Care Without Favorites

Mozi, a thinker of the fifth century BCE, taught jian ai: impartial care. His diagnosis was that much harm in the world comes from partiality, each person and family favoring its own while neglecting others. Thieves love only their own houses, and rulers love only their own states.

His remedy was to care for others’ families, cities and states as for one’s own. Confucians answered that love naturally begins with family and spreads outward. The Mohists replied that an account of duty should be judged by what it does for the many, and that favoritism tends to cause quarrels and wars.

You need not accept the whole picture to use the habit. When you decide, ask whose interests you are quietly leaving out, and what they would say.

The hiring panel

A panel hires for a city job. One member, Rana, knows a candidate from her neighborhood and leans toward him. Another candidate, a stranger, has a stronger record.

Rana pauses and asks how she would judge if the stranger were her cousin. She sees that she would rate the stranger higher. She lays out the scores for the whole panel and the stranger is chosen.

Try this today Before a decision that affects others, list one stranger it touches and what they would say.