Mencius
c. 372 BCE–c. 289 BCE · Philosopher · Zou (state), modern Zoucheng
Mencius (Latinized from Mèngzǐ, "Master Meng") was a Chinese philosopher of the Warring States period and, after Confucius, the most influential figure of early Confucianism. Studying in a line traced to Confucius's grandson, he taught that human nature is innately inclined toward goodness, describable through four "sprouts" (moral seeds) of compassion, shame, courtesy, and judgment. He argued that rulers govern legitimately only by benevolence (rén), and that a people may withdraw the "Mandate of Heaven" from a tyrant. He traveled among rival states advising kings, then returned home to teach. His sayings survive in the book Mèngzǐ, one of the Confucian "Four Books."
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Zou (state), modern Zoucheng
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Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Mencius’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
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Rulers world
- Chandragupta Maurya· –297 BCE
- Alexander the Great· 356 BCE–323 BCE
- Lysimachus· 360 BCE–281 BCE
- Antigonus I Monophthalmus· 382 BCE–301 BCE
- Seleucus I Nicator· 358 BCE–281 BCE
- Demetrius I Poliorcetes· 337 BCE–283 BCE
- Bindusara· –273 BCE
- Philip II of Macedon· 382 BCE–336 BCE
- Pyrrhus of Epirus· 319 BCE–272 BCE
- Ashoka the Great· 304 BCE–232 BCE
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