Mòjiā 墨家

(‘Mohists’), the followers of Mò Dí and the intellectual tradition that developed from his teachings. Unlike Mòzǐ, which denotes either the founder or the book, Mòjiā refers to the wider movement, including later generations of Mohists responsible for the Mòjīng and other developments in Mohist philosophy. Ancient sources already recognised divisions within the movement, most famously the statement in the Hánfēizǐ that ‘Mohism divided into three’ (Mò fēn wéi sān). Modern scholarship generally distinguishes between the early Mohists associated with the doctrinal chapters of the Mòzǐ and the Later Mohists (hòuqī mòjiā), to whom the dialectical writings are usually attributed.