《公孙龙子·指物论》之“指”——从系动词的观点看

The concept of‘chih’in Chih Wu Theory in Kong-sun Lung-tzu

解读《公孙龙子·指物论》之"指",须以物为基本参照,在指、物对应中把握其含义。按公孙龙论物与实密切相关,实是名所表达的物之所是。《名实论》以物、实为一与多之对应,则如何将不同的实维系在一物之中,就需要借助"指"的联结、联系。在此意义上,"指"即相当于系动词"是"(is)。但因为先秦汉语尚未产生系词,而公孙龙业已遭遇与之相关的哲学问题(一事物在多种意义上是其所是),故而作《指物论》进行讨论。

The concept of ＇chih＇ in Chih Wu Theory in Kong--sun Lung--tzu was refered to the concept of ＇Wu＇ The Chih-wu correspondence is required to understand their meaning. It was stated by Kong-sun Lung that ＇Wu＇ is closely connected to ＇shi＇ which is expressed of what a thing is by its name. Ming-shi theory equated the relation between ＇Wu＇ and ＇Shi＇ with that of unity and plurality, then ＇chih＇ is required to connect different ＂shi＂ s within one thing. In this respect, ＂chih＂ is equavalent to the copula ＇is＇ However, copulas had not been created in the Pre-Qin language, while the problem of ＇a thing is what it is in various meanings＇ had already arisen, so Chih Wu Theory was created to approach this issue.