Scholars › Philosopher / Thinker
Gongsun Long
Warring States debater from Zhao, a retainer of Lord Pingyuan, known for arguing that a white horse is not a horse and that hardness and whiteness are separable
A thatched pavilion open on three sides stands among tall bamboo; one person sits with their back turned at the veranda rail beside a zither and a stack of bamboo slips, while a stone path runs to a calm pond reflecting clouds and distant hills.
Also known as Gongsun Shi
Gongsun Long was a Warring States debater from Zhao who spent years as a retainer of Zhao Sheng, Lord Pingyuan. The surviving Gongsun Longzi has six chapters, against fourteen in the Han imperial catalogue. In its chapter on the white horse he argues that a white horse is not a horse, and in the chapter on hard and white he holds that the hardness and whiteness of a stone cannot be perceived together. The Annals of Lu Buwei (Lushi chunqiu) shows him urging King Huiwen of Zhao and King Zhao of Yan to lay down arms. The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) says that after Zou Yan visited Zhao and spoke of the highest Way, Lord Pingyuan dismissed Gongsun Long. In the Zhuangzi, Prince Mou of Wei mocks his teaching as peering at the sky through a tube and measuring the earth with an awl.
Life and times
Dates c. 320 BCE–c. 250 BCE