Definitions in Pre-Qin Texts
(2020) Dao Companion to Chinese Philosophy of Logic — ISBN: [978-3030290313 ISBN 978-3-030-29033-7 (e-book)], p. 233-249, published
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- ABSTRACT This is part of a book presenting Chinese Philosophy of Logic. Chapter 14, “Definitions in pre-Qin texts”, begins with a general approach of the notion of definition and gives some criteria which are useful to characterize them. There are no formal definitions in pre-Qin texts, but there is a clear intention to define notions and classical texts often present them in a form which obeys many of the criteria of a good definition. Such attempts at defining notions are present in Mengzi, Xunzi and even Confucius’Analects. They appear in a very elaborate form in two of Hui Shi’s theses, which are analyzed here in detail. They form a system in one of the texts attributed to Gongsun Long, but it is in the Mohist Canons that they constitute a remarkably organized system of interdependent definitions. A liberal notion of definition covers also the omnipresent use of numerical expressions, of honorifics and even the rhyme-prosed poems called fu.
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Lucas, T. (2020). Definitions in Pre-Qin Texts. In Fung, Yiu-ming (Ed.) (ed.), Dao Companion to Chinese Philosophy of Logic (p. p. 233-249). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29033-7_14