Hú Shì 胡適

(1891–1962) Chinese philosopher and historian whose The Development of the Logical Method in Ancient China (1922), later translated into Chinese as Xiānqín míngxué shǐ 《先秦名學史》, helped establish the modern study of ancient Chinese logic. Building upon Qīng philology and the textual recovery of the Mòzǐ, Hú used historical criticism, comparative philosophy, and Western logical categories to reinterpret early Chinese philosophy as a history of method. His treatment of the Mohists distinguished Mò Dí’s pragmatic and religious teachings from the later ‘Neo-Mohist’ (hòuqī mòjiā) logical writings, placing the Mòjīng within a broader account of Chinese reasoning, science, and philosophical method.