Deng Xi

Deng Xi (Wade-Giles Têng Hsi) (died 501 BCE) was a Chinese lawyer and rhetorician who has been called the founding father of the Chinese logical tradition. He is regarded as one of the School of Names.

Biography

Deng Xi developed his debating skills in the legal courts of the state of Zheng. The Zuo Zhuan commentary credits him with the authorship of a penal code written on bamboo which was opposed to that of Zi Chan.^[1] None of his work has survived and the discussion in the Xunzi pairs him with Hui Shi so that it is difficult to separate their contributions.

An example of his sophistry:

The Wei River was extremely high. A person from the house of a rich man of Zheng drowned. Someone found the body. The rich man asked to buy it back. The man demanded very much money. The rich man told Deng Xi about it. Deng Xi said, “Calm down about it. There's certainly no one else he can sell it to.” The one who found the body was troubled by this and told Deng Xi about it. Deng Xi replied to him too by saying, “Calm down about it. There's certainly nowhere else they can buy it.”^[2][3]

References

Footnotes

1. ^ Harbsmeier 1998, p. 289
2. ^ Deng Xi’s Exploits, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/school-names/exploits.html, retrieved 2011-04-02 
3. ^ Lü Shi Chun Qiu: Li Wei (Chinese), Chinese Text Project, http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-qiu/li-wei#n23796 

Sources

• Harbsmeier, Christoph (1998), Kenneth Robinson, ed., Language and Logic, Joseph Needham: Science and Civilisation in China, 7 Pt 1, Cambridge University Press 
• School of Names, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/school-names//index.html#3, retrieved 2011-04-02 

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Name	Xi, Deng
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