Mozi

The collected writings of Mozi and the school he founded, the Mohists, who were the main early rivals of the Confucians. Of the original 71 chapters, 53 survive. The core sets out ten doctrines, most preserved in three versions: elevating the worthy, identifying with one's superior, impartial care, opposing aggressive war, moderation in spending, moderation in funerals, the will of Heaven, the existence of ghosts, opposing music and opposing fatalism. The key argument is that partiality causes the world's harms, so people should care for others as they care for themselves, and that every practice should be judged by whether it benefits the people. Mozi offers three tests for any doctrine: its basis in the sage kings, the evidence of what people have seen and heard, and its usefulness in practice. Later chapters, the Mohist Canons, deal with logic, argument, ethics, optics and geometry, and the final chapters are manuals on defending cities against siege.

It contains the first sustained consequentialist ethics in Chinese thought and a forceful case against aggressive war, written by a school that tested every custom by whether it actually helped people.