求明理的辩论规范 / Truth-Seeking Debate Norm

求明理的辩论规范 / truth-seeking debate norm is the standard 《资治通鉴·周纪》64丨 古代“杠精”公孙龙养成记 extracts from 孔川 and 邹衍 against 公孙龙. The norm says that debate should clarify categories, facts, principles, and purpose rather than merely generate a verbal victory.

Kong Chuan defines the fact-facing side of the norm. After the “臧三耳” exchange, he tells 平原君 that proving three ears is difficult and false, while proving two ears is easy and true. The episode uses this to downgrade cleverness when it does not improve knowledge.

Zou Yan defines the public-purpose side. He refuses to debate “白马非马” on Gongsun Long’s terms and says debate should separate categories, prevent concepts from invading each other, make principles clear, and let both winners and losers retain orientation toward truth. He rejects wordplay, definition traps, agile metaphors, and endless disputation that forces silence without producing understanding.

Key Claims

• A strong argument is not only hard to answer; it should be true, clarifying, and worth the attention it demands.
• Debate should help the audience and participants distinguish categories rather than scramble them.
• Winning by exhausting or silencing others is treated as a failure of purpose, not as intellectual success.
• The concept turns 名辩 from a talent display into an object of ethical and epistemic evaluation.

Connections

• 孔川 - provides the easy-truth versus difficult-falsehood test.
• 邹衍 - gives the clearest statement of debate’s proper purpose.
• 公孙龙 and 名辩 - negative foil and argument style under critique.
• 平原君 - patron whose judgment changes after hearing the critiques.
• 给第三方看的争论 - adjacent later concept about argument’s public audience.
• 只问对错不问动机的纳谏 - neighboring governance norm where the value of speech depends on the correctness and usefulness of the content.