Huishi (approximately 370 BC - 310 BC) was Huizi, a famous scholar and debater. A native of the Song Dynasty in the middle period of the Warring States Period. He once served as the prime minister of Wei and formulated laws for the king of Wei. He advocated "removing respect", "loving all things" and not using violence. He was the actual organizer of the "co-vertical policy" during the Warring States period, that is, uniting Qi and Chu to resist Qin. , which led Wei and Qi to respect each other as kings. He was erudite and eloquent, and was friends with Zhuangzi. "Zhuangzi · Tianxia" records: "Benefit from many directions, and his books are five chariots." At that time, there was a strange man named Huang Liao in the south. He asked him why the sky would not fall, why the earth would not sink, and why the wind, rain and thunder (tíng) would not fall. Why. Hui Shi answered almost without thinking, and explained various things. However, his writings and remarks have been lost, and his language is incomprehensible and incomprehensible. At present, there are only some fragments scattered in Zhuangzi, Gouzi, Han Feizi, and Lu Shi Chunqiu. His philosophical thoughts are mainly concentrated in "Liwu" in "Zhuangzi Tianxia". "Ten Things" above. The main topic is "contract differences", which is the "combined style" of famous writers.

There are dialectical elements in the "Ten Things" in Hui Shi's "Li Wu". The "Ten Things" are ten propositions:

(1) The greatest has no outside, which is called the "big one"; the smallest has no interior, which is called the "small one".

(2) It is not thick and cannot be accumulated. It is thousands of miles long.

(3) The sky and the earth are low, and the mountains and the lake are flat.

(4) The Japanese side and the Chinese side look at each other, and things live and die.

(5) Large similarities but small differences. This is called "small similarities and differences." All things are the same and different at the same time. This is called "great similarities and differences".

(6) The South is infinite but finite.

(7) Today is better than the past.

(8) The chain can be solved.

(9) I know that the center of the world is to the north of Yan and to the south of Yue.

(10) Love all things, and heaven and earth are one.

Proposition (1) is about different levels of matter, whether they are "big one" or "small one", they all belong to one. This basic consistency lies in the fact that they are all matter. Among them, "the greatest and the greatest" refers to the entire universe. The universe is "one", and the largest thing is infinite in space, so it is "the greatest", but there is nothing bigger than it. This leads to a finite theory of the universe, which is metaphysical. "The smallest has no interior" refers to the smallest particle that constitutes everything in the universe. It is correct that the universe can be divided, but it cannot be divided further until the smallest particle is a "small one". This is also metaphysical. However, the ancient Hui Shih was able to put forward the opposing "big one" and "small one" as the basic point of view of the ten propositions, which is dialectical. When we connect to proposition (5), we illustrate the dialectical relationship between the “big one” and the “small one”.

What is "small similarities and differences"? He believes that various objects are composed of "small one", which is their similarity; but the components of their "small one" are different, which is their difference. The similarities and differences between them are only small compared to the similarities and differences in the entire universe. For example, people's fingers all have fingerprints, which is a small similarity; but there are no identical fingerprints in the world, which is a small difference. This is about similarities and differences within a small or local scope, that is, the issue of similarities and differences between classes and species. Another example is that cows and monkeys are both animals, which is called Datong; while the species of cows include cattle, buffalo, etc., they form a smaller-scale unity, which is Xiaotong, but they are all partial and The problem of similarities and differences in a small range is called "small similarities and differences".

So what is "great similarities and differences"? Since everything in the universe is composed of the "little one", this is the same; and the ingredients that make up them are different, which is the different. Compared with the specific small similarities and differences, the similarities and differences in this great universe are vastly different. This is a question of examining the similarities and differences of all things as a whole, so it is called "great similarities and differences." This view that objects and the universe are both similar and different in both major and minor ways, and that the world is both unified and diverse, is very desirable.

Similarly, propositions (4) (6) (7) (9) reflect the dialectics of variability, continuity, relativity and transformation of the movement of things. Hui Shi realized to a certain extent that there are contradictions in the movement of things. He believed that the sun had just risen to the middle, and because the movement was continuous, it immediately began to tilt to the west.

In this way, he is as strenuous as a mosquito or a gadfly, as if he is using his body to race against the shadow. It is really sad! Because in Zhuangzi's view, there is no need to observe external objects, as long as you understand the "Tao", you can "equalize all things" and "equalize all things and myself". From this idealist's condemnation, we can also get a glimpse of Hui Shi's role in the development of ancient Chinese logic and speculation in studying the relationship between similarities and differences in external objects. Of course, his sophistry was later refuted by the materialist Xunzi. However, his relativistic sophistry also objectively attacked the sanctification of the hierarchical relationship of slavery and the absolute "name" in the social politics of the time where "name and reality were at odds with each other" and criticized the fixation of "heaven". The tendency of mystification in the "middle" and "center" created public opinion for the "real" establishment of emerging feudal social relations.