There are several objects that are commonly mentioned in the writings attributed to scholars of the Hundred Schools of Thoughts, and two of them are compass and ruler. This paper examines the usage of these tools in their writings to find out the answers to the following questions: how are the respective meanings of these tools in their writings related to their argument; are there any similarities in the way they present these tools; what are the reasons they choose ruler and compass rather than other tools; does their writings including these tools provide information in terms of the social situation and the world view of their era… As the result of the analysis, I found that ruler and compass were used as media to convey particular concepts to support scholars' argument. Although they normally refer to "standard," their specific roles and the writers' attitudes towards them were different: The tools usually appeared in sentences written in similar parallel sentences listing famous historical figures. Zhuangzi rejected ruler and compass since he regarded them as artificial products ruining the natural ideal state of squares and circles, while other scholars praised these tools. I also noticed the reason that "standard" was emphasized in the philosophers' writings was because ruler and compass provided absolute accuracy when drawing squares and circles, and they were used all over ununified China as standardized tools. Furthermore, ruler and compass were special because ancient Chinese perceived everything from the angle of square and circle, so it granted power and authority to them. They were also special as they produce squares and circles, which were symbols of "perfection," "union," "uprightness," and "equity," worshiped by philosophers.

제자백가의 각 학파는 비록 주장하는 사상이 서로 다를지라도 동일 사물에 대해서 언급하여 의견을 전달하는 경우도 상당히 많다. 그러한 사물 중에는 발명품이나 도구도 포함되는데, 본고는 그 가운데 規矩, 즉 그림쇠와 곡자를 고찰하였다. 구체적으로는 제자백가의 대표적인 사상가들이 規矩를 어떠한 의미로 자신의 문장에서 거론 하였는지, 이 도구들이 그들이 주장하는 내용과 어떠한 연관이 있는지, 작가간에 規 矩란 용어를 제시하는 방식에 있어서 공통점이 있는지 등 문제에 대해 분석했다. 또한, 사상가들이 본인들의 담론에서 規矩를 선택한 이유와, 그것을 통해서 추측 가능 한 당시의 사회상, 아울러 당시 사람들이 세계를 어떤 식으로 인식했는지 분석했다.