هوي شي

الموقف

Hui Shi is the best-known figure of the so-called School of Names (mingjia). His ten paradoxes survive only as bare theses in the last chapter of the Zhuangzi, so their arguments must be reconstructed. One holds that the sun is already setting at its height, and that a thing is already dying as it is born. They suggest that distinctions of large and small, near and far, now and then depend on a standpoint; the last concludes that we should love all things, for heaven and earth are one body. Zhuangzi shared this relativism but mocked Hui Shi’s love of argument, as in their debate on knowing the happiness of fish.

الحياة والسياق

Hui Shi lived in the 4th century BCE; his dates (c. 370–310 BCE) are only approximate. He probably came from the state of Song and served for many years as chief minister to King Hui of Wei, taking part in the diplomacy between the warring states. According to the Zhuangzi his writings filled five carts, but none survive; nearly all we know of him comes from the Zhuangzi.

الأعمال الرئيسة

• The Ten Paradoxes (preserved in the Zhuangzi, chapter 33 “Under Heaven”, 4th century BCE)
• Dialogues with Zhuangzi (recorded in the Zhuangzi, 4th–3rd century BCE)