Yang Zhu
E582952
Yang Zhu was an ancient Chinese philosopher associated with early individualist and hedonist thought, often portrayed as emphasizing self-preservation and personal well-being over social or political obligations.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Yang Zhu canonical | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5988989 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Yang Zhu Context triple: [Liezi, chapter, Yang Zhu]
-
A.
Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi was an influential 4th-century BCE Chinese philosopher whose writings form a foundational text of Taoist thought, emphasizing spontaneity, relativism, and harmony with the natural Way (Dao).
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B.
Liezi
Liezi is a classical Taoist text attributed to the sage Lie Yukou, known for its philosophical parables and exploration of spontaneity, naturalness, and the relativity of human experience.
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C.
Mozi
Mozi was an influential Chinese philosopher and founder of Mohism, known for advocating universal love, meritocratic governance, and opposition to offensive warfare during the Warring States period.
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D.
Xunzi
Xunzi was an influential ancient Chinese Confucian philosopher known for his belief in the inherent badness of human nature and the necessity of ritual and education to cultivate virtue.
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E.
Zigong
Zigong is a historic industrial city in southern Sichuan, China, best known for its ancient salt industry and renowned dinosaur fossil sites.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Yang Zhu Target entity description: Yang Zhu was an ancient Chinese philosopher associated with early individualist and hedonist thought, often portrayed as emphasizing self-preservation and personal well-being over social or political obligations.
-
A.
Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi was an influential 4th-century BCE Chinese philosopher whose writings form a foundational text of Taoist thought, emphasizing spontaneity, relativism, and harmony with the natural Way (Dao).
-
B.
Liezi
Liezi is a classical Taoist text attributed to the sage Lie Yukou, known for its philosophical parables and exploration of spontaneity, naturalness, and the relativity of human experience.
-
C.
Mozi
Mozi was an influential Chinese philosopher and founder of Mohism, known for advocating universal love, meritocratic governance, and opposition to offensive warfare during the Warring States period.
-
D.
Xunzi
Xunzi was an influential ancient Chinese Confucian philosopher known for his belief in the inherent badness of human nature and the necessity of ritual and education to cultivate virtue.
-
E.
Zigong
Zigong is a historic industrial city in southern Sichuan, China, best known for its ancient salt industry and renowned dinosaur fossil sites.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
ancient Chinese philosopher
ⓘ
historical figure ⓘ person ⓘ philosopher ⓘ |
| alternativeName | Yangzi NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| alternativeTransliteration | Yang Chu NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
critique of sacrificial altruism
ⓘ
doctrine of “wei wo” (for myself) ⓘ |
| contemporaryOf |
Mencius
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Mozi NERFINISHED ⓘ early Daoist thinkers ⓘ |
| culturalContext | pre-Qin Hundred Schools of Thought NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| dateOfBirth | unknown ⓘ |
| dateOfDeath | unknown ⓘ |
| era |
Classical Chinese philosophy
ⓘ
Warring States period NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| ethicalFocus | individual life and bodily integrity ⓘ |
| fieldOfWork | philosophy ⓘ |
| gender | male ⓘ |
| historicity | partly reconstructed from later sources ⓘ |
| influenced |
Yangism
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
later discussions of individualism in Chinese philosophy ⓘ |
| influencedBy | pre-Qin intellectual milieu ⓘ |
| knownFor |
early individualist thought in China
ⓘ
emphasis on personal well-being ⓘ emphasis on self-preservation ⓘ hedonist ethical views ⓘ |
| legacy |
considered one of the “heretical” schools by some Confucian critics
ⓘ
important reference point in debates on egoism in Chinese thought ⓘ |
| movement |
Chinese philosophy
ⓘ
hedonism ⓘ individualism ⓘ |
| nameInChineseCharacters | 楊朱 NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| nationality | Chinese ⓘ |
| philosophicalSchool | Yangism NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| placeOfBirth | ancient China ⓘ |
| portrayedAs |
advocate of extreme self-interest in Mencius
ⓘ
more nuanced hedonist in Liezi ⓘ |
| portrayedIn |
Liezi
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Mencius NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| positionOnEthics |
advocated enjoyment of life within natural limits
ⓘ
prioritized self-interest over altruistic duty ⓘ |
| positionOnHumanNature | saw self-preservation as fundamental ⓘ |
| positionOnPolitics | skeptical of political and social obligations ⓘ |
| viewOnGovernment | suspicious of state demands that override personal welfare ⓘ |
| viewOnPleasure | endorsed moderate, natural pleasures ⓘ |
| viewOnSacrifice | opposed sacrificing one’s body or life for external causes ⓘ |
| works | no extant texts reliably authored by him ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Yang Zhu Description of subject: Yang Zhu was an ancient Chinese philosopher associated with early individualist and hedonist thought, often portrayed as emphasizing self-preservation and personal well-being over social or political obligations.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.