墨者夷之认为，孟子描述的“今人乍见孺子将入于井，皆有怵惕恻隐之心”恰好表明“爱无差等”，但是孟子认为这类情境具有特殊性，不能以偏概全。恻隐不忍之心对世间痛苦敏感，能够触发一种避免和缓解他人痛苦的消极之爱。消极之爱的对象是普遍的，但增益他人幸福意义上的积极之爱则没有这种普遍性。即使消极之爱，在要求较高付出或资源条件紧张的情境中，也还是会有差等。积极之爱奠基于互利互善的社会合作，“仁民”的动力并不来源于“亲亲”，如果没有互利互善的家庭生活，“亲亲”本身也难以维系。“爱有无差等”不能一概而论，而是需要综合权衡多维因素，除了对象与我之关系的亲疏，还应考虑情境的紧迫程度、能力和资源条件的满足程度，以实现爱的中道。在两种最基本的消极之爱的意义上，应该讲兼爱，在此之外，儒家“爱有差等”原则通常更加现实和合理。但要实现儒家“天下一家”的仁爱理想，也应明确“互惠”的重要性。

Yi Zhi, a Mohist, argues that Mencius’description of “when people see a child about to enter a well, they all have a fearful and compassionate heart” shows that “we love everyone without difference", but Mencius argues that this type of situation is special and cannot be generalized. Compassion is sensitive to the pain of the world and can trigger a kind of negative love that avoids and alleviates the pain of others. The object of negative love is universal, but positive love in the sense of increasing the happiness of others is not. Even in negative love, there is still a difference in situations that require high levels of commitment or resource constraints. Positive love is based on social cooperation for mutual benefit and goodwill, and the motivation for “benevolence" does not come from “kinship”, which itself is difficult to maintain without a mutually beneficial and good family life. The question of “whether there is a difference in love regarding different people”cannot be generalized, but requires a comprehensive weighing of multi-dimensional factors, In addition to the closeness of the relationship between the object and me, the degree of urgency of the situation, and the extent to which the capacity and resource conditions are fulfilled should also be taken into account, so as to realize the middle way of love. In the sense of the two most basic types of negative love, one should speak of “love without difference”, beyond which the Confucian principle of “love with difference” is usually more realistic and reasonable. However, in order to realize the Confucian ideal of benevolence of “one family”, the importance of “reciprocity” should also be clarified.