中国古代哲学中的命题、定义和推理(上)

This article discusses the methodology of reasoning in ancient China and the modes of thinking used by ancient Chinese scholars.Based on the analysis of fundamental propositions and definitions,it explores the objects and the starting points of these scholars as well as the principles and methods used by their reasoning.It shows that the pioneers of Chinese philosophy speculated on problems with extremely abstract starting points,but their propositions and definitions referring to objects were definite;they conceptualized a definition as an expression consisting of a particular and a universal,and were clear about the principle of definition,that is,the correspondence between the category and the reality.In contrast to Western mode of thinking which hinges primarily on deduction,the modes of thinking in ancient China paid more attention to the differences of categories and thus expressed its striking features in proposition,definition and reasoning,of which we should think highly today.