性质语词与命名难题——“白马非马”再审视

The Universal Terms and The Problem of Naming——An Attempt at a Reinterpretation of “The White Horse Is Not a Horse”

见诸《公孙龙子·白马论》的著名论题"白马非马",看似关涉"白马"与"马"的区别,并进一步涉及"白"与"马"的区别;但回到文本,可知此论题真正谈论的只是"白",是这个性质语词的涵义在命名活动中是否发挥限定的差别。用《白马论》的表述,就是"白定所白"与"不定所白"之别。此"定"与"不定"之别,在《名实论》和《坚白论》中又被表述为"位其所位"与"出其所位"之别、"离"与"不离"之别,它们全都与性质语词的命名难题相关。公孙龙的整个正名理论,就是对此难题的一种解决。

The central point of the argument for“the white horse is not a horse”,made by Bai Ma Lun in Gong Sun Lung Tzu,may seem to be ascribed to revealing the different references of“white horse”and“horse”,or further,of“white”and“horse”.Actually,this argument is only related to“white”,what is emphasized in this text is the difference of whether or not the term defined by its sense when naming something.Such difference is,in the words of the texts,the difference is between“definite”and“indefinite”,or“place”and“no place”,or“separate”and“not separate”,all of which relate to the difficult problem of using the universal terms,and the naming theory rendered by Gongsun Long should be regarded as a resolution to them.