Gongsun Long

Gongsun Longzi (Chinese公 孙龙子, Pinyin Gongsun Lóngzǐ, W.-G. Kung -sun Lung Tzu ) is the only extant work of a representative of a school that Jia Míng in the sources from the Han dynasty; (Chinese名家) is called. In Western literature, the term Chinese sophists for the representatives of Míng has enforced JIA (literally the school name). As the author of this little book is a Gongsun Long ( Chinese公孙龙; approx. 320-250 BC) believed, according to the Shiji from the State of Zhao (赵Chinese; see also the time of the Warring States ) came.

The us -preserved version of the Gongsun Longzi is divided into six essays, the first of which, titled track collection (Chinese迹 府, Pinyin jī fǔ ) contains three excerpts from no longer extant works on the life of Gongsun Long. Of the five remaining chapters are only two, over the white horse (Chinese白马 论, Pinyin bái mǎ LUN) and over names and things ( chinese指物 论, Pinyin zhǐ Wu Lun ), as representative of the teaching of the philosophers. The better known of the two is about the white horse, by asking the question " Can we say that a white horse is not a horse?" (Chinese白马非马 可 乎, Pinyin bái mǎ fēi mǎ HE hu) begins. This text is structured as a dispute between two persons A and B, where A presupposes the truth of the statement and B these doubts. The object of this discussion is actually the importance of non-formal language, or more precisely the proper use of the word to be ( in the sense of affiliation ):

A: "Membership is given when a member of a set of objects with a certain constant property can be assigned without all the properties of the elements of the set must be equal. "

B: "membership is only given when a member of a set of objects can be assigned only if all the properties of the elements are the same. "

If the Final Rule A is applied, a white horse is an element of the set of all horses. If the final rule applied B, a white horse is not an element of the set of all horses, because the elements of this set the property do not possess. The purpose of this text is to encourage the reader to consider which rule of inference should be "his" by the use of the word used. Therefore, the text discusses various types of equality and at the same time leads her to the shortcomings of non-formal language, but without attempting a formalization.

The other essays contained in Gongsun Longzi are:

  • The change in understanding (Chinese通 变 论, Pinyin Tong Bian Lun )
  • About the Hard and the White (Chinese坚 白 论, Pinyin Jian Bai Lun )
  • About names and facts (Chinese名 实 论, Pinyin Míng shí LUN)
Wade–Giles
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