Lai Chi fung*

Abstract

The Ten Triplets of Mozi, consisting of ten volumes of three chapters each, are the core chapters in the study of Mohism. In this special Triplet structure of Mozi, the three chapters are distinguished as shang (上) , zhong (中), and xia (下).“Shang Xian” (尚賢)triplets are the first among the Ten Triplets in the current versions’ Mozi. Most of the Mohist studies interpretating the differences between the Ten Triplets with “Sectarian Division ” and “Evolution and Development ” whereas this paper will explain the differences between the “Shang Xian” triplets with “Argumentative Strategies”. This paper will answer two basic questions related to “Shang Xian” triplets: (1) What are the differences between the three chapters? (2) Why are there differences between the “triplets”? by Parallel-texts Method and Fundamental-question Method respectively.

By comparing the differences in dictions and syntactic structure of the “Shang Xian” triplets, this paper proposes that the triplets, instead of arguments between different school nor the diverse versions of the text over time, are used to complement each another and the corresponding argumentative strategies are “Making a Claim”, “Finding the Theoretical Sources” and “Giving Examples”.

Keywords: Mozi, Mohism, Mohist study, The Ten Triplets, ShangXian