Gift of Grace - Keishi

A thinker belonging to a famous family in the late Zhou and Warring States period (4th century BC) in China. He is thought to have lived between 334 BC and 314 BC, but his birth and death years are unknown. He was from the Song Dynasty and later became a minister to King Hui of Wei (reigned 369-319 BC, and was visited by Mencius), during which Zhuangzi met him. He was also chased out of Wei by Zhang Yi of the Vertical and Horizontal School. He is said to have had a collection of books that filled five carriages, but his own writings have not survived. He has only ten assertions, called "Ten Matters of History," such as "Are mountains and streams flat?", which are not yet fully understood in their meaning. It is speculated that he thought about the infinite and infinitesimal of time and space, and that they are ultimately the same thing. It is unclear what kind of arguments he presented, but his arguments seem to have been persuasive at the time, and in that sense he is counted among the schools of logic.

[Nobuyuki Kaji, December 14, 2015]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、周末戦国期（前4世紀）の名家に属する思想家。紀元前334年から前314年までの間は生存していたと考えられるが、生没年は未詳。宋(そう)国出身で、のちに魏(ぎ)の恵王（在位前369〜前319、孟子(もうし)が訪れたこともある）の大臣となり、そのとき荘子(そうし)が面会した。また縦横家(じゅうおうか)の張儀(ちょうぎ)によって魏から追われた。車5台分の蔵書があったとされるが、彼自身の著述は残っていない。「山と沢とは平らか」など「歴物十事(れきぶつじゅうじ)」という10種の、まだ意味が十分にわからない結論だけの主張が残っている。推測するに、時間・空間の無限大と無限小とを考え、その両者は最終的には同じことであるというふうに考えたらしい。どのような論証をしたのか不明であるが、当時、その論証は説得力をもっていたらしく、その意味で論理学派に数えられる。

［加地伸行　2015年12月14日］

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