Help with a small text from 李贽

[MartinusRenardus]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm currently trying to translate this little text for a philosophy course I'm attending at university and even though I get the most of it, I do have problems finding out what the author exacly means in the last bit of the text.

 

Here is the text:

 

兼爱者，相爱之谓也。使人相爱，何说害仁？若谓使人相爱者，乃是害仁，则必使人相贼者，乃不害仁乎？我爱人父，然后人皆爱我之父，何说无父？若谓使人皆爱我父者，乃是无父，则必使人贼我父者，乃是有父乎？是何异禽兽夷狄人也？岂其有私憾而故托公言售以其说邪？然孟氏非若人矣。赵文肃所谓不深考其所自而轻于立言是也。

 

Maybe I should also gave a bit of context here. Lizhi is commenting on a commentary that Mengzi had about Mozi. In the commentary, Mengzi said that universal love advocated by Mozi would harm 'ren' because you would just love everybody and there will be no respect for the people in higher ranks. And that universal love will also cause people not to recognise their father as 'special' because everyone loves each other equally. He even goes on to claim that this way we will be not more than beasts.

 

So this text clearly wants to deny what Mengzi is claiming about universal love. The beginning is quite easy. He kind of turns the argument around to make a point. But the stricky part for me starts at 是何异禽兽夷狄人也？岂其有私憾而故托公言售以其说邪？然孟氏非若人矣。赵文肃所谓不深考其所自而轻于立言是也。

 

I'm pretty sure he is also reffering to Mengzi saying that these kind of people are beast, but I don't really get what the sentence means exacly. Is really don't know what he means with the sentence after that. Just bits and pieces. In the end I believe he is saying something about self reflection is worth less than expound one's ideas. But I'm really not sure!

 

Is there someones that can help me analyse these sentences?

 

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

Martin

 

[gato]

Very interesting, Martin. Thanks for bringing Li Zhi to our attention. I was so intrigued by this passage that I've ordered a book of selected essays by Li Zhi (annotated and translated into modern Chinese) and a biography (《李贽文选译》 and 《一个异端思想家的心灵史:李贽评传》).

 

But the stricky part for me starts at 是何异禽兽夷狄人也？岂其有私憾而故托公言售以其说邪？然孟氏非若人矣。赵文肃所谓不深考其所自而轻于立言是也。

I would translate that roughly as:

 

What kind of animal or barbarian is person who says such a thing? Is he trying to convince the public such a thing out of personal spite? Mencius couldn't have been such a person. Zhao Wensu (AKA 赵贞吉, a Ming Dynasty scholar, see Wiki) carelessly made these statements without thinking them through.