Mencius (Chin., Meng Tzu/Mengzi; c.391–c.308 BCE). Early Confucian thinker. Mencius' ideas appear in a book bearing his name that contains sections, often unconnected, which range from brief aphorisms to long dialogues. Perhaps written by Mencius and his disciples, it was edited, with parts discarded, in the 2nd cent. The book became extraordinarly influential: Chu Hsi (1130–1200) declared it one of the Four Books, and the Mongol court in 1315 included it in the civil-service exams; from that time forward its impact continued to grow.

Neo-Confucians read Mencius in terms of their own pursuit of the ‘enlightenment’ that occurs through contact with a moral and omniscient mind. But Mencius's own concern is to show Confucianism's superiority to (especially) two positions: one, the proto-utilitarianism of Mohism, aiming to replace traditional norms with rational judgements about what will benefit most people; the other, exemplified by Yang Chu, counselling people to reject social responsibility and pursue individual satisfaction. Against these ideas, Mencius argues that Heaven (Tʾien) produces in human beings four potentials that define human nature, making it good, giving birth to four central virtues when actualized: benevolence (jen), propriety (li), practical wisdom (chih), and i, ‘duty’ or ‘proper behaviour’. The cultivation of these potentials is a person's most significant task. After his death, he was dubbed the Second Sage, and his spirit tablet (ancestral cult) was placed next to that of Confucius in the Confucian temples.