Skip to content

Home
Topics
Selected
Archive
Books
About
Guestbook
Search

Year: 2006

The Tautology of “Survival of the Fittest”

History of Science & Scholarship2006.10.04
The Tautology of “Survival of the Fittest”
Having read popular works on neo-Darwinism such as *The Blind Watchmaker*, *River out of Eden*, and *Who Is the Creator?*, as well as other excellent popular books on evolution such as *A Long Argument*, *What Is Evolution?*, and *The History of Evolutionary Thought*, and also anti-Darwinist books such as *Darwin’s Black Box*, *The Darwinian Trial*, and *Icons of Evolution*, I have not become an anti-evolutionist. However, evolution theory, and people’s understanding of evolution theory, do indeed have many problems. First, evolution theory contains many different claims, and those claims are not unified even among evolutionists; there are many kinds of evolutionary doctrine, and Darwinism is only one of them. Second,…
science evolution
Read more

Oct 4, 2006
From “Pursuit” to “Demand” — The Idea of “Truth, Goodness, and Beauty”

Philosophy & Thought2006.10.02
From “Pursuit” to “Demand” — The Idea of “Truth, Goodness, and Beauty”
“Truth, Goodness, and Beauty” have been themes of philosophy from antiquity to the present, but the meaning these three words have for people seems to have changed in certain ways. In the eyes of the ancients, “truth, goodness, and beauty” represented the highest “pursuits.” Just as philosophy is “the love of wisdom,” the pursuit of wisdom, people pursued “truth, goodness, and beauty,” regarding them as supreme ideals. For example, the question traditional ethics asks is: for the sake of “goodness,” what ought we to do? What kind of behavior is worthy of goodness? Modern so-called “normative ethics,” represented by utilitarianism, asks instead: for what purpose do we do good? For…
philosophy Aristotle pursuit truth
Read more

Oct 2, 2006
The Philosophy of History Is Quite Interesting

Life & Notes2006.10.01
The Philosophy of History Is Quite Interesting
Inspired by an offhand suggestion from ZW, I thought of and chose the course “Popper’s Philosophy of History.” This course falls under the category of Marxist philosophy, but however the class may be taught, this topic is in itself well worth choosing for me. Popper is a very special philosopher. His primary identity is that of a philosopher of science, the founder of the so-called “falsificationism,” which is often paired with Kuhn’s historicism. He is also a liberal thinker of enormous influence, and moreover an important critic of Marx and Hegel. In philosophical circles, it would be more accurate to say that Popper is widely looked down upon than widely…
philosophy everyday life philosophy of science history
Read more

Oct 1, 2006
Recent Life Jottings (October 1, 2006)

Life & Notes2006.10.01
Recent Life Jottings (October 1, 2006)
Some time ago I was living in a very abnormal way, wasting a long stretch of time again in games and cartoons. My grandfather’s death hit me very hard. It was the sort of blow that others could not see. Apart from choking up uncontrollably at his bedside when he passed away, I did not cry again when the coffin was laid out, and after I returned to school everything seemed normal. But at bedtime every night, and when I called home every week—only Grandma would answer the phone now; it could no longer be Grandpa… In the past, when I called Grandpa, I actually did not say much: ask…
philosophy everyday life Peking University psychology
Read more

Oct 1, 2006
Let me post a few earlier photos (the frozen Weiming Lake, heavy snow, a 28-inch bicycle)

Life & Notes2006.09.30
Let me post a few earlier photos (the frozen Weiming Lake, heavy snow, a 28-inch bicycle)
When I was little, I did take quite a lot of photos, but after I grew up I stopped liking to be photographed (though I do like taking pictures for other people). I suddenly realized that there have been very few photos over the past couple of years. And most of the tiny portion I did have was lost because of the sudden failure of a certain computer hard drive… I found a few photos on the long-abandoned Chinaren alumni directory, taken around New Year’s Day in 2005 during my first winter in Beijing, when I rode a bike on the frozen surface of Weiming Lake. It felt really great….
everyday life childhood
Read more

Sep 30, 2006
From “Life Is Like a Play” to “Money Worship”

