 Hansen (1983, 1992) has proposed an interesting account of the philosophical significance of the “White Horse” dialogue. The simplest early Chinese model of the language-world relation was “one name, one thing,” according to which all names refer at the same level of generality. Given the Chinese concern with “correcting names,” so that communication can proceed effectively and language can guide action reliably, a natural view would be that ideally each name or phrase should consistently denote one and only one sort of thing. But as the Mohists noticed, when names are joined to form phrases, their reference may shift in unexpected ways. In Chinese, the phrases ‘oxen-and-horses’ (niu ma) and ‘white horse’ (bai ma) appear to have the same syntax. But in compounds of the first type, the extension of the component nouns remains exactly the same as when the nouns are used singly: the extension of ‘oxen-and-horses’ is simply the sum of the extensions of ‘oxen’ and ‘horses’. In compounds of the second type—the “as hard to white” type—on the other hand, the extension of the component words changes. The extension of ‘white horse’ is the intersection, not the sum, of white things and horses. The extension of the words ‘white’ and ‘horse’ as used in the compound is thus different from what it is when they are used alone. This raises a serious problem for the one-name-one-thing view. The Mohists discovered the problem and took steps toward a solution. Xunzi finally solved it by explicitly rejecting the one-name-one-thing principle and recognizing that terms refer at different levels of generality. The approach implied by “White Horse,” Hansen suggests, would address the problem by retaining the one-name-one-thing principle and reforming our language use, so that all names pick out exactly the same portion of reality in all contexts, whether used singly or compounded into phrases. Since the extension of names changes when they are combined to form compounds of the “as hard to white” type, a proponent of this view must insist that the objects denoted by such compounds be treated as distinct from the objects denoted by either of their constituent names: white horses are neither white nor horse, but a distinct sort of thing. This “solution” is absurd, of course. But moving beyond the one-name-one-thing model and explaining exactly why this is absurd was a legitimate philosophical puzzle at the  time.[23]