5
political order; for, as conquerors swallowed up entire societies, non-kin were increasingly
thrown together, giving rise to new classes: the newly wealthy merchants and independent
craftsmen, and the now masterless knights (shih), who sought work as swordsmen or public
officials, and whose ranks furnished the independent thinkers we shall meet presently.
The anarchy and violence of this period—entire lineages had been exterminated—led to a
widespread yearning for the peace and order that reigned under the early Chou. In the absence of
an imperial authority capable of imposing uniformity of thought, this yearning led to the
flourishing of philosophy in China, most importantly the teachings of Lao-tzu (b. 604 or 571
B.C.), which gave rise to Taoism, Confucius (551-479 B.C.), and, later, Mo-tzu (ca. 480-390
B.C.).
8
Rejecting the unbridled struggle for advantage that marked the age, these thinkers argued
that human beings ought to follow the ethical pattern already implicit in the world, but derived
very different prescription from this central idea.
Lao-tzu taught that the tao is the mystical ground of all things, which undergo a continuous
transformation between an active male energy (yang) and the more fundamental passive female
energy (yin), and that contentment comes from spontaneous action in accordance with this
natural flow. More concretely, people should live simple, frugal lives devoted to manual labor
and practice natural kindness toward all living beings (rather than ritualized forms of virtue and
proper conduct based on rank). States should be small, taxes and punishments few. Rulers should
give up their pride and ambitions, practicing humility and nonaggression instead, and let people
live where and how they want. Without exertion of political authority, people and societies will
thus be naturally at peace with themselves.
8
For the texts traditionally ascribed to these thinkers, see Lao-tzu’s Taoteching, trans. Red Pine (San Francisco:
Mercury House, 1996); The Analects of Confucius, trans. Simon Leys (New York: W.W. Norton, 1997); The Ethical
and Political Works of Motse, trans. Yi-Pao Mei (Westport, Conn.: Hyperion Press, 1973 [1929]).
Convention