Study of Names, Study of Disputation, and Study of Rational Principles: Late Qing Translations of Logic and the Formation of China’s Modern Discipline of Logic

Abstract

Logic in the modern Chinese context was primarily transplanted from the West. Driven by the eastward dissemination of Western learning during the late Qing period, the translated works of Western logic in the late Qing and early Republican periods largely fell into two categories: first, direct translations from English that rendered logic as bianxue (the study of disputation), mingxue (the study of names), or lizexue (the study of principles and orders); second, translations from Japanese works compiled by Japanese scholars that largely translated logic as the study of principles of reasoning. The publication of these Western logical works under such translated titles as the study of names, the study of disputation, the study of principles and orders, and lunlixue (the study of rational principles marked the inception and formation of modern Chinese logic. Building upon the existing translations of traditional Western logic texts, Chinese scholars synthesized various strengths to compile textbooks on logic suitable for Chinese readers and modern educational institutions in the late Qing period. With the widespread establishment of new-style schools in this period, logic secured its position in the new educational system under the designations of study of rational principles or study of names, becoming part of the curricula of normal schools and higher education institutions. As modern school curricula became increasingly systematized, this Western-transplanted discipline of logic gradually evolved into an independent modern academic field in China.

Keywords

logic / discipline / translation / study of names / study of disputation

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2025 Higher Education Press