ATCCT — « If you prevail over me”

Zhuangzi
♦ “If you prevail over me, does that mean that what you say is so?’

2.14: Escaping the infinite regress of adjudication*
Now let’s say that you and I debate. If you prevail over me and I do not prevail over you, does that mean that what you say is so and what I say is not? If I prevail over you and you do not prevail over me, does that mean that what I say is so and what you say is not?
Or is it that one of us is right and one of us wrong? Or are both of us right or both of us wrong? If you and I are both unable to know, then others will become muddled as we are.

[L’impossible Tiers]

Whom shall we call upon to put it right? Shall we call upon one who agrees with you? But if he agrees with you, how can he put it right?
Shall we call upon one who agrees with me? But if he agrees with me, how can he put it right?
Shall we call upon one who differs with both you and me? But if he differs with both you and me, how can he put it right?
Shall we call upon one who agrees with both you and me? But if he agrees with both you and me, how can he put it right?

“Therefore logdge all this in the boundless”

Thus you and I and these others all cannot know – shall we await yet another? Harmonize all of these by the horizon of heaven. Relying on it to stretch forward is the way to live out your full lifespan; forgetting the years, forgetting all judgments, stirring within the boundless.
What do I mean by the horizon of heaven? It is to say, assert what is not true; affirm what is not so. Were what is true so different from what is false, there would be no arguments; were what is so that different from what is not, there would be no arguments. The mutual dependence of shifting voices is the same as if they were not mutually dependent. Therefore lodge all this in the boundless.

Zhuangzi (pinyin) – Chuang Tzu (W-G) – Tchouang-tseu (EFEO)
(~-369 ~288, dates traditionnelles) ; -4e siècle.

Zhuangzi, The Inner Chapters. Translated by Robert Eno. Version 1.0. 2010.
Chap. 2, On making things equal. § 2.14: Escaping the infinite regress of adjudication. P. 20.