PHILOSOPHER

Mencius

372 BC - 289 BC

Photo of Mencius

Icon of person Mencius

Mencius (Chinese: 孟子); born Mèng Kē (Chinese: 孟軻); ( MEN-shee-əs) or Mengzi (372–289 BC or 385–303 or 302 BC) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher who has often been described as the "second Sage", that is, after only Confucius himself. He is part of Confucius' fourth generation of disciples. Mencius inherited Confucius' ideology and developed it further. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Mencius has received more than 774,882 page views. His biography is available in 70 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 68 in 2019). Mencius is the 84th most popular philosopher (up from 85th in 2019), the 23rd most popular biography from China (down from 22nd in 2019) and the 4th most popular Chinese Philosopher.

Mencius is most famous for his philosophy of human nature. He believed that humans are inherently good and that the mind is a blank slate.

Memorability Metrics

  • 770k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 80.97

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 70

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.87

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.38

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Menciuses by language


Among PHILOSOPHERS

Among philosophers, Mencius ranks 84 out of 1,089. Before him are Zeno of Citium, Xenophanes, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Nicholas of Cusa, Boethius, and Walter Benjamin. After him are Carl von Clausewitz, Jean Bodin, Tertullian, Johann Gottfried Herder, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and Friedrich Fröbel.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 372 BC, Mencius ranks 1. After him is Alexis. Among people deceased in 289 BC, Mencius ranks 1. After him is Agathocles of Syracuse.

Others Born in 372 BC

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  • Photo of Mencius

    Mencius

    372 BC - 289 BC

    HPI: 80.97

    Rank: 1

  • Photo of Alexis

    Alexis

    372 BC - 270 BC

    HPI: 58.20

    Rank: 2

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Others Deceased in 289 BC

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In China

Among people born in China, Mencius ranks 23 out of 1,186. Before him are Ip Man (1893), Wu Zetian (624), Xi Jinping (1953), Hu Jintao (1942), Kangxi Emperor (1654), and Qianlong Emperor (1711). After him are Xuanzang (602), Cai Lun (48), Zhuge Liang (181), Liu Bei (161), Guan Yu (162), and Du Fu (712).

Others born in China

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Among PHILOSOPHERS In China

Among philosophers born in China, Mencius ranks 4. Before him are Confucius (-551), Laozi (-604), and Sun Tzu (-543). After him are Zhuang Zhou (-369), Zhu Xi (1130), Mozi (-470), Padmasambhava (717), Han Fei (-280), Xun Kuang (-313), Milarepa (1052), and Shen Kuo (1031).

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