Gongsun Long (c. 320 to 250 BCE), courtesy name Zibing, was a Chinese philosopher of the Warring States period and a member of the School of Names, also called the Logicians. He served as a retainer to the Lord of Pingyuan in the northern state of Zhao, where anecdotes depict him advising King Hui of Zhao against war. He is best known for paradoxes such as the claim that a white horse is not a horse, an argument that plays on the ambiguity between sameness of kind and identity, and for essays on name and reality, hardness and whiteness, and pointing at things. Only six of the fourteen essays originally attributed to him survive, in the anthology Gongsun Longzi, and much of what is known of his life comes from anecdotes in the Zhuangzi and other early texts.
Facts
Defining MomentPut forward the paradox that white horses are not horses 2 Browse and compare
Tradition Family Connections
Associated With
Source The School of Names (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
In Branch
Source The School of Names (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
In Tradition
Source The School of Names (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
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Source Gongsun Long (Wikipedia)LeadQuote, Lead
was a Chinese philosopher, writer, and member of the School of Names
Sources
1. The School of Names (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Section 6, Gongsun Long
Gongsun Long (c. 320-250 B.C.E.) was a retainer to the Lord of Pingyuan (d. 252 B.C.E.) in the northern state of Zhao.
Section 6.1, White Horse, his language
Gongsun Long won fame by advocating a claim that any competent speaker of his language would have judged obviously false, namely that "a white horse is not a horse."
Section 1, Chinese sophists
Hui Shi, Gongsun Long, and the others have been described as Chinese "sophists,"
Associated With: School of Names, Section 1, Background and Overview
Han dynasty archivists associated seven figures with the "School of Names": Deng Xi, Yin Wen, Hui Shi, Gongsun Long, Cheng-gong Sheng, Huang Gong, and Mao Gong
In Tradition: School of Names, Section 1, Background and Overview
Han dynasty archivists associated seven figures with the "School of Names": Deng Xi, Yin Wen, Hui Shi, Gongsun Long, Cheng-gong Sheng, Huang Gong, and Mao Gong
In Branch: Philosophy of Language, Section 6.1, White Horse
Gongsun Long won fame by advocating a claim that any competent speaker of his language would have judged obviously false, namely that "a white horse is not a horse."
In Group: Other Philosophy Of Language Traditions, Section 6.1, White Horse
Gongsun Long won fame by advocating a claim that any competent speaker of his language would have judged obviously false, namely that "a white horse is not a horse."
View the Source2. Gongsun Long (Wikipedia)
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