Pacifism in Mengzian Political Philosophy

Yuchen Guo

doi:10.4312/as.2026.14.1.193-228

Authors

GUO Yuchen Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2026.14.1.193-228

Keywords:

Mengzi, Confucianism, pacifism, realism, just war theory

Abstract

This paper reviews the prevalent interpretative approaches to Mengzi’s political philosophy in contemporary academia, including realism, just war theory, and just war pacifism, and proposes an alternative interpretative framework based on positive-pragmatic pacifism. The main contributions of this study are twofold: First, it introduces an often-overlooked perspective of positive pacifism, arguing that the classification of Mengzian political philosophy should focus not only on his stance on war, but also on the pacifist nature in his theory of benevolent governance. Second, it employs Olaf Müller’s pragmatic pacifism framework to interpret Mengzi’s stance on war, which aligns with the pacifist nature and pragmatic flexibility inherent in Mengzian political philosophy. The paper argues that the essence of Mengzian pacifism lies not in establishing unattainable criteria for just wars, but in his fundamental opposition to violence and his persistent pursuit of a peaceful order in real politics.

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