate 00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:36.140 dominance, are really a testament to the power 00:27:36.140 --> 00:27:38.880 of his intellectual rigor. His interpretation 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:41.680 of Confucianism, particularly that doctrine of 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:44.079 innate goodness, has generally been considered 00:27:44.079 --> 00:27:46.519 the orthodox version by subsequent Chinese philosophers, 00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:49.140 especially when you compare it to the legalists 00:27:49.140 --> 00:27:51.960 or even to Sun Tzu. The claim is often made that 00:27:51.960 --> 00:27:54.720 he was more influential than Confucius had been 00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:57.400 during Confucius's own lifetime. How did his 00:27:57.400 --> 00:28:00.240 influence become so cemented? It was primarily 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:02.240 through the rise of Neo -Confucianism during 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:04.559 the Song Dynasty. There was a great Neo -Confucian 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:07.500 synthesizer, Zhu Shi, who lived from 1130 to 00:28:07.500 --> 00:28:09.880 1200, and he made a really critical move. What 00:28:09.880 --> 00:28:12.480 did he do? He grouped Mencius' text, the Mencius, 00:28:12.500 --> 00:28:15.059 with three other key texts, the Analects, Great 00:28:15.059 --> 00:28:17.180 Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean Two, formed 00:28:17.180 --> 00:28:18.940 the Four Books. And the Four Books then became 00:28:18.940 --> 00:28:20.900 required reading for the Chinese civil service 00:28:20.900 --> 00:28:23.539 exams for centuries. They became the absolute 00:28:23.539 --> 00:28:26.660 core foundation of Orthodox Neo -Confucian thought. 00:28:27.470 --> 00:28:29.509 So if you wanted to serve the state, you had 00:28:29.509 --> 00:28:32.509 to internalize Mencius' arguments on the conditional 00:28:32.509 --> 00:28:34.769 nature of the mandate of heaven and the goodness 00:28:34.769 --> 00:28:37.890 of human nature. His longer argumentative dialogue 00:28:37.890 --> 00:28:40.769 style became central to the education and administration 00:28:40.769 --> 00:28:43.670 of the Chinese empire. It's interesting how that 00:28:43.670 --> 00:28:46.309 massive influence in the East contrasts with 00:28:46.309 --> 00:28:49.349 his really slow introduction to the West. Our 00:28:49.349 --> 00:28:52.390 sources detail a specific linguistic hiccup that 00:28:52.390 --> 00:28:54.710 caused this early neglect. It's an unfortunate 00:28:54.710 --> 00:28:58.269 piece of historical irony. The early Jesuit missionaries, 00:28:58.269 --> 00:28:59.950 who were the first to translate the Confucian 00:28:59.950 --> 00:29:02.450 canon, they initially neglected the Mencius. 00:29:02.589 --> 00:29:04.069 And this was partly because of a translation 00:29:04.069 --> 00:29:07.089 error. It was. They misinterpreted a specific 00:29:07.089 --> 00:29:09.730 word, and it led them to believe that Mencius 00:29:09.730 --> 00:29:12.950 condemned celibacy as unfilial. Which, for Jesuit 00:29:12.950 --> 00:29:15.009 translators, would have been a massive philosophical 00:29:15.009 --> 00:29:18.549 red flag. Exactly. It made him seem ideologically 00:29:18.549 --> 00:29:20.650 incompatible with their own religious doctrine. 00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:24.299 Subsequent scholarship clarified that the mistranslation 00:29:24.299 --> 00:29:27.099 related more to general social conduct and fulfilling 00:29:27.099 --> 00:29:30.039 one's designated family role, not to condemning 00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:33.200 celibacy as a life choice. But that initial error 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:36.240 really hampered his reception in Europe. But 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:38.720 his work did eventually break through. It did. