KUNG-SUN LUNG

born 320?, BC, Chao, now Shansi, China died 250?, China Pinyin Gongsun Long one of the best known representatives of the Dialecticians, a Chinese philosophical school of the 3rd and 4th centuries BC whose adherents were concerned with analyzing the true meaning of words. The school had no influence after its own time. Kung-sun Lung is famous for the discourse in which he discusses why a white horse is not a horse. He explains that since the horse is white, it is a special kind of horse whose form is white; it is not the universal concept horse and hence is not a horse. His Kung-sun Lung-tzu (Master Kung-sun Lung) is the only independent work of ancient Chinese literature dealing with logic that has been even partially preserved. Only 6 of its original 14 chapters survive.