Abstract

By taking the contention whether there was in ancient China development of logic as a starting point, this article discusses the connection of Mingli tan, the first translation of the Coimbra Commentary on Aristotle’s logic, the In Universam Dialecticam, with ancient Chinese texts on argumentation. Mingli tan is the earliest introduction of Aristotelian logic to China, and begins with a discussion on the name, content, status and division of logic. In this article, a careful analysis of this part is made under comparison to the Latin original. A comparative study of this translation might provide a more substantial basis for the discussion whether ancient Chinese logic is compatible with the Western logic tradition.