Concepts in Early Chinese Philosophy

In early Chinese philosophy, the work done by concepts is not explained by appeal to abstract entities or mental representations but rather through the appropriate use of names. In this chapter, I attempt to follow the contours and coherence of early Chinese views centring on two key terms: míng 名 (names) and lèi 類 (categories/kinds). After introducing the key terms and general context, I develop a systematic account of names from the ‘Correcting Names’ chapter of the third-century BCE Confucian text the Xunzi . I then examine the more sceptical views found in the Zhuangzi . The last part of the chapter turns to debates about the proper categorization of things, particularly as they appear in later parts of the Mozi . Early Chinese discussions of the proper use of names tend to privilege social factors over epistemic ones, drawing attention to the ways in which concepts create social order and guide behaviour.