Chapter 11 Section 3 The Logical Thought of Mohism in the Late Period

Later Mohists developed the ancient logical thinking and established the earliest materialist epistemological logic theory in the history of Chinese philosophy. During the Warring States Period, with the development of ideological and theoretical debates, all schools and factions paid attention to how to use the laws of logical thinking to defeat their opponents, and logic became an indispensable ideological weapon in the debates at that time.At that time, ideological and theoretical debates were collectively called "debates". The explanation of "debate" in "Mojing" is: "to argue, to argue against the other, to win the debate, to be." The right one wins." ("Jing Shuo II") "Debate" means that the two sides argue about right and wrong based on their own opinions, and the "right" is considered a victory. "When" is in line with the facts.The two sides of the debate are either or not, depending on which side's reasons are consistent with the facts.Those who match the facts win, those who don't lose. The interpretation of "debate" in "Mojing" is that facts are the objective criteria for judging right and wrong.This insight constitutes the starting point of the logical theory of the Moh Jing.

"Xiaoqu" expounds the function and method of "debate" as follows: "A debater will distinguish right from wrong, judge the discipline of chaos, clarify similarities and differences, examine the principles of names and facts, and deal with interests and disadvantages." , to resolve doubts. How can I imitate the nature of all things, and seek the comparison of the words of the group. Use the name to express the truth, use the words to express the meaning, and tell the reason. Take from the class and give from the class. Don't ask others for yourself." The "clarification of right and wrong", "trial of chaos", "clarification of similarities and differences", "examination of names and facts", "discipline of interests", and "resolve of suspicion" mentioned here are the functions and purposes of "debate", which shows that the ideological Debate includes the content of people's social and political life. Debate is for the pursuit of truth, not for playing with nouns and concepts.The rules of logic must be strictly observed in the method of debate. "Imitating the nature of everything" means that we must understand the real situation of the facts when debating; Factual and comprehensive. "Using names to cite facts" means that the noun concepts used must correctly reflect objective things. "Jing Shuo Shang" said: "So it is called, the name is;Objective things are the content to be reflected, which means that "reality" is primary and "name" is secondary. "Express meaning with words", words are judgments, and expressing meaning with words requires language to clearly and correctly express the content of judgments. "Using to tell the reason", "Shuo" is an argument, and "Gu" is a basis or reason, which means that when demonstrating and reasoning, there must be sufficient basis or reason for what is judged. "Accept by class, give by class. If you have yourself, you don't want others, and if you don't have yourself, you don't ask others." This is an analogy inference in debates. Must be based on "category", the so-called "inferring by category", "category" becomes the premise of debate and reasoning.For things of the same kind in a debate, if the other side recognizes the other, it cannot but recognize this, and if it does not recognize the other, it cannot recognize this.Things that are the same as each other, if the other party recognizes the other, I will bring it up to see if he recognizes it. This is "giving like to each other".For the same kind of things, if I admit it, and the other party also admits it, I cannot oppose the other party. Don't ask everyone."

"Mojing" has made significant contributions to the study of concepts, judgments, and reasoning. "Mojing" first affirms that "reality" is primary, and "name" is secondary. "Name" explains "reality". Simulate reality.” “Simulation” means imitation.According to this principle, "Mojing" divides "name" into three categories. Reality must be called the name. The horse of fate is kind, and if it is real, it must be named. The life of life, selfishness, is the name, and it is the name, and the name is the highest. Class concepts, such as the concept of "things" include all things. The "class" name refers to the general class concept, such as horse, and all horses are included in the horse concept. The "private" name refers to the concept of individual things, such as "Zang", which is the private name of a slave, and refers to a certain thing.

"Mojing" has a very deep understanding of the nature of concepts.It sees that concepts reflect the essential attributes of things, and the attributes of things exist in things, and there is no universal that separates from objective things and "self-contains".It puts forward the viewpoint of "Ying Jianbai" and opposes Gongsun Long's viewpoint of "Li Jianbai". "Dachi" said: "If it is a stone, it will be white, if it is a stone, it will be white, and it will be the same as white." It believes that "hard white stone" is a unified whole, and firm white is the attribute of stone. It is broken, it is still white, so whiteness is inherent in stone.Only when Jian and Bai are in different objects can they be separated from each other, the so-called "different places do not complement each other".If they are in the same stone, Jian and Bai will be closely combined. "The strong and white [yingying] are exhausted, but the body is not exhausted" ("Jing Shuo Shang"). "撄" means connecting with each other, where there is whiteness, there must be firmness, and where there is firmness, there must be whiteness.Firmness and whiteness are each part of the properties of objects.People know or don't know the attributes of "Jianbaishi" or other things, but the attributes of things always exist.Therefore, it is said: "In one, there is knowledge, there is ignorance, and it is said to exist." ("Jingxia") "Yu, the stone is one, and the two are solid and white, and there is a stone. Therefore, there is wisdom (knowledge) Yan, There is no wisdom (knowledge), yes." ("Jing Shuo Xia") This means that although both firmness and whiteness are contained in stones, firmness and whiteness are two properties of stones. Shi Shi knows the white but does not know the firmness.

