Cross-Tradition Engagement on the Laws of Logic: Approaching Identity and Reference from Classical Chinese Philosophy to Modern Logic (Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy)

This book demonstrates how, through cross-tradition engagement, insights and engaging treatments from the Chinese philosophical tradition can work with relevant resources from modern logic and contemporary philosophy to enhance our understanding of two basic principles of logic: the law of identity and the law of non-contradiction. The law of identity and the law of non-contradiction are widely accepted principles in logic and other intellectual pursuits. However, there are disagreements as to how to understand and treat the genuine structures and contents of these two basic principles. This book provides a holistic inquiry into these principles for the sake of enhancing our understanding and treatment of them from the vantage point of cross-tradition engagement. It begins by offering a philosophical interpretation of three classical texts in Chinese philosophy in their respective contexts: the “ Bai-Ma-Lun ” in Gongsun Long’s texts, the “ Xiao-Qu ” in the Later Mohist texts, and Lao Zi’s Dao-De-Jing in classical Daoism. The author explains an innovative dual-track characterization of relative identity that is informed by relevant resources from these texts as well as Western philosophical traditions. He shows how this cross-tradition engaging approach can make constructive and significant contributions to the jointly concerned fundamental issues of identity and reference in logic, philosophy of logic and language, metaphysics, as well as philosophy more generally. Cross-Tradition Engagement on the Laws of Logic will appeal to scholars and advanced students working in philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, Chinese philosophy, and comparative philosophy. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments Notes Introduction I.1 Goal, Basic Ideas, and Distinguishing Features I.2 Preliminaries, Methodological Strategy, and Pre-Theoretic Bases I.2.1 Preliminary Conceptual Resources and Their Related Distinctions I.2.2 Cross-Tradition Engagement: Constructive-Engagement Strategy I.2.3 Philosophical Interpretation of Texts I.2.4 Pre-Theoretic Understandings and Strategic Explanatory Directions I.2.5 The Double-Reference Phenomenon of People’s Basic Employment of Language: Its Pre-Theoretic Understanding as One Strategic Starting Point I.3 The Structure and Outline of the Book Notes Part I: On Gongsun Long’s, Later Mohist, and Lao Zi’s Approaches to the Two Laws of Logic: A Holistic Philosophical Interpretation from the Vantage Point of Double Reference and Relative Identity Chapter 1: On Gongsun Long’s Approach to the Two Laws of Logic: A Look at the Alleged “White-Horse-Not-Horse” Paradox Dissolved through the Joint Point of Double Reference and Relative Identity 1.1 A Reflective Analysis of the Structure and Content of Gongsun Long’s “White-Horse-Not-Horse” Argumentation 1.2 Gongsun Long’s Line of Argumentation from Double Reference to Relative Identity 1.3 Dissolving the Alleged “White-Horse-Not-Horse” Paradox through the Joint Point of Double Reference and Relative Identity 1.4 Chapter Summary Notes Chapter 2: On the Later Mohist Approach to the Two Laws of Logic: Approaching Parallel Inference with Semantic Sensitivity to Double-Reference Identity 2.1 Later Mohist Semantic-Sensitivity Diagnosis on Parallel Inference: A Preliminary Examination of Its Structure and Content 2.2 Later Mohist Semantic Sensitivity Diagnosis in the Mohist Cannons Context: A Further Examination 2.3 Later Mohist Development of the GSL Line: Semantic Sensitivity to Double-Reference Identity in the Context of Logical Inference 2.4 Chapter Summary Notes Chapter 3: On Lao Zi’s Approach to the Two Laws of Logic: Dissolving the Alleged Ultimate-Unspeakable Paradox from the Holistic Vantage Point of Double-Reference Identity 3.1 On Lao Zi’s Opening Message of the Classical Daoist Text Dao-De-Jing : The Identity of the Dao and the Pursuit of the Dao through Language Engagement 3.1.1 Identity of the Dao and the Pursuit of the Dao 3.1.2 Lao Zi’s Two-Sided Strategic Point of the Opening Message of the Dao-De-Jing : The Pursuit of the Dao through Language Engagement 3.1.2.1 An Analysis of a Standard Interpretation of the Opening Statement 3.1.2.2 Lao Zi’s Two-Sided Transcendental View: The Eternal Dao and Its Language Engagement 3.1.2.3 The Dao and Its Names: Language Engagement via Semantic Ascent 3.2 Dissolving the Alleged Ultimate-Unspeakable