The “white horse is not horse” debate

Abstract

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.).