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White Horse Paradox
The White Horse Dialogue in Chinese philosophy is a debate between two unnamed speakers on a proposition often translated as 'a white horse is not a horse'. It appears in the Warring States period text ''Gongsun Longzi'' attributed to Gongsun Long, grouped under the philosophical School of Names in later taxonomies. The original text The dialogue constitutes a chapter of the eponymous ''Gongsun Longzi''. The purported author, also known as "Master Gongsun Long" (), was counted by later scholars among the School of Names in the Hundred Schools of Thought. Most of Gongsun's writings have been lost; the received ''Gongsun Longzi'' text contains only six of the recorded fourteen original chapters. Parts of the dialogue are dislocated and a small number of words are theorized to have been lost early in the text's transmission history. Thus, some commentators and translators rearrange some sentences for clarity. The dialogue is between two unnamed speakers: This dialogue continues w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gongsun Longzi
Gongsun Long (250 BC), courtesy name Zibing, was a Chinese philosopher, writer, and member of the School of Names, also known as the Logicians, of ancient Chinese philosophy. Gongsun ran a school and received patronage from rulers, advocating peaceful means of resolving disputes amid the martial culture of the Warring States period. His collected works comprise the ''Gongsun Longzi'' () anthology. Comparatively few details are known about his life, and much of his work has been lost—only six of the fourteen essays he originally authored are still extant.McGreal 1995, p. 31 In book 17 of the '' Zhuangzi'', Gongsun speaks of himself: When young, I studied the way of the former kings. When I grew up, I understood the practice of kindness and duty. I united the same and different, separated hard from white, made so the not-so and admissible the inadmissible. I confounded the wits of the hundred schools and exhausted the eloquence of countless speakers. I took myself to have ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhuangzi (book)
The ''Zhuangzi'' (historically romanized ) is an ancient Chinese text that is one of the two foundational texts of Taoism, alongside the ''Tao Te Ching''. It was written during the late Warring States period (476–221 BC) and is named for its traditional author, Zhuang Zhou, who is customarily known as "Zhuangzi" ("Master Zhuang"). The ''Zhuangzi'' consists of stories and maxims that exemplify the nature of the ideal Taoist sage. It recounts many anecdotes, allegories, parables, and fables, often expressed with irreverence or humor. Recurring themes include embracing spontaneity and achieving freedom from the human world and its conventions. The text aims to illustrate the arbitrariness and false dichotomy, ultimate falsity of dichotomies normally embraced by human societies, such as those between good and bad, large and small, life and death, or human and nature. In contrast with the focus on good morals and personal duty expressed by many Chinese philosophers of the per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All Horses Are The Same Color
All horses are the same color is a falsidical paradox that arises from a flawed use of mathematical induction to prove the statement ''All horses are the same color''. There is no actual contradiction, as these arguments have a crucial flaw that makes them incorrect. This example was originally raised by George Pólya in a 1954 book in different terms: "Are any numbers equal?" or "Any girls have eyes of the same color", as an exercise in mathematical induction. It has also been restated as "All cows have the same color".Thomas VanDrunen, ''Discrete Mathematics and Functional Programming'', Franklin, Beedle and Associates, 2012, Section "Induction Gone Awry" The "horses" version of the paradox was presented in 1961 in a satirical article by Joel E. Cohen. It was stated as a lemma, which in particular allowed the author to "prove" that Alexander the Great did not exist, and he had an infinite number of limbs. The argument The argument is proof by induction. First, we establ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Warring States period (5th to 3rd centuriesBC). It is an important text of the Warring States period as it describes the strategies and political views of the School of Diplomacy and reveals the historical and social characteristics of the period. History The author of ''Zhan Guo Ce'' has not yet been verified: it is generally deemed, after Zhang Xincheng, that the book was not written by a single author at one time. It is thought to have been composed by Su Qin and his peers, and was originally compiled by Han dynasty scholar Liu Xiang. Unlike many of the pre-Qin classics, the authenticity of ''Zhan Guo Ce'', along with the ''Shijing'', ''Mozi'', ''Yulingzi'' and ''Gongsun Longzi'' had never been questioned since the Western Han p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mozi (book)
The ''Mozi'' ( zh, c=墨子), also called the ''Mojing'' ( zh, t=墨經) or the ''Mohist canon'', is an ancient Chinese text from the Warring States period (476–221 BC) that expounds the philosophy of Mohism. It propounds such Mohist ideals as impartiality, meritocratic governance, economic growth and aversion to ostentation, and is known for its plain and simple language. The book's chapters can be divided into several categories: a core of 31 chapters, containing the basics of Mohist philosophy; several traditionally known as the "Dialectical Chapters", among the most important in early Chinese texts on logic; five sections containing stories and information about Mozi, his disciples, and his followers; and eleven chapters on technology and defensive warfare, on which the Mohists were expert and which are valuable sources of information on ancient Chinese military technology. There two other minor sections: an initial group of seven chapters that are clearly of a much ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanfeizi
The ''Han Feizi'' () is an ancient Chinese text attributed to the Legalist political philosopher Han Fei. It comprises a selection of essays in the Legalist tradition, elucidating theories of state power, and synthesizing the methodologies of his predecessors. Its 55 chapters, most of which date to the Warring States period , are the only such text to survive fully intact. The Han Feizi is believed to contain the first commentaries on the '' Dao De Jing''. Traditionally associated with the Qin dynasty, succeeding emperors and reformers were still influenced by Shen Buhai and the Han Feizi, with Shang Yang's current again coming to prominence in the time of Emperor Wu. Often considered the "culminating" or "greatest" Legalist texts, Han Fei was dubbed by A. C. Graham amongst as the "great synthesizer" of 'Legalism'". Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War'' incorporates both a Daoist philosophy of inaction and impartiality, and a 'Legalist' system of punishment and rewards, recalling H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mencius
Mencius (孟子, ''Mèngzǐ'', ; ) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher, often described as the Second Sage () to reflect his traditional esteem relative to Confucius himself. He was part of Confucius's fourth generation of disciples, inheriting his ideology and developing it further. Living during the Warring States period, he is said to have spent much of his life travelling around the states offering counsel to different rulers. Conversations with these rulers form the basis of the ''Mencius (book), Mencius'', which would later be canonised as a Confucian classic. One primary principle of his work is that human nature is righteous and humane. The responses of citizens to the policies of rulers embodies this principle, and a state with righteous and humane policies will flourish by nature. The citizens, with freedom from good rule, will then allocate time to caring for their wives, brothers, elders, and children, and be educated with rites and naturally become better citizens. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mengzi (book)
The ''Mencius'' is an anthology of conversations and anecdotes attributed to the Confucian philosopher Mencius (). The book is one of the Chinese Thirteen Classics, and explores Mencius's views on the topics of moral and political philosophy, often as a dialogue with the ideas presented by Confucianism. The interviews and conversations are depicted as being either between Mencius and the various rulers of the Warring States period (221 BC), or with his students and other contemporaries. The book documents Mencius's travel across the states, and his philosophical conversations and debates with those he meets on his journey. A number of scholars suggest that the text was not written by Mencius himself, but rather by his disciples. The text is believed to have been written during the late 4th century BC. History Mencius's core ideas on education and human nature were largely shaped during the Warring States period. When the Zhou dynasty was ended by the Qin, Mencius and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
