2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Today’s global engineering practice and technological ethics face profound challenges. Amid this context, the pre-Qin Mohist school—an ancient Chinese academic community that merged philosophy with engineering—has drawn wide interdisciplinary interest. The renowned British scholar Joseph Needham commented on Mohism’s scientific and technological contributions in his seminal work Science and Civilization in China: "The Mohists, who fully trusted human reason, clearly laid the fundamental concepts of natural science in Asia."
Yet Mohist engineering philosophy has long been neglected in scholarship. Mainstream engineering philosophy holds that technology and engineering remained largely unexamined in both Western and Eastern traditions, only occasionally becoming subjects of reflection.[2] However, reinterpreting the Mozitext—especially Canon I, Canon II, Exposition I, Exposition II, Major Illustrations, and Minor Illustrations, which form the Mojing (Mohist Canon)—shows its intellectual depth and systematicity far exceed prior academic understanding. In fact, it contains a coherent engineering philosophy system, termed "Mohist Design Philosophy" by scholars.
This paper adopts an interdisciplinary perspective, bridging engineering philosophy and pedagogy. It systematically explores how Mohist thought can inform the construction of a distinctively Chinese engineering ethics education system and an indigenous engineering philosophy paradigm. By analyzing core Mohist concepts—"inclusive care" , "non-aggression" , and "frugality" —and their expressions in engineering practices, along with addressing modern engineering education dilemmas and digital technology ethical challenges, this study reaches key conclusions. The Mohist ethical framework of "inclusive care and non-aggression" anchors engineering ethics in the value of "benefit to the people" . Its "threefold test" verification system and "seeking causes through skillful transmission" methodology form one of the earliest systematic engineering philosophy frameworks. In engineering education, Mohist talent standards ("robust virtue and refined skill," , "vigorous teaching" pedagogy, and tripartite practice model offer Eastern wisdom to balance technical rationality and humanistic values. In the digital age, creatively applying Mohist thought to algorithmic ethics, cybersecurity, and green computing further highlights its enduring value as a technology philosophy.