The School of Names, or School of Forms and Names, represents a school of thought in Chinese philosophy that grew out of Mohist logic. Sometimes termed Logicians, "dialecticians" or sophists modernly, Han scholars used it in reference to figures earlier termed Disputers or Debaters (bian ze) in the Zhuangzi, as a view dating back to the Warring States period (c. 479 – 221 BC). Sometimes treated together with the Later Mohists, rather than a unified movement like the Mohists it represents a social category of early linguistic debaters. Critical arguments in late Mohist texts, with their own logicians, would appear directed at their kind of debates, but likely respected them. Figures associated with it include Deng Xi, Yin Wen, Hui Shi, and Gongsun Long. A Three Kingdoms era figure, Xu Gan, is relevant for discussions of names and realities, but was more Confucian and less philosophically relativist.
Including figures referenced by the Zhuangzi, some likely served as a bridge between Mohism and the relativism of Zhuangzi Daoism, which, in contrast to the Daodejing, "clearly reveals exposure" to school of names thinkers. Contrary Mohism as seeking objective standards, Hui Shi is noted for relativism, but also "embracing the ten thousand things" (his tenth thesis). In the Mawangdui Silk Texts, the idea of universal love follows from Mozi and Laozi type ideas, transitioning towards Laozi.
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