Mass Nouns and "A White Horse Is Not a Horse"

Hansen, Chad

doi:10.2307/1398188

Cited by 11 publications

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“…Given /V (bodies). Adjectival stuffs can interpenetrate Chinese noun syntax, ming" is properly translated (see Hansen 1976Hansen , 1983. Taoist skepticism underas "name," although Chinese writers use it with a cuts this analysis.…”

Section: Words and Sentencesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Two-place verbs are, of course, a distinct class, but nouns, adjectives, and one-place verbs can function as two-place verbs in propositional and other intentional contexts. That is, where F is a noun, adjective, or one-place verb, "S F's x" can be translated as "S believes that x is F." Virtually any term, since it 5 See my argument in Hansen 1983. Given /V (bodies).…”

Section: Words and Sentencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, virtually any string may be viewed as having an imperative role. This routinely imperative potential of complete strings contributes to what I have called the "regulative" function of language (Hansen 1983). Chinese philosophers, Confucians cheering, Taoists wailing, all tended to view language as a tool for shaping behavior.…”

Section: Epistemic Contexts: Belief and Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Universal terms pick out any or all stuff. Primarily Mohist theory explains: (1) how to treat kind terms and kinds; and (2) how to analyze the semantics of compound ming" 'names' based on the semantics of the component terms (see Hansen 1983).…”

Section: Ancient Chinese Theories Of Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

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Chinese Language, Chinese Philosophy, and “Truth”

Hansen¹

1985

J of Asian Stud

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Pre-Han philosophical tradition did not address issues for which the concept of truth was central. Classical Chinese philosophy had virtually no metaphysical theory. The theory of language was mainly pragmatic. The semantic doctrines that were developed focused on terms rather than sentences or sententials. The Chinese theory of knowledge was primarily a theory of know-how and was not based on contrast between knowledge and belief. Chinese philosophy of mind treated heart-mind as a cluster of dispositional attitudes to make distinctions and to act upon, not as a repository of cognitive content about the world. Discussions of inference and semantic paradoxes used explicitly pragmatic terms rather than semantic ones. These differences can be partially explained by features of classical Chinese language in which compositional sentencehood is not important or syntactically obvious, and in which the counterparts of propositional attitudes take terms rather than sentences as objects.

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Section: Words and Sentencesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Words and Sentencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Epistemic Contexts: Belief and Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ancient Chinese Theories Of Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

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Chinese Language, Chinese Philosophy, and “Truth”

Hansen¹

1985

J of Asian Stud

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“…Hansen (: 208) eventually acknowledges the substantially dilemmatic nature of the “white horse” argument.…”

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confidence: 99%

The “white horse is not horse” debate

Indraccolo

2017

Philosophy Compass

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The so-called "white horse is not horse" (bái mǎ fēi mǎ 白馬非馬) debate, or "white horse" (bái mǎ 白馬) dialogical argument, is beyond doubt the most famous case of argumentation (biàn 辯) in the history of Classical Chinese philosophy. The somewhat disorienting statement at the center of this debate is discussed at length by two anonymous fictive characters, a persuader and their opponent, in the 'Báimǎ lùn' 白馬論 (Disquisition on White and Horse). The 'Báimǎ lùn' usually appears as the first chapter in the received text Gōngsūn Lóngzǐ 公孫龍子 (Master Gongsun Long). The Gōngsūn Lóngzǐ is a composite collection of heterogeneous materials in six chapters. The collection includes an anecdotal preface, three partially incomplete and/or corrupted dialogues, and two short and extremely intricate treatises. In particular, the dialogues included in the collection are structured in a fairly similar way and focus on what have been defined as paradoxes or sophisms belonging to the repertoire of a rather loose group of thinkers, the so-called Logicians or Chinese "Sophists" (míngjiā 名家, literally "experts on names"), allegedly active during the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.E.).

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Mass Expressions

Pelletier¹,

Schubert²

1989

Handbook of Philosophical Logic

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Mass Nouns and "A White Horse Is Not a Horse"

Cited by 11 publications

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Chinese Language, Chinese Philosophy, and “Truth”

Chinese Language, Chinese Philosophy, and “Truth”

The “white horse is not horse” debate

Mass Expressions

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