Naming, Reference and Truth
Publication Date
1-1-2020
Document Type
Contribution to a Book
Publication Title
Dao Companion to Chinese Philosophy of Logic
Editor
Yiu-ming Fung
Volume
12
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-29033-7_3
First Page
33
Last Page
70
Abstract
This writing focuses on those most reflectively interesting and arguably representative ideas on the issue of reference, as a semantic issue, in classical Chinese philosophy which are relevant to reasoning and semantic interpretation. My strategy is this. First, I explain several basic points as revealed in Gongsun Long’s account. Second, I analyze how, essentially in line with Gongsun Long’s relevant point, the Later Mohists significantly show their semantic sensitivity to the due identities of the referents in reasoning. Third, I look at how, essentially in line with Gongsun Long’s general point on the due-place actuality, Confucius’ account of name rectification together with Xun Zi’s and Wang Chong’s further developments addresses the issue of reference in moral reality. Fourth, I explain how Lao Zi makes interesting and engaging points concerning the relationship between language engagement and the ultimate concern and between the “speakable” and the “unspeakable”. Fifth, I briefly examine a relatively recent debate on the relation of the structure of Chinese nouns to Chinese thought from the referential point of view: I focus on how the mass-noun-semantics part of Hansen’s mass-noun hypothesis are challenged by some competing accounts in view of the referential relation between Chinese nouns and referents. Sixth, I end the examination with a brief discussion of how reference and truth, as two basic semantic notions, are intrinsically related.
Department
Philosophy
Recommended Citation
Bo Mou. "Naming, Reference and Truth" Dao Companion to Chinese Philosophy of Logic (2020): 33-70. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29033-7_3