Paradox from a Holistic Vantage Point of Double-Reference Identity 3.3 Talking about You-Wu Contraries in Pursuing the Ultimate Dao in a Non-Contradictory Way 3.4 Chapter Summary Notes Part II: An Enhanced Account of Relative Identity and Refined Characterizations of the Two Basic Laws of Logic: From the Vantage Point of Cross-Tradition Engagement Chapter 4: An Enhanced Account of Relative Identity: The Double-Reference Starting Point and Dual-Track Feature 4.1 Background and Methodology: From the GSL-LM-LD Semantic-Sensitivity Line to the Bottom-Up Explanatory Direction in Modern Treatment 4.1.1 Background and Preliminaries in the GSL-LM-LD Approach 4.1.2 Methodology: The Bottom-Up Explanatory Direction in Modern Treatment 4.2 A Preliminary Examination of Real-Life Relative Identity Statements 4.3 Two Distinct Types of Identity Predication: Symmetric Identity Simplex and Asymmetric Identity Complex 4.4 An Enhanced Dual-Track Characterization of Relative Identity: From Double-Reference Starting Point to Dual-Track Feature 4.5 From the Enhanced Account of Relative Identity to Absolute Identity in Terms of the Identity of Indiscernibles as One Special Case of Relative Identity 4.6 Chapter Summary Notes Chapter 5: A Refined Characterization of the Law of Identity: From the Vantage Point of the Enhanced Account of Relative Identity 5.1 The Law of Identity as a Special Case of the Enhanced Account of Relative Identity 5.2 Self-Identity in the Law of Identity: Distinct Types of Sameness 5.2.1 Stable Sameness Involved in Self-Identity: Regarding an Individual Object or a Collection of Individual Objects 5.2.1.1 Inclusive-Base Stable Sameness 5.2.1.2 Distinguishing-from-Others Stable Sameness 5.2.2 Generated Sameness Involved in Self-Identity: Regarding an Individual Object or a Collection of Individual Objects 5.2.2.1 Inclusive-Base Generated Sameness 5.2.2.2 Distinguishing-from-Others Generated Sameness 5.2.3 Unifying-Force Sameness Involved in Self-Identity 5.2.3.1 Unifying-Force Sameness Involved in Self-Identity: Regarding an Individual Object or a Collection of Individual Objects 5.2.3.1.1 Unifying-Force Sameness Involved in Self-Identity Regarding an Individual Object 5.2.3.1.2 Unifying-Force Sameness Involved in Self-Identity Regarding a Collection of Individual Objects 5.2.3.2 Unifying-Force Sameness Involved in Self-Identity Regarding this Natural World 5.2.3.2.1 Unifying-Force Sameness Involved in Self-Identity Regarding this Natural World as the Ultimate Reality 5.2.3.2.2 Unifying-Force Sameness Involved in Self-Identity Regarding This Natural World via the Ultimate Reality 5.3 Self-Identity and a Bottom-Up-Unifying-Force Account of the Law of Identity: In View of Two Paradigm Cases 5.4 The Referential Sensitivity of the Law of Identity in the Inference Context: From the Refined Characterized Law of Identity to the Refined Characterized Principle of Non-Contradiction 5.5 Chapter Summary Notes Chapter 6: A Refined Characterization of the Principle of Non-Contradiction: From Aristotle and the GSL-LM-LD Approach to a Holistic Double-Reference Vantage Point 6.1 Further Elaboration of the Central Point of Aristotle’s Classical Presentation of the Principle of Non-Contradiction: One Shared Point of the GSL-LM-LD Approach 6.1.1 Further Elaboration of the Central Point of Aristotle’s Classical Presentation of the Principle of Non-Contradiction 6.1.2 The Central Point of the Principle of Non-Contradiction as the Shared Referential-Sensitivity Point of the GSL-LM-LD Approach 6.2 Double-Reference Identity of a Talked-About Object: The Semantic-Whole Referent and Its Referentially-Identified Aspects 6.3 A Refined Characterization of the Principle of Non-Contradiction with Semantic Sensitivity to Double-Reference Identity 6.4 Constructively Engaging with Dialetheism on the Principle of Non-Contradiction 6.5 Chapter Summary Notes Appendix 1: An Expanded Predicate Logic Account with an Enhanced Dual-Track Relative Identity Sign, a Collective-Generic Operator, and a Multiple-Layer Domain of Reference A1.1 Syntax and Semantics of an Expanded and Strengthened Account of Predicate Logic which Is Sensitive to the Enhanced Account of Relative-Identity A1.2 Cross-Tradition Engaging Commentary on Domain and Quantifiers in View of the Natural World as the Ultimate Reality A1.2.1 Quinean Approach A1.2.2 Heideggerian Approach A1.2.3 Daoist Approach Notes Appendix 2: Comparative Chronology of Philosophers in Chinese and Western Philosophical Traditions Appendix 3: Notes on Transcription and Guide to Pronunciation References Index