noun
A yojijukugo referring to sophistry or hair-splitting argumentation, originally from ancient Chinese philosophy. Used in formal or literary contexts to describe overly clever but fallacious reasoning.
彼の議論は堅白同異に過ぎず、実質的な内容がなかった。
His argument was mere sophistry and lacked any real substance.
詭弁 is a more common word for sophistry or fallacious argument, while 堅白同異 is a rare, classical yojijukugo with a similar meaning but a more literary and historical flavor.
From the ancient Chinese philosophical school of the School of Names, known for paradoxical arguments such as 'a white horse is not a horse' and 'hardness and whiteness are separate.' The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the phrase is conventionally associated with sophistry.