State consequentialism

It is the business of the benevolent man to seek to promote what is beneficial to the world and to eliminate what is harmful, and to provide a model for the world. What benefits he will carry out; what does not benefit men he will leave alone (Chinese: 仁之事者, 必务求于天下之利, 除天下之害, 将以为法乎天下. 利人乎, 即为; 不利人乎, 即止).^[5]

— Mozi, Mozi (5th century BC) (Chapter 8: Against Music Part I)

Unlike utilitarianism, which views pleasure as a moral good, "the basic goods in Mohist consequentialist thinking are... order, material wealth, and increase in population".^[6] During Mozi's era, war and famines were common, and population growth was seen as a moral necessity for a harmonious society. The "material wealth" of Mohist consequentialism refers to basic needs like shelter and clothing, and the "order" of Mohist consequentialism refers to Mozi's stance against warfare and violence, which he viewed as pointless and a threat to social stability.^[7]

Stanford Sinologist David Shepherd Nivison, in The Cambridge History of Ancient China, writes that the moral goods of Mohism "are interrelated: more basic wealth, then more reproduction; more people, then more production and wealth... if people have plenty, they would be good, filial, kind, and so on unproblematically".^[6] The Mohists believed that morality is based on "promoting the benefit of all under heaven and eliminating harm to all under heaven". In contrast to Bentham's views, state consequentialism is not utilitarian because it is not hedonistic or individualistic. The importance of outcomes that are good for the community outweigh the importance of individual pleasure and pain.^[8]

Eirik Harris of the Shenzi fragments has an essay including a State Consequentialist interpretation of Shen Dao, from the Warring States period. Harris takes Shen Dao's reasoning as based more simply in the consequences of actions for the state than a 'normative morality', as found in Confucian and later Daoist texts. One of Shen Dao's fragments say's that the ruler's position was established to benefit the state, rather than the state to benefit the ruler. The text suggests that whatever benefits the state 'ought' to be done, namely to make it stronger, stable and well ordered as to better ensure it's survival.

Shen Dao does seem to have some moral grounding, and does claim that an orderly state will benefit the people, assuming that a ruler might have such goals. But he never claims such goals as intrinsically valuable, or as the ruler's "fundamental aim", and never claims he should always take those actions which benefit state order or the people. The ruler simply 'ought' to follow Shen Dao's advice if he desires 'consequences' like a strong, orderly state and welfare, as might be assumed.^[9]

Sinologist Hansen took Shen Dao as only beginning to emphasize a concept of the Dao or Way.^[10] Shen Dao claims to espouse a Dao or "Way" of Heaven. But his fragments do not focus on the concept as later texts do. As a major concept, if it had been a focus for him, his archival commentators might have seen fit to include his discussion of the Way, at least to criticize it. The concept of an intrinsically moral Daoistic Dao or Way may not have been as developed in his time.^[11]