The White Horse Paradox and Inheritance Logic

López-Astorga; M

Keywords: extension; Inheritance Logic; intension; term logic; White Horse Paradox

Abstract

Several studies have addressed the White Horse Paradox from different perspectives. Although the essential elements of the sentence in the paradox can already be found in Mozi’s work, it is thought that Gongsun Long presented the paradoxical version of that very sentence. Here, I comment on some possible accounts related to logic, cognitive science and philosophy of science. However, my main goal is to show how Inheritance Logic deals with the paradox. It has been thought that the acceptance of the paradox depends on its interpretation: whether it relates the animal ‘horse’ to the color ‘white’ or the term ‘horse’ to the term ‘white’. I claim that, while it is easy to give reasons for rejecting the first interpretation, a logic such as Inheritance Logic is necessary to support the second interpretation. The reason is that the latter is a term logic, not a propositional or predicate logic. © 2025 Estonian Association for the History and Philosophy of Science. All rights reserved.

Más información

Título según SCOPUS: The White Horse Paradox and Inheritance Logic
Título de la Revista: Acta Baltica Historiae et Philosophiae Scientiarum
Volumen: 13
Número: 1
Editorial: Estonian Association for the History and Philosophy of Science
Fecha de publicación: 2025
Página de inicio: 60
Página final: 73
Idioma: English
DOI:

10.11590/abhps.2025.1.03

Notas: SCOPUS