On the Intellectual Foundation and Reconstruction of Knowledge System in Chinese Logic

Abstract

Logic is an instrumental argumentative science that has been tightly interwoven with the development of Western philosophy as its foundational discipline since antiquity. But now Chinese logic (commonly referred to as the study of names and disputation [mingbianxue]) has been largely modeled after the pedagogical framework of traditional Western logic, which limits its capacity to serve as a philosophical cornerstone for Chinese philosophy. The original essence of Chinese logic is rooted in the specific intellectual ecosystem of traditional Chinese scholarship and culture. It fundamentally explores the relationships between names and objects, between things and classes, and between images and things. Rooted in this intellectual framework, Chinese logic explores names and associated issues by treating the rectification of names (zhengming) as its primary objectives, grounding in the doctrines of class, and employing the “generalization of classes” (tuilei) as its methodology. To rectify names, Chinese logic proceeds through investigating objects, differentiating things, and classifying them according to similarities and differences. The basic method entails transitioning from names to classes and classes to names through the generalization of classes. Moreover, Chinese logic has remained deeply integrated with the development and evolution of traditional Chinese philosophy.

Keywords

knowledge system / rectification of names / Chinese logic / generalization of classes

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2025 Higher Education Press