Regarding judgment, the "Mojing" calls it "debate", which points out that the establishment of a judgment must conform to the facts, which is the so-called "dang".To achieve correct judgment, we must abide by the laws of logical thinking.It says: Husband's speech "is born from the past, grows from the principle, and acts from the analogy." ("Da Qu") "Gu" refers to the reason for the establishment of a certain phenomenon. ). "Gu" has the distinction of "little reason" and "big reason". "As a small reason, existence is not necessary, and existence must be otherwise" ("Jing Shuo Shang"), which refers to the necessary conditions for the occurrence of a phenomenon. "Existence must be otherwise" means that without it, the phenomenon cannot occur; Not necessarily" means that it is only one of the many conditions on which this phenomenon depends, and with it, this phenomenon does not necessarily occur. "Therefore, existence is inevitable, and nothingness must be otherwise" ("Jing Shuo Shang") refers to the sum of the conditions on which a phenomenon depends. With it, this phenomenon must occur, and without it, this phenomenon must not occur. "Li" has the meaning of reason and rules. "Elimate" means that when judging and reasoning must be deduced according to reasonable rules. "Class" refers to the class of things, and "acting with class" means that the results of the debate must be distinguished according to the class of things.These are all indispensable factors in the formation of judgments.

Regarding reasoning, Mo Jing puts forward a series of methods, such as "or", "false", "effect", "pi (example)", "侔", "aid", "tui" and so on. Regarding "or", "Xiaoqu" said: "Or is also, it is not exhaustive." full name of the thing.The extension of this kind of propositional subject is contained in the extension of the predicate. "Or" refers to particular propositions and disjunctive propositions, and only part of the extension of the subject is included in the extension of the predicate. "Not quite" means not quite so.This form of proposition is equivalent to the discourse judgment of formal logic.

Regarding "false", "Xiaoqu" said: "False, it is not the case today." "False" is a hypothesis, which refers to the assumption that the current situation does not exist, and "this is not the case" means that the current actual situation is not the case.Equivalent to a hypothetical judgment. Regarding "effectiveness", "Xiaoqu" said: "Those who are effective are for the law; those who are effective are for the law. Therefore, if they are effective, they are true; if they are not effective, they are not." "Effect" It is imitation, and "fa" is a formula or standard. "Jing Shang" said: "The law is as it should be." "The one who imitates" refers to the style or model to imitate or imitate. "The method of reasoning" is to use this imitated model or model as a formula or standard to reason. "Jingxia" said: "The appearance of a law is also of the same kind, if the square is consistent." That is to say, the formula of a kind of thing can be applied to any individual of this kind of thing.For example, "square" is used as a formula, which is suitable for all square objects. "Jing Shuo Xia" explained: "One side is all kinds, and all have different laws. Whether it is wood or stone, it does not harm the harmony of its side. It is like a side even if it is like, and everything is the same." This means that all sides Things can be classified into the category of square things, such as square wood and square stone, although their properties are different, it does not prevent them from being square things.If things are taken as the law, if the result of reasoning is "as it should be", it is "moderately effective", and this judgment is valid; otherwise, if it is "not moderately effective", this judgment is invalid.

Regarding "Pi (example)", "Xiao Qu" said: "Pi Ye is a person who gives (other) things to clarify it." "Pi" is a metaphor, that is, using specific things or specific things to explain a thing This is a common method used in debates.For example, Mozi said: "Learning the sacrificial rites without ghosts is like learning the etiquette of guests without guests. Argue against the enemy. Regarding "侔", "Xiaoqu" says: "侔 [moumou] is also a person who compares words." "侔" means equal, that is, using the same thing to directly explain the argument, such as from "White Horse" It is a horse", and it is introduced that "riding a white horse is riding a horse"; from "car, wood", it is introduced that "riding a car is not riding a tree".This approach is generally fairly straightforward to infer.

Regarding "Yuan", "Xiao Qu" said: "The person who is yelling said: Ziran, I can't do it." "Yuan" refers to citing previous examples or what the other party said as the premise of analogical reasoning.For example, it takes "there are many thieves when evil is not evil, but there are many people who are not evil, there are no thieves if there is desire, there is no one if there is no desire, and the world is the same" ("Xiaoqu"), and deduces that "killing thieves is not killing people". It is the method of "aid".However, his conclusion is incorrect, because it only notices the difference between the two nouns "pirate" and "person", thus denying that "pirate" is a person, but does not see the connotation and connection between the two concepts of "pirate" and "person". Denotation has two aspects of difference and commonality, and the denotation of human beings includes robbers, so Xunzi criticized it as "confusing names and using names in disorder". ("Xunzi Rectification of Names")

Regarding "tui", "Xiaoqu" said: "Those who push, take what they don't take, and give it to those who take it. It's still the same as (others), and it's the same, how can I call it also?" (He) is different." "Push" means to deduce unknown things from known things, which has the meaning of inductive reasoning. "Give what you don't take, the same as what you take", in which "what you don't take" refers to unknown things, "what you take" refers to known things, and "give it" Also" is to infer.The meaning of this sentence is to say that things that have not been examined are analogized according to (the same as) things that have been examined. "It is still the same (he) who is the same, but I am not the (he) who is different", which means repeatedly inferring, observing, and referring to each other for example, seeking common ground and different differences.

"Mojing" comes into contact with the problems of "law of contradiction" and "law of excluded middle". "Jing Shuo Shang" says: "It is not appropriate, it must be inappropriate", which means that two contradictory themes cannot be both correct, and one of them must be incorrect.He also said: "One cannot, and both cannot." It means that a pair of contradictory propositions cannot be both false at the same time. Although the "Mojing" also has individual errors in logic, as Xunzi pointed out later, it made a major contribution to the development of ancient Chinese logic.