Culture & Public Commentary2006.09.25
From “Life Is Like a Play” to “Money Worship”
“Life is like a play, and a play like life” is an old saying. This metaphor is very apt—on the stage of life, each person is both audience and actor. On the one hand, one must find one’s role correctly and act it brilliantly with one’s whole heart; on the other hand, one is also a spectator and applauder of this drama. “Life is like a play” can also be interpreted from a negative angle: for example, life is false just as acting is false, and being a person is hypocritical just as actors are hypocritical; one can only honestly follow the script and obediently play the role arranged for…
culture value modernity game
Read more

Sep 25, 2006
Nineteen Eighty-Four

Culture & Public Commentary2006.09.20
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Orwell: Nineteen Eighty-Four, translated by Dong Leshan, Liaoning Education Press, March 1998 At last I’ve finished this book. Let me say it plainly: personally, I find it not as good as Brave New World, and I even think it is less interesting than Orwell’s Animal Farm. Of course, it is still a good book. I don’t know much about literary criticism; perhaps Orwell’s writing is better than Huxley’s, but I’m not very sensitive to that. In any case, both books are very well written. Some people say Orwell writes in a more “human-centered” way, with a deeper insight into human nature. Huxley, they say, is too cold. In a sense…
book reading notes politics
Read more

Sep 20, 2006
The Guangling Melody

Life & Notes2006.09.17
The Guangling Melody
Today, at Sanliji, under Lao Yang’s instigation, I casually bought a CD of the ancient guqin piece “Guangling San,” and when I listened to it I unexpectedly felt that it was extraordinarily good. A long time ago, when I heard “Guangling San,” I wasn’t all that moved; it felt like beating cotton, as it were. But this time I really felt it was very good. Could it be that my “level” has improved? Hehe～ The version I found online is different from the CD, but it is also very pleasant to listen to. By the way, the Sanliji Bookstore now has a newly added batch of academic books, and they’re…
everyday life culture book review
Read more

Sep 17, 2006
The Actual Effect of the Philosophy Popularization Display Boards

Life & Notes2006.09.17
The Actual Effect of the Philosophy Popularization Display Boards
Today, as soon as I got off the train in Beijing, I headed straight to the Ditan Book Fair. Going on a wild book-buying spree is the best way to brighten one’s mood; Sanlian Bookstore and many other academic presses were all at 50% off, so I bought a whole pile in one go…… And of course, while I was at it, I had to take a look at how the display boards I wrote had turned out. What I provided was the (original) text and the (excerpted from Philosophy Coffeehouse) illustrations; the boards were produced by the Beijing Philosophical Society and exhibited at Ditan in the Social Science Popularization…
philosophy everyday life sociology experts
Read more

Sep 17, 2006
In Deep Mourning for Hu Gende: Memorial Service—Words of Thanks

Life & Notes2006.09.16
In Deep Mourning for Hu Gende: Memorial Service—Words of Thanks
（The words of thanks were written by my mother, read by my father, and I did not participate. The memorial service was held at 4:00 p.m. on September 15 at “Jingyuan” in the funeral parlour on Xibaoxing Road, Shanghai） To all the leaders, all the guests, all our relatives and friends: Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedules to come and attend my father’s memorial service. In particular, I would like to thank the leaders of Zhongxin Company for personally presiding over my father’s memorial service; and thank the leaders of the Huangpu Social Security Center and the leaders of Huangpu Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine Hospital…
everyday life life
Read more

Sep 16, 2006

←Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 … 21

随轩

A philosopher’s teahouse, running since 2005.
History of science · Philosophy of technology · AI · Web3.

导航

主题精选归档关于留言

Subscribe

Subscribe to new posts

After submitting, click the confirmation link in your inbox to complete the subscription.

Advanced: subscribe only to selected topics

AI 与技术未来 Web3 与密码朋克哲学与思想教学与课程文化与公共评论生活与随记科学史与学术站务与琐事

勾选后只收所选主题的新文章；不勾选则订阅全部。

Start Here RSS Copyright All posts

© 2005–2026 胡翌霖 · 随轩允许转载，须署名并注明原文链接