Formal logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premis ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

has a special place in the

history of logic The history of logic deals with the study of the development of the science of valid inference (logic). Formal logics developed in ancient times in India, China, and Greece. Greek methods, particularly Aristotelian logic (or term logic) as found ...

due to its length of and relative isolation to the strong ancient adoption and continued current of development of the study of

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, India, and the

Islamic world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. In ...

Mohist logic

In China, a contemporary of

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

Mozi Mozi (; ; Latinized as Micius ; – ), original name Mo Di (), was a Chinese philosopher who founded the school of Mohism during the Hundred Schools of Thought period (the early portion of the Warring States period, –221 BCE). The ancie ...

, "Master Mo", is credited with founding the

Mohist Mohism or Moism (, ) was an ancient Chinese philosophy of ethics and logic, rational thought, and science developed by the academic scholars who studied under the ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi (c. 470 BC – c. 391 BC), embodied in an eponym ...

school, whose canons dealt with issues relating to valid inference and the conditions of correct conclusions. However, they were nonproductive and not integrated into Chinese science or mathematics. The Mohist school of

Chinese philosophy Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Warring States period (), during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developmen ...

contained an approach to

and

argumentation Argumentation theory, or argumentation, is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be supported or undermined by premises through logical reasoning. With historical origins in logic, dialectic, and rhetoric, argumentation theory, includ ...

that stresses rhetorical analogies over mathematical reasoning, and is based on the ''three fa'', or methods of drawing distinctions between kinds of things. One of the schools that grew out of

Mohism Mohism or Moism (, ) was an ancient Chinese philosophy of ethics and logic, rational thought, and science developed by the academic scholars who studied under the ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi (c. 470 BC – c. 391 BC), embodied in an epony ...

, the

Logicians Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

, are credited by some scholars for their early investigation of

formal logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premis ...

Daoist skepticism

Although Daoist skeptics such as

Zhuang Zhou Zhuang Zhou (), commonly known as Zhuangzi (; ; literally "Master Zhuang"; also rendered in the Wade–Giles romanization as Chuang Tzu), was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States ...

agreed with the Mohist perspective about object relations regarding similarities and differences, they did not consider language to be sufficiently precise to provide a constant guide of action.

The repression of the study of logic

During the subsequent

Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...

, the rule of Legalism repressed this Mohist line of investigation, which has been said to have disappeared in China until the introduction of

Indian philosophy Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional Hindu classification divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Veda ...

and

Indian logic The development of Indian logic dates back to the ''anviksiki'' of Medhatithi Gautama (c. 6th century BCE); the Sanskrit grammar rules of Pāṇini (c. 5th century BCE); the Vaisheshika school's analysis of atomism (c. 6th century BCE to 2nd centur ...

Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. A prominent scholar suggests that the version assembled for the Imperial Library of the Han Dynasty would probably have been as disorganised as the current extant text, and thus would have only been 'intermittently intelligible', as it is for current readers who do not consult a critical edition. Disagreeing with Hajime Nakamura,

Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

argues the school of

Neo-Taoism Xuanxue (), sometimes called Neo-Daoism (Neo-Taoism), is a metaphysical post-classical Chinese philosophy from the Six Dynasties (222-589), bringing together Taoist and Confucian beliefs through revision and discussion. The movement found its scrip ...

maintained some interest in the Canons, although they may already have some of the terminology difficult to understand. Before the end of the

Sui Dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...

, a shortened version of Mozi appeared, which appears to have replaced the Han edition. Although the original Mozi had been preserved in the Taoist, and became known once more in the 1552 Lu edition and 1553 Tang edition, the damage was done: the dialectical chapters (as well as the military chapters) were considered incomprehensible. Nevertheless, with the rise of Chinese critical textual scholarship, the book benefited from explanatory and critical commentaries: first, by Bi Yuan, and his assistant, Sun Xingyan; another commentary by Wang Chong, which has not survived; 'the first special study',A C Graham 2003: Later Mohist Logic, Ethics and Science, p. 70 by Zhang Huiyan; a republication of Part B by Wu Rulun. However, the summit of this late Imperial scholarship, according to Graham, was the 'magnificent' commentary of Sun Yirang, which 'threw open the sanctum of the Canons to all comers. Graham summarises the arduous textual history of the Canons by arguing that the Canons were neglected throughout most of China's history; but he attributes this fact to 'bibliographical' accidents, rather than political repression, like Nakamura.

Buddhist logic

The study of logic in China was revived following the transmission of Buddhism in China, which introduced the

Buddhist logic Buddhist logico-epistemology is a term used in Western scholarship for ''pramāṇa-vāda'' (doctrine of proof) and ''Hetu-vidya'' (science of causes). Pramāṇa-vāda is an epistemological study of the nature of knowledge; Hetu-vidya is a syste ...

al tradition that began in

. Buddhist logic has been often misunderstood by scholars of Chinese Buddhism because they lack the necessary background in

.See Eli Franco, "Xuanzang's proof of idealism." Horin 11 (2004): 199-212.

Western logic

References

Bibliography

* Chmielewski, Janusz, ''Notes on Early Chinese Logic'', Rocznik Orientalistyczny 26.1 (1962): 7-22; 26.2 (1963): 91-105; 27.1 (1963): 103-21; 28.2 (1965): 87-111; 29.2 (1965): 117-38; 30.1 (1966): 31-52; 31.1 (1968): 117-36; 32.2 (1969): 83-103. * Chmielewski, Janusz, 2009. ''Language and Logic in Ancient China, Collected Papers on the Chinese Language and Logic'', edited by Marek Mejor, Warswa: PAN. * Graham, Angus Charles, 2003. ''Later Mohist Logic, Ethics and Science'', Hong Kong: Chinese University Press. * Greniewski, Henryk and Wojtasiewicz, Olgierd, 1956.''From the History of Chinese Logic'', Studia Logica Vol. 4, 1, pp. 241–243. * Harbsmeier, Christopher, 1998. ''Language and Logic''. Volume 7, Part 1 of ''Science and Civilisation in China'', edited by Joseph Needham, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Hansen, Chad, 1983. ''Language and Logic in Ancient China''. Michigan Studies on China. Ann Arbor. * Kurtz, Joachim 2011. ''The Development of Chinese Logic'', Leiden: Brill. * Lucas, Thierry, 1993. ''Hui Shih and Kung Sun Lung: an Approach from Contemporary Logic'', Journal of Chinese Philosophy 20.2: 211-55. * Lucas, Thierry, 2005. ''Later Mohist Logic, Lei, Classes and Sorts,'' Journal of Chinese Philosophy 32: 349-366. * Rošker, Jana S. 2014. ''Specific features of Chinese logic''. Synthesis philosophica, ISSN 1848-2317. vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 23-40. * Rošker, Jana S. 2015. ''Classical Chinese logic'', Philosophy Compass, ISSN 1747-9991, vol. 10, issue 5, pp. 301-309.

External links

* * *
Chad Hansen, Later Mohist Dialecticians
with a bibliography on Chinese logic
Jana Rosker, Classical Chinese LogicSynthesis philosophica, Vol.29 No.1, 2014
(with essays on Chinese logic) History of logic Chinese philosophy {{China-philo-stub