active 3rd century B.C. Long Gongsun

Active in the 3rd century BCE, Gongsun Long was a Chinese philosopher associated with the School of Names, a group known for close analysis of language and reasoning. Traditional accounts place him in the Warring States period, and modern reference works describe him as one of the best-known representatives of this line of thought.

He is especially famous for paradoxes and debates that test how words relate to things, most notably the argument often summarized as "a white horse is not a horse." Although much about his life remains uncertain, sources agree that only part of the work attributed to him survives today, collected under the title Gongsun Longzi.

That combination of mystery, wit, and rigorous verbal analysis has kept his name alive far beyond his own era. For listeners interested in early Chinese philosophy, he offers a rare glimpse of a tradition that treated careful argument as both an intellectual game and a serious search for clarity.