"Let not a man do what his sense of right bids him not to do, nor desire what it forbids him to desire. This is sufficient. The skillful artist will not alter his measures for the sake of a stupid workman"
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Mencius grounds ethics in an inner compass: when the heart knows something is wrong, do not do it; when it forbids a desire, do not crave it. Nothing esoteric is required beyond fidelity to this moral sense. He trusts an innate capacity to discern right and wrong, the heart-mind that recoils at cruelty and is ashamed of base conduct. By saying this is sufficient, he strips away the rationalizations of expediency and profit that dominated the Warring States era, insisting that character is built by heeding what one already knows to be right.
The craftsman metaphor sharpens the point. A skillful artisan relies on fixed measures, like the compass and square, and does not change them to suit an inept assistant. Moral principles function as such measures. If appetites, peer pressure, or corrupt subordinates cannot operate within those standards, the fault lies with them, not with the standards. To alter measures for a clumsy workman would be to ruin the work; to bend righteousness to accommodate folly is to ruin the self and the polity. For rulers, this means demanding humane governance and just institutions even when ministers or circumstances resist. For individuals, it means refusing to adjust conscience to fit convenience or desire.
Mencius voiced this against rivals who prized consequence or self-interest over righteousness. To Mohist calculations of utility and to Yangist pursuits of private advantage, he replies that a stable Way begins in the heart’s spontaneous judgments. Principles are not stubbornness for its own sake; they are the reliable tools that make good work possible. Education and cultivation aim to refine the heart so that its measures are precise, but once set, they guide action without compromise. The teaching is both severe and liberating: do not betray what you know, do not chase what dignity forbids, and let standards shape outcomes rather than outcomes dictate standards.
The craftsman metaphor sharpens the point. A skillful artisan relies on fixed measures, like the compass and square, and does not change them to suit an inept assistant. Moral principles function as such measures. If appetites, peer pressure, or corrupt subordinates cannot operate within those standards, the fault lies with them, not with the standards. To alter measures for a clumsy workman would be to ruin the work; to bend righteousness to accommodate folly is to ruin the self and the polity. For rulers, this means demanding humane governance and just institutions even when ministers or circumstances resist. For individuals, it means refusing to adjust conscience to fit convenience or desire.
Mencius voiced this against rivals who prized consequence or self-interest over righteousness. To Mohist calculations of utility and to Yangist pursuits of private advantage, he replies that a stable Way begins in the heart’s spontaneous judgments. Principles are not stubbornness for its own sake; they are the reliable tools that make good work possible. Education and cultivation aim to refine the heart so that its measures are precise, but once set, they guide action without compromise. The teaching is both severe and liberating: do not betray what you know, do not chase what dignity forbids, and let standards shape outcomes rather than outcomes dictate standards.
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| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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