The White Horse Dialogue () is a chapter of the Gongsun Longzi, a Warring States period text attributed to Gongsun Long (). In the dialogue, two unnamed speakers debate the proposition "a white horse is not a horse" (, bái mǎ fēi mǎ). The text has been the subject of scholarly criticism and commentary for over two thousand years and is considered one of the best-known arguments from the School of Names.

A central interpretive question is the meaning of (fēi, "is not"), which can express either non-identity ("is not the same as") or exclusion from a category ("is not a member of"). The two speakers appear to be operating under different readings of this word, one treating the proposition as a claim about concepts and the other treating it as a claim about animals. Whether the dialogue was intended as serious philosophy, sophistry, or some combination of the two is disputed. this "A white horse is not a horse" paradox plays upon the ambiguity of whether the 'is' in the statement means:

  1. "Is a member of the class "; or
  2. "Is identical to ".

An alternative interpretation is offered in Feng Youlan's A History of Chinese Philosophy:

However, there are recent histories of Chinese philosophy that do not subscribe to Feng's interpretation. Other contemporary philosophers and sinologists who have analyzed the dialogue include A. C. Graham, Chad Hansen, Cristoph Harbsmeier, Kirill Ole Thompson,

Two Zhuangzi chapters (17 and 33) mock Gongsun Long, and another (2) combines his zhi 'attribute' and ma 'horse' notions in the same context:

The Mengzi (6A4) notes that bai 'white' has different connotations whether one is using it to refer to a graying person (who is worthy of respect because of his or her age) or a white horse (which should be treated like any other animal):

Other early "a white horse is not a horse" references are found in the Hanfeizi (32), Mozi (11B), and Zhanguoce (19.2).

See also

  • All horses are the same color
  • Third man argument
  • Use–mention distinction

References

Citations

Sources

  • A rejoinder to Hansen.
  • (Includes a section titled "On the White Horse".)
  • "The White Horse Dialogue", CText.org, Chinese Text Project