Mencius on Moral Dilemmas: 捨生取義 孟子

My Favorite Mencian Teaching of All Times

What makes a good person choose differently than a shallow person?A philosopher named Mencius thought deeply about how we make choices when facing a moral dilemma. He believed that our choices reveal the kind of person we truly are.

When I was younger, I learned from Mencius how wise people make decisions. He gave a simple but powerful example of choosing between two things we like.

How do enlightened individuals reason through their dilemmas? Mencius offers us a glimpse into his internal reasoning. Image from Shutterstock

Mencius once said, "I like both fish and bear paws. But if I had to choose, I would give up the fish for the bear paws."

孟子曰:「魚，我所欲也，熊掌，亦我所欲也 ; 二者不 可得兼，舍魚而取熊掌者也。

Then, he goes on to say:

"In the same way, I want both to live and to do what's right. But if I had to choose, I would do what's right, even if it meant losing my life."

生亦我所欲也，義亦我所欲也 ; 二者不可得兼，舍生而取義者也。

Here, 'doing what’s right' refers to moral integrity—staying true to values like fairness and kindness, even when it means not getting what we want.

"I care about my life, but there is something I care about even more. That's why I won't do anything unjust just to save it."

生亦我所欲，所 欲有甚於生者，故不為苟得也;

When Mencius talks about valuing something more than his own life, he means that he treasures values like justice and integrity.

"I don't want to die, but I know there is something worse than dying that I can't accept. Because of that, I won't do anything unjust to avoid dying."

死亦我所惡，所惡有甚於死者， 故患有所不辟也。

Here, "something worse than death" refers to moral corruption—the loss of one’s integrity. To Mencius, being morally corrupt is worse than dying. Then he asks a few thought-provoking questions:

"If people care more about their safety than doing what’s right, won’t they make bad choices just to protect themselves?"

如使人之所欲莫甚於生，則凡可以得生者，何不用也 ?

"If they fear death more than being morally corrupt, won't they make wrong choices to escape it?"

使人之所惡莫甚於死者，則凡可以辟患者，何不為也 ?

"Some people could survive or avoid danger, but they choose not to—because it would mean doing something wrong."

由是則生而有不用也，由是則可以辟患而有不為也，

From this perspective, everyone—whether good or bad—knows deep down that being morally upright matters more than simply surviving, and that moral corruption is worse than death. The difference is that good people keep listening to their conscience.

是故 所欲有甚於生者，所惡有甚於死者。非獨賢者有是心也，人皆有之，賢者能勿喪耳。

In other words, to make wiser choices, we must be honest about what we truly want and what we reject. For example, if we care more about being at peace with our conscience than about always being right, we might stop trying to win every argument. In this way, we stay true to our values, even when things aren’t perfect.

Here is a video to follow along.