Comparison Of Greek And Ancient Chinese Concepts Of Logic

According to James Allen, the aim of logic is to validate an argument (351). But under the differences of various cultures, how is this definition achieved? In Chinese and Greek rhetoric, or what we have come to generalize as the term rhetoric, an examination of logic can show how critical a role it took in both cultures and how enduring those concepts have been. Before a comparison between Greek and Ancient Chinese concepts of logic can be made, it is important to note that discussing rhetoric in this fashion is difficult because of disparities in translation. In fact, the term rhetoric doesn t clearly encompass the discourse of Ancient China due to the fact that this generalized word is a Western invention. Therefore, the use of logic†¦show more content†¦The School of Ming appeared to focus on logic and reasoning, but the contemporaries of Confucius often tended to use the term bian more frequently and offered an inclusion of logic and rational argument in its meaning (454). While ming is mostly focused on truth, bian appears to absorb this and many other factors of argument and speech. So, for the sake of specificity in this essay, the focus for logic should remain on ming but also how the other terms function within its realm. Ming, in the most basic sense, was coined by Confucius, who described the term as the rectification of names and also claimed that if names are not rectified, speech will not be smooth (Lu 82). To rectify is to make right or to correct something, so in the scope of logic, ming would seem to suggest that logic follows in the correct discourse of the speaker. We can be sure that within the realm of logic, truth would be of importance, and truth is what is correct. It is difficult to capture the true meaning of a term like ming without looking at the various ways that the term was used in ancient China. On one hand, ming represented proper expression, and in another, it was referred to as honor by Laozi (Lu 82). But what does this have to do with logic? In Mingjia, Deng Xi was