Of Stones and Horses: Reading the Gōngsūn Lóngži in Terms of Concrete Universals

The present article proposes a new take on the realist interpretation of the Gōngsūn Lóngzǐ, which theorizes the existence of a theory of universals in the text. Building on the “two-level ontology” hypothesis, it argues that the Gōngsūn Lóngzǐ elaborates a complex category theory that should rather be interpreted in terms of concrete rather than abstract universals. Through the analysis of some of the most famous arguments debated in the text, such as the “white horse” and the “hard and white stone,” among others, the article delineates a distinction between what seems to be two different types of categories, “incidental qualities” and “structural qualities.” Through this analysis, the article aims to show how this interpretation can help disambiguate the meaning of certain obscure passages, and to identify an underlying line of reasoning that runs like a thread through the text, despite its complex textual history.