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Year: 2006

What Is Art? — On Whether “Super Girl” Is Art

Culture & Public Commentary2006.11.04
What Is Art? — On Whether “Super Girl” Is Art
A little earlier, in the school debate contest, I heard that the new students of our department’s 2006 cohort put on an excellent performance. The final loss was really not a matter of ability; apparently we drew the position “Super Girl is art,” and our opponents were, incredibly, the School of Art…… Some people say that “Super Girl is art” is practically like saying “Snow is black” — there’s simply no way to argue it. At the time, I thought that made sense too, and could only sigh at our bad luck. But after thinking it over carefully later, it didn’t seem to be quite that way. If I had…
philosophy culture art
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Nov 4, 2006
A Frog Metaphor for Ancient Chinese Science

History of Science & Scholarship2006.11.02
A Frog Metaphor for Ancient Chinese Science
On whether ancient China had science, what kind of science it had, and how it relates to Western science. Viewpoint one: little frog and big frog — ancient China had the same science as the West, but it was simply undernourished and underdeveloped, not as sturdy and robust as Western science. That is all. Viewpoint two: tadpole and frog — this admits that ancient China did not form a mature science, but it did have the “sprouting” of science; even without outside intervention, it would sooner or later grow into a frog. Although a tadpole and a frog look extremely different, in essence they are the same. Viewpoint three: frog…
philosophy China science history of science
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Nov 2, 2006
Actuality and Possibility; and the Question of Academic Norms

Culture & Public Commentary2006.11.02
Actuality and Possibility; and the Question of Academic Norms
Yesterday’s dispute over globalization again flared up with ZW. In fact, the point at issue is the same as in last week’s and even earlier disputes: in the end, it all comes down to the use of words and concepts. Let me begin with the concrete issue: possibility and actuality. ZW pointed out that the “possibility” of a global government used by the student giving the report at the time was inappropriate, and that it might as well be changed to “actuality.” This is because the word “possibility,” in the context of analytic philosophy, refers to logical possibility—for example, that the sun will rise in the west tomorrow is logically…
philosophy culture scholarship pluralism
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Nov 2, 2006
What Do the Mythic Theology, Civic Theology, and Natural Theology of Ancient Greece and Rome Refer To, and How Are They Related?

Culture & Public Commentary2006.10.29
What Do the Mythic Theology, Civic Theology, and Natural Theology of Ancient Greece and Rome Refer To, and How Are They Related?
宗教学导论第一次作业 What Do the Mythological Theology, Civic Theology, and Natural Theology of Ancient Greece and Rome Mean, and What Is Their Relationship? The Roman scholar Varro (Terentiu Varro) distinguished these three kinds of theology—that is, three different ways of explaining the gods: the mysterious (mythicon) (that is, the mythic (fabula)), the civic (civile), and the natural (physicon). Myth is directed toward the theater; it is the stories of the gods told in poetry. Civic theology is directed toward the city; it is the worship of the gods and the activities of festivals and celebrations. Natural theology, by contrast, is directed toward the world; it comes from philosophers’ rational reflections…
philosophy culture Aristotle religion
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Oct 29, 2006
Draft of the First Three Parts of Popper’s Essay on the Philosophy of History

History of Science & Scholarship2006.10.26
Draft of the First Three Parts of Popper’s Essay on the Philosophy of History
Popper Popper… 0 Introduction… 0 What Is Falsification?… 2 What Is Science?… 4 What Is Technology?… 7 What Is Totality?… 8 What Is Revolution?… 9 What Is History?… 12 Other… 13 Bibliography… 16 Introduction Popper’s most influential, and at the same time most controversial, philosophical claims are, first, the doctrine of “falsificationism” in the philosophy of science, and second, the critique of “historicism” in the philosophy of history—or, rather, political philosophy. For Popper, the move from the philosophy of science to political philosophy is “internally consistent”: the philosophy of science is the starting point and foothold of Popper’s thought, and his views on the philosophy of history are in fact…
science philosophy of science Popper
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Oct 26, 2006
Some Questions from the Classroom Discussion on “Studies of Globalization Issues”

