failing like never before

Here it is, the history that I mentioned earlier, here. I should point out, that yes, there are grammatical errors that I am aware of. This is the exact same paper that I turned in, completely unchanged. Have fun reading it, non-existent readers of my site.

During the period of Eastern Zhou, when the power of the Zhou kings was in decline, various philosophies and methods of governing were created. Amongst these beliefs, were those of Zichan whose views can be seen in The Chronicles of Zuo, Confucius in The Analects of Confucius, and Mo Zi in The Basic Writings of Mo Tzu. Each of these three men had a different set of criteria for determining whether or not a man was worthy of appointment to a government job, with Mo Zi judging on worthiness, Zichan off of capabilities, and Confucius off of moral character. Although at first glance it would seem that all three men have entirely different criteria in appointing an official, they share, amongst other lesser similarities, a belief that social status should have little, if any, importance in selecting an official.

Of all the three, Mo Zi outlines the simplest methodology for selecting men for government positions. Under Mo Zi's system a man must simply be capable of performing the task required for the position, with social status and relations to the ruler having no importance at all, and a ruler “must honor the worthy, for honoring the worthy is the foundation of good government.” (Mo Zi, P. 22) Under Mo Zi's system of appointing officials, the ruler would pick indiscriminately between a nephew and a complete stranger, selecting whoever is most appropriate for the position. In defining how the righteous should be promoted, Mo Zi states that “the lord promotes the righteous without caring how far removed they may have been from him,” (Mo Zi, P. 19) that is to say, the ruler should not take into consideration whether or not the candidate is of any relation to the ruler. This is much like the beliefs of Confucius and Zichan, that social status should be of little or no consequence in promoting and selecting an official.