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:41.759 Scholars like Francois Noël eventually recognized 00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:44.160 Mencius' work as the natural and powerful development 00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:47.880 of Confucius' original philosophy. Noel published 00:29:47.880 --> 00:29:50.380 the first full Latin edition of the Menzies in 00:29:50.380 --> 00:29:53.420 1711 in Prague, and that gradually introduced 00:29:53.420 --> 00:29:55.799 his political and moral thought to a wider Western 00:29:55.799 --> 00:29:58.700 intellectual sphere. And his influence isn't 00:29:58.700 --> 00:30:01.660 just historical. We see active institutions dedicated 00:30:01.660 --> 00:30:04.180 to his philosophy today. His legacy continues 00:30:04.180 --> 00:30:06.980 to grow. It remains globally relevant, which 00:30:06.980 --> 00:30:09.200 just demonstrates the power of these ancient 00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:12.339 ideas. The first modern Mencius Institute, which 00:30:12.339 --> 00:30:14.339 is dedicated to research and education in his 00:30:14.339 --> 00:30:16.900 specific branch of Confucianism, was established 00:30:16.900 --> 00:30:20.470 in Suzhou, China in 2008. And confirming his 00:30:20.470 --> 00:30:23.690 global intellectual reach, the first Mencius 00:30:23.690 --> 00:30:26.150 Institute outside of China was established in 00:30:26.150 --> 00:30:29.769 Malaysia in 2016. That's right. It really underscores 00:30:29.769 --> 00:30:32.309 that the philosophical principles, the intrinsic 00:30:32.309 --> 00:30:35.210 goodness of humanity, the requirement for active 00:30:35.210 --> 00:30:38.809 cultivation, and the demand for benevolent, accountable 00:30:38.809 --> 00:30:41.650 leadership are still being studied and applied 00:30:41.650 --> 00:30:43.990 in contemporary ethical and political discussions 00:30:43.990 --> 00:30:47.039 all over the world. This deep dive has shown 00:30:47.039 --> 00:30:49.579 us that Mantius was really a man of radical optimism 00:30:49.579 --> 00:30:53.559 in an age of profound pessimism. We navigated 00:30:53.559 --> 00:30:56.440 that crucial biographical context from the three 00:30:56.440 --> 00:30:59.259 strategic moves of his mother and the sharp lesson 00:30:59.259 --> 00:31:01.480 about cutting the weaving. Linking environment 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:03.940 and diligence directly to his eventual philosophy. 00:31:04.259 --> 00:31:06.779 Then we explored the absolute core of his ethical 00:31:06.779 --> 00:31:09.569 framework. The doctrine of innate goodness proven 00:31:09.569 --> 00:31:12.329 by the four beginnings. Right. Illustrating how 00:31:12.329 --> 00:31:14.690 an instinct like commiseration, which we saw 00:31:14.690 --> 00:31:15.930 in the child's in the well -thought experiment, 00:31:16.190 --> 00:31:18.630 must be actively cultivated to become the virtue 00:31:18.630 --> 00:31:21.789 of humanity or Ren. And we finished with his 00:31:21.789 --> 00:31:24.329 revolutionary political blueprint, which gave 00:31:24.329 --> 00:31:27.569 subjects the moral authority to depose a tyrant, 00:31:27.750 --> 00:31:31.069 framing regicide not as murder, but as an act 00:31:31.069 --> 00:31:33.609 of justice against a common criminal. And that 00:31:33.609 --> 00:31:35.829 was coupled with his sophisticated vision for 00:31:35.829 --> 00:31:38.829 a decentralized, benevolent economy featuring 00:31:38.829 --> 00:31:40.990 free trade and progressive property taxation. 00:31:41.289 --> 00:31:44.130 Mencius stands as such a compelling figure because 00:31:44.130 --> 00:31:46.990 he refuses to accept external control as the 00:31:46.990 --> 00:31:49.509 only solution. He really does. He synthesized 00:31:49.509 --> 00:31:51.930 that Taoist idea of a natural path toward goodness 00:31:51.930 --> 00:31:54.250 and then married it to the Confucian requirement 00:31:54.250 --> 00:31:57.150 for individual active effort. His message is 00:31:57.150 --> 00:31:59.579 a powerful call to agency. You were born good, 00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:01.539 but you must work diligently within the right 00:32:01.539 --> 00:32:03.819 environment to maintain and expand that goodness. 00:32:04.299 --> 00:32:07.480 So we leave you with this final provocative thought 00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:10.039 drawn directly from the text of the Mencius. 00:32:10.299 --> 00:32:13.119 One who understands destiny will not stand beneath 00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:15.980 a tottering wall. If destiny is the path that 00:32:15.980 --> 00:32:18.759 is unforeseen and constructive, and if bad environments 00:32:18.759 --> 00:32:21.460 tend to corrupt the human will, what tottering 00:32:21.460 --> 00:32:23.700 walls, be they economic, political, or social 00:32:23.700 --> 00:32:25.920 structures in our modern society, are we currently 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:28.019 standing beneath, believing we are passively 00:32:28.019 --> 00:32:30.960 protected? And what active, unforeseen, and constructive 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:33.799 path should a superior person actively cultivate 00:32:33.799 --> 00:32:36.200 today to truly exert their mind to the utmost 00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:37.640 that's your takeaway thought to explore