Culture & Public Commentary2006.10.25
Some Questions from the Classroom Discussion on “Studies of Globalization Issues”
On the Question of Quoting Authorities I would never deny the importance of basic reading of the literature, and I certainly would not oppose making citations in an article; my own style of writing places quite a strong emphasis on quotation. But writing is one thing, discussion is another. At first I mistakenly thought that the text written in ZW’s class was aimed at our earlier discussion, and so I reacted with displeasure. If it was only written as a private note to himself, then of course there is no problem. In discussion, even in scholarly discussion, the ultimate purpose of citing the classics is either to explicate another person’s…
philosophy culture humanities
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Oct 25, 2006
The Basic Features of Hellenistic Science as Seen from Ptolemaic Astronomy

History of Science & Scholarship2006.10.18
The Basic Features of Hellenistic Science as Seen from Ptolemaic Astronomy
Basic Content and Historical Sources of Ptolemaic Astronomy Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemy, c. 150 CE) lived and worked in Alexandria under Roman rule in the late Hellenistic period. Ancient astronomy reached its summit in Ptolemy’s hands, “Just as Euclid summed up the mathematics of the Greek classical age and wrote the famous Elements, Ptolemy systematically synthesized the outstanding achievements of Greek astronomy and produced the work that would be handed down through the ages, the Almagest. This 13-volume treatise was hailed by the Arabs as ‘greatest of the great,’ and as a result its title became the Almagest (Almagest).”[1] In the Almagest, Ptolemy set out the full set of geometric models…
science mathematics Greece astronomy
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Oct 18, 2006
What Should “Commodity” Be?

Culture & Public Commentary2006.10.11
What Should “Commodity” Be?
What Should a “Commodity” Be? —In Defense of Marx’s Definition of “Commodity” “What has ‘consumption’ brought?”—If you were to let modern people discuss this topic, especially if you handed it to Chinese youth—the most enthusiastic group about the “market economy” in today’s world[①]—their general line of thought would probably be: consumption promotes exchange, exchange promotes production, production in turn promotes consumption, and so on; in short, consumption will ultimately bring “abundance”—the abundance of wealth, the abundance of life, and so forth. Thus we often hear slogans such as “stimulate consumption” and “boost domestic demand.” In any case, consumption is always a good thing; surplus generates consumption, consumption creates prosperity… This…
culture value Marx capitalism
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Oct 11, 2006
On the A Yi “Crying Poor” Incident

Life & Notes2006.10.06
On the A Yi “Crying Poor” Incident
The so-called “Peking University associate professor crying poverty” incident has become quite a sensation lately; for the specifics, a quick search online will tell you. The original blog post should be: http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/48dcce8e0100061k The follow-up journalist interview can be seen at: http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/48dcce8e01000687 After reading these two pieces, I still have some sympathy for this associate professor. The fact that teachers’ pay is not high is indeed a problem, and from the current reform trend in the educational system—for example, the personnel system reforms causing such a fuss at Peking University—I do not see any obvious tendency for professors’ situation to improve. Professors’ income depends on moonlighting; professors’ professional titles depend on…
everyday life education Peking University
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Oct 6, 2006
On Learning Middle School Mathematics

Life & Notes2006.10.05
On Learning Middle School Mathematics
I had wanted to write this article before the summer vacation, but I never got around to it…… A teacher once said: if you can’t learn math well, you’re stupid; if you can’t learn English well, you’re lazy. I am obviously a lazy person, but apparently not stupid…… But in fact, although doing mathematics does indeed depend heavily on a certain kind of talent, and the fact that men are better at math than women is hard to deny, just as women are better at language than men, the influence of talent may show up more clearly in top-level mathematics competitions. For the mathematics required in elementary and middle school,…
everyday life education mathematics analytic philosophy
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Oct 5, 2006

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