When a white horse is not a horse is a paradox in

Chinese philosophy Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Warring States period (), during a period known as the " Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural develop ...

attributed to

Gongsun Long Gongsun Long (, BCLiu 2004, p. 336), courtesy name Zibing (子秉), was a Chinese philosopher and writer who was a member of the School of Names (Logicians) of ancient Chinese philosophy. He also ran a school and enjoyed the support of rulers, ...

, a philosopher of the

Warring States The Warring States period () was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the Qin wars of conquest ...

period. It appears in the form of a dialogue between two unnamed speakers who debate the proposition "a white horse is not a horse".

The original text

The dialogue constitutes a chapter of the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

''Gongsun Longzi''. The purported author, also known as "Master Gongsun Long" (fl. 284-259 BCE), was counted among the

School of Names The School of Names (), sometimes called the School of Forms and Names (), was a school of Chinese philosophy that grew out of Mohism during the Warring States period in 479–221 BCE. The followers of the School of Names were sometimes called the ...

in the

Hundred Schools of Thought The Hundred Schools of Thought () were philosophies and schools that flourished from the 6th century BC to 221 BC during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period of ancient China. An era of substantial discrimination in China ...

. Most of Gongsun's writings have been lost; the received ''Gongsun Longzi'' text contains only six of the supposed 14 original chapters. Parts of the text are dislocated; thus, some commentators and translators rearrange them for clarity. The dialogue is between two unnamed speakers: WhiteHorse

This dialogue continues with deliberations over colored and colorless horses and whether ''white'' and ''horse'' can be separated from ''white horse''. Other ''Gongsun Longzi'' chapters discuss "white horse"-related concepts of: ''jian'' 'hard; hardness', and ''bai'' 'white; whiteness', ''ming'' 'name; term', ''shi'' 'solid; true, actual; fact, reality', the abstract ''zhi'' 'finger; pointing; designation;

universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

' (like "whiteness"), and the concrete ''wu'' 'thing; object;

particular In metaphysics, particulars or individuals are usually contrasted with universals. Universals concern features that can be exemplified by various different particulars. Particulars are often seen as concrete, spatiotemporal entities as opposed to a ...

' (like "a white horse").

Interpretations and proposed solutions

The 'paradox' can be resolved by recognizing that the lack of

articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: ...

in the Chinese language contributes to semantic ambiguity. Without grammatical articles, it is unclear whether each 'horse' () in the statement "A white horse is not a horse" refers to 'a horse', 'the (desired) horse', 'all horses', or 'horsekind'. This can be seen clearly by expressing the paradox in English using articles: suppose that one desires yellow or black horses, then a white horse would not be the (desired) horse. The Advocate's sophistry in the White Horse Dialogue is due to his confounding 'a horse' with 'the (desired) horse'. According to

A. C. Graham Angus Charles Graham, FBA (8 July 1919 – 26 March 1991) was a Welsh scholar and sinologist who was professor of classical Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was born in Penarth, Glamorgan, Wales ...

,Graham, Angus Charles (1990); . this "A white horse is not a horse" paradox plays upon the ambiguity of whether the 'is' in the statement means: # "Is a member of the

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differently ...

"; or # "Is identical to ". In other words, the expression "white horse is not horse" is ambiguous between "''white horse'' is not

synonymous A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

with ''horse''" (true because ''white horse'' is more specific than ''horse''), versus "a white horse is not a member of the set of horses" (obviously false). The Advocate in the dialogue is asserting a lack of identity between horses and white horses, while the Objector is interpreting the Advocate's statement as a claim that the category of horses does not include white ones. Beyond the inherent semantic ambiguities of "A white horse is not a horse," the first line of the White Horse Dialogue obscurely asks ('Can it be that ...?'). This dialogue could be an attempted proof that a white horse is not a horse, or a question if such a statement is possible, or both. Bryan W. Van Norden suggests that "the Advocate is only arguing that 'a white horse is not a horse' be true, given a certain interpretation. He might acknowledge that, in another interpretation, 'a white horse a horse. An alternative interpretation is offered in

Feng Youlan Feng Youlan (; 4 December 1895 – 26 November 1990) was a Chinese philosopher, historian, and writer who was instrumental for reintroducing the study of Chinese philosophy in the modern era. The name he published under in English was 'Fung ...

's ''A History of Chinese Philosophy'': However, there are recent histories of Chinese philosophy that do not subscribe to Feng's interpretation. Other contemporary philosophers and sinologists who have analyzed the dialogue include A. C. Graham, Chad Hansen, Cristoph Harbsmeier, Kirill Ole Thompson, and Bryan W. Van Norden.

Historic influence

In the Chinese philosophical tradition, the White Horse Dialogue's significance is evident from the number of

Chinese classic texts Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucia ...

directly or indirectly discussing it. The '' Liezi'', which lists and criticizes the paradoxes of Gongsun Long as "perversions of reason and sense", explains "'A white horse is not a horse' because the name diverges from the shape."Graham, Two '' Zhuangzi'' chapters (17 and 33) mock Gongsun Long, and another (2) combines his ''zhi'' 'attribute' and ''ma'' 'horse' notions in the same context: The '' Mengzi'' (6A4) notes that ''bai'' 'white' has different connotations whether one is using it to refer to a graying person (who is worthy of respect because of his or her age) or a white horse (which should be treated like any other animal):Legge, James (1895); Other early "a white horse is not a horse" references are found in the '' Hanfeizi'' (32), ''

Mozi Mozi (; ; Latinized as Micius ; – ), original name Mo Di (), was a Chinese philosopher who founded the school of Mohism during the Hundred Schools of Thought period (the early portion of the Warring States period, –221 BCE). The ancie ...

'' (11B), and ''

Zhanguoce The ''Zhan Guo Ce'', ( W-G: Chan-kuo T'se) also known in English as the ''Strategies of the Warring States'' or ''Annals of the Warring States'', is an ancient Chinese text that contains anecdotes of political manipulation and warfare during the ...

'' (4).

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * * (Includes a section titled "On the White Horse".) *

External links