Mencius on Desire and Choosing Our Priorities

Working out what matters to us is a crucial step forward as we seek a vision of the life worth living. But what do we do when the things we care about most, the things we prioritize, come into conflict with one another? Mencius, a Chinese philosopher living in the fourth century BCE, describes it like this:

[.alt-blockquote]"“Fish is something I desire; bear’s paw is also something I desire. If Ι cannot have both, I will forsake fish and select bear’s paw. Life is something I desire; righteousness is also something I desire. If I cannot have both, I will forsake life and select righteousness. Life is something I desire, but there is something I desire more than life. Hence, I will not do just anything to obtain it. Death is something I hate, but there is something I hate more than death. Hence, there are calamities I do not avoid.”[.alt-blockquote]

[.alt-blockquote-attribution]—Mencius, 6A10.1-2[.alt-blockquote-attribution]

Questions

• How might you go about ordering your priorities in life? Should you order them in conversation with others or on your own? Who might your conversation partners be?
• Is your current life aligned or misaligned with the values you prioritize? How would your life change if your actions reflected the virtues you prioritize above all others?
• Have you ever endured a hardship because you were not willing to compromise your values?
• How may we relate to and empathize with others whose priorities differ from our own? How might we collectively navigate competing value systems in our personal, professional, and political lives?
• What do you think Mencius has in mind when he refers to things we value (or ought to value) more than life itself? What, if anything, do you value in this way?

Context

• “How Should We Live?” in Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most
• Mencius, translated by Irene Bloom.

Pairs Well With

• Christian traditions of seeking righteousness above all else; martyrdom exemplifying the decision to not avoid calamities at the expense of righteousness.
• Kant on duty
• Buddhism valuing enlightenment over satisfaction of desires

Pairs Poorly With

• Nietzsche's eternal recurrence tends towards fatalism. According to this view, we affirm life in affirming our present circumstances rather than working within our circumstances to live into or attain the values, relationships, or other desires we want most.
• Marc Andreessen's The Techno-Optimist Manifesto presents capitalism as the driver of innovation and, as a result, abundance. Theoretically, with the help of technological advancements, we will no longer have to consider how to prioritize our desires, whether ethical or material.
• Act Consequentialism: Rather than valuing an act based on its consequences (even if the consequences may be considered calamities), for Mencius one must value the act based on the virtues they have